[Held in 2026] Recommended music festivals: A roundup of outdoor festivals and major rock festivals you’ll want to attend at least once

The Gunma Rock Festival, which was held for three years starting in 2011, has been reborn as “Yamabito Ongakusai.” The central driving force behind the event is G-FREAK FACTORY, and the title “Yamabito” (mountain folk) was chosen to evoke Gunma Prefecture’s mountains: Mt. Akagi, Mt. Haruna, and Mt. Myogi.

PEACE DAY is a music festival that proudly bears peace in its title. In addition to live music, it features a variety of events such as talk sessions and activities. It’s a wonderful event where you can not only have fun but also learn something new!

Now that diversity of values has become the norm, following the boom of large-scale music festivals, the new focus is on “live circuits,” in which multiple live music venues are rented out and concerts are held simultaneously across them. In this context, three of the nation’s premier circuit festivals—Osaka’s Mihoudai, Nagoya’s Dera Rock, and Fukuoka’s TENJIN ONTAQ—are joining forces in Tokyo to stage one of Japan’s largest live circuits.

It was started by an organizer who has lived in Matsumoto for many years and wanted to make the city he loves even better through music. Matsumoto hosts events like the classical Saito Kinen Festival and the summer festival Matsumoto Bonbon, but because there weren’t any events centered on youth-oriented popular music, the Ringo Music Festival focuses on popular music—including J-pop, as well as rock and hip-hop.