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

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.

Did you know there’s a vast green open field in Tokyo? It was used as a venue for the Tokyo Olympics, and its area is said to be roughly the size of 10 Tokyo Domes. It hosts Tokyo’s largest outdoor festival, packed with things to enjoy—music, camping, gourmet food, fireworks, and Tokyo’s night skyline. As a camp-in festival, you can even bring your pets and spend time together, and if you choose a campsite in the music area, you can enjoy the stage right from your own tent. It’s the kind of event you’ll want to join every year as a summer festival to make family memories.

This event is a long-standing jazz festival that has been held since 1993 under the slogan “The entire city becomes a stage.” Taking place in Yokohama—a historic port city and arguably the birthplace of jazz in Japan—it attracts 100,000 visitors every year, making it one of the largest jazz festivals in the country.