Kansai Winter Festivals Complete Guide [2026]: Introducing Popular Music Events

It’s a festival hosted by the hugely popular youth punk band, Gagaga SP. The festival was organized out of a passionate desire to keep bands rooted in Kobe. All the performers are fiery artists whom Gagaga SP themselves genuinely want to share the stage with.

When it comes to summer festivals in Kyoto, 10-FEET’s Kyoto Daisakusen is the obvious pick, but the winter tradition has to be Kyoto-born rock band ROTTENGRAFFTY’s Kyouto Chotokkyu. In 2014, the event moved to Pulse Plaza, and since 2016 it has expanded to a two-day format—Kyouto Chotokkyu is a festival you simply can’t take your eyes off as it keeps growing!

RADIO CRAZY, known as “RediKure,” is the annual year-end rock blowout. Held over two days at INTEX Osaka, RediKure features multiple stages where many popular artists deliver performances worthy of closing out the year.

Kyoto’s anime music festival, Kyo Premium Live. With “Kyoto-ness” as its theme, this live event features anisong singers and voice-actor artists. For anime fans, it doesn’t get more luxurious than this. If you love anime, you can’t miss it.

This is an outdoor hip-hop festival held at Sora no Hiroba in Maishima Sports Island, Osaka. The event has previously featured up-and-coming rappers who are gaining attention worldwide. Amid the challenge of holding the festival safely during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, it will be conducted with attendance limited to one-third of the venue’s capacity, alongside simultaneous online live streaming. Why not join in from home and discover a new way to enjoy festivals?