List of Jazz Festivals and Jazz Streets Across Japan [2026]

Kobe Jazz Street is a jazz festival with an uncompromising passion for jazz. In Kobe, they are committed to preserving traditional, orthodox jazz, so they recruit performers with a focus on traditional jazz and, rather than solos, on ensembles. Every year, jazz musicians from Japan and abroad—both professionals and amateurs—gather to take part.

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.