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

Asahikawa Music Week is a music event that turns the entire city into a stage under the banner “A week overflowing with music in Asahikawa,” transforming the early-summer streets. From the North Station Plaza and the Shopping Park to the Asahikawa Civic Culture Hall, inside JR Asahikawa Station, and AEON Mall Asahikawa Nishi, a wide range of genres—brass band, orchestra, choral, jazz, rock, pop, DJ, and traditional Japanese music—resonate together to color “Asahikawa, the Music City of the North.” Featuring performers selected through a public call, the 2026 edition will be held from June 7 to 14.

The Niseko Jazz Festival is a jazz fest held in Niseko Hirafu, Kutchan, Hokkaido, in collaboration with Blue Note Tokyo. Under the theme “FEEL THE RHYTHM,” the festival brings together the “now” and the “legends” of Japanese jazz in a picture-perfect mountain resort. The event features two parts: a day session at Niseko Tokyu Grand HIRAFU and a night session on a special stage at Setsu Niseko, with artists including TOKU New Scope and Orquesta de la Luz. Scheduled for July 2026.

TOKYO M.A.P.S is an urban music program that J-WAVE and Roppongi Hills have been running since 2008, built on the concept of a map where Music, Art, and Performance intersect. It is held every year during Golden Week at Roppongi Hills Arena, with that year’s organizer welcoming a diverse lineup of artists. For this year’s edition in May 2026, STUTS serves as organizer, sketching a “crossroads of sound” in the heart of the city centered on hip-hop and jazz.

The Kichijoji Music Festival, which began in 1986, is a long-running city festival that will mark its 41st edition in 2026. The venues span all of Kichijoji in Musashino, Tokyo, with eight stages set up around town—including the plaza at the station’s North Exit and the area around Inokashira Park—filling the city with music against the backdrop of a unique culture where bustling commercial districts and residential neighborhoods blend seamlessly. Under the banner of a “festival of culture and creativity,” a diverse range of music—jazz, folk, rock, and more—colors the entire city over three days during the Golden Week holidays.