Music festival in Western Japan held during Golden Week [2026]

The Kyoto Circuit Acoustic Festival is an acoustic music festival co-hosted by Kyoto Station Building Development Co., Ltd., with support from JR West. The 2026 edition, titled “Sea of Kyoto,” will tour Maizuru Red Brick Park, Ine Town’s Urashima-kan, and Fukuchiyama Castle Park, culminating in a finale at the Kyoto Station Building’s first-floor Station Plaza. A diverse lineup including Shinji Harada, Kyogo Kawaguchi, Chicago Poodle, and →Pia-no-jaC← will perform, bringing musical experiences to various locations across Kyoto from March through May.

KYOTOPHONIE is an international music festival launched in 2023 by Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi, co-founders of KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photography Festival. Held twice a year at unique venues throughout Kyoto Prefecture, it has drawn a total audience of around 40,000 by spring 2025. Characterized by experimentation unconstrained by conventional genres, venues, or formats, and by cross-disciplinary collaborations, it presents a diverse lineup. In spring 2026, performers will include Msaki & Tubatsi and Dora Morelenbaum.

Tottori JAZZ is a signature jazz festival of Tottori Prefecture that began in 2011 and will celebrate its 16th edition in 2026. With the concept of “Coloring the city with jazz and art,” it has been embraced as a citywide event that turns various locations around Tottori City into stages, blending live performances with open-call artworks. Run by an organizing committee led by local musicians and students, it has become established as a venue that nurtures the region’s musical culture. The 2026 festival will be held from late April to early May.

Musikfest Nara, whose name comes from the German word for “music festival,” is a large-scale music festival organized by Nara Prefecture that began in 2012. Venues across the prefecture include World Heritage shrines and temples, historic halls, as well as cafés and community centers in town, blending the ancient capital’s scenery with a rich variety of sounds. Centered on classical music, the lineup spans jazz, traditional Japanese music, world/folk music, and rock, fostering a community-wide music culture. In 2026, it will run for an extended period from May through December.