Guide to Tanabata: Japanese Star Festival 2025

Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is a popular Japanese summer event held from July to August, featuring delicate paper decorations and bamboo "Christmas trees" hanging with colorful strips of wishes. It is a lovely celebration that makes you cross your fingers - not only for the better weather during your summer Japan tour, but also for the separated lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, to finally meet. Read on to find out everything you need to know about Tanabata celebrations!

When Is the Japan Star Festival, Tanabata 2025

Tanabata is an annual summer festival now widely held on 7 July, also known as the Double Seventh Festival - the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

However, as traditions age, each region has its own celebrations and dates. For example, Sendai's celebrations fall in early August, while Kyoto's still follow the lunar calendar around mid-August, making Tanabata a popular summer theme that you can enjoy from July to August, which varies by region.

Here are the celebration dates of some popular Tanabata Festivals in Japan 2025, with a more detailed celebration introduction in the section below:

• Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival: 4 to 6 July, 2025
• Sendai Tanabata Festival: 6 to 8 August, 2025
• Asagaya Tanabata Festival: 7 to 11 August, 2025
• Tanabata Sky Lantern Festival: 8 to 11, 16 to 17 August, 2025
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What is Tanabata

Originally from Chinese Qixi, Tanabata means "the evening of the seventh". According to the legend, it is the night when the deity couple is finally able to meet - weaver Orihime (the star Vega), and cow-herder Hikoboshi (the star Altair), separated by the Milky Way, are only allowed to meet once a year through the magpies' bridge on a clear night, making this Summer Triangle fairytale another nickname, the Star Festival, Hoshimatsuri.

Yet, not every year can these separated lovers meet - since the magpies cannot break through the rain and storm, the reunion of Orihime and Hikoboshi must wait until another year.

Maybe that is why Tanabata becomes a festival of wishes - story listeners bless for a clear night for the happy ending, couples are looking for a sunny day to hand out; girls used to pray for better craftsmanship, like Orihime, the Weaving Princess, while boys wish for their skillful handwriting.

Celebrating the meeting of deities, Tanabata can also be considered as another Valentine's Day, when couples and lovers enjoy the summer event hand in hand with traditional yukata dressing, writing their wishes on paper strips together, and then hanging those colorful pieces on bamboo or the "wish trees" - just like the decorations on Christmas trees!

Tanzaku Hanging on Bamboo

Tanabata Traditions & Celebrations

Writing Tanzaku

Tanzaku writing is the main tradition of the Tanabata celebration. Gathering family members will write their wishes (or poems) on tanzaku, small paper strips in various colors, then hang them on bamboo with a silent prayer.

Street communities and shopping malls also offer the empty tanzaku for locals or visitors to fill in, Tokyo Disneyland even prepares its special tanzaku in Mikey shaped as the most direct way to join the celebration - don't be shy to display your dream or wishes, which is said that the more tanzaku you write, the more likely to be achieved.

Paper Decorations Making

Apart from tanzaku, you can also find other paper decorations on bamboo, from delicate kimonos to tiny cranes, and those giant tubular streamers, interweaving with the lush leaves, making a summer version of Christmas trees in Japanese style.

Most importantly, they are more than decorations. Each design has its own unique reference: paper kimono means good health and sewing skills improvement; paper cranes represent safety and longevity; fishnets symbolize bountiful catches and harvests - just take them as another way to show wishes!

Paper Decorations of Tanabata, Japanese Star Festival

Tanabata Odori Dance

Similar to the Obon Festival, the Tanabata celebration is also bustling with traditional music and dance performances, paired with powerful taiko drums' beats as well as the lively rhythm for the exciting parades.

They range from professional Yosakoi teams with their thriving bird rattle wooden clappers to various Awa Odori groups in their colorful yukata dressing and special dancing beats. As well as the circling Bon Odori dancing with its traditional tunes and simple repetitive steps - just for everyone to join the lively summer festival fun.

Best Places to Celebrate the Star Festival in Japan

Sendai, Miyagi - Sendai Tanabata Festival

• Date: from 6 to 8 August, 2025
• Best for: vivid paper decorations, fireworks & traditional experience
• Access: about a 2-hour Shinkansen ride from Tokyo

Starting from the early Edo period, Tanabata in Sendai hosts the most famous and largest celebrations for over 400 years, making it one of the three great festivals of the Tohoku Region.

Here you can find some of the best overlapping paper decorations, prepared by local artisans and suspended from bamboo poles over 10 meters tall.

The whole city, especially the central Sendai and neighboring shopping districts, is paired with food stalls, carnival game booths for its ultimate celebrations, and even a grand preheating fireworks display on 5 August night. The Sendai Tanabata Festival promises the best nostalgic atmosphere and the authentic taste of this festive tradition.

Hiratsuka, Kanagawa - Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival

• Date: from 4 to 6 July, 2025
• Best for: massive lit up, beauty pageant & seaside fun
• Access: about a 1-hour Shinkansen ride from Tokyo

Known as the biggest celebration in the Kanto region, the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival is also a vivid summer event to attend. Apart from those gorgeous paper and bamboo decorations, the star festival in Hiratsuka is also highlighted by its colorful evening lit up, making it a perfect place to go for your lively nightlife.

Imagine your rich schedule with the daytime parades dotted with flowing paper windsocks, dancing performances in yukata dressing, and the exciting beauty pageant to find the Orihime; then extend the festival fun till night with the dreamy lit up decorations, along with various gourmet food stalls to fulfill your taste buds.

Asagaya, Tokyo - Asagaya Tanabata Festival

• Date: from 7 to 11 August, 2025
• Best for: creative paper ornaments & easy arrival
• Access: about a 40-minute train ride from Tokyo

Held in the Pearl Center shopping center, which is not very far from the city center of Tokyo, the Tanabata celebration in Asagaya is an indoor event that features plenty of surprising papier-mache decorations: from cartoon characters in Disney or popular animations from Ghibli, to well-known roles in video games and TV shows. Asagaya offers a unique Tanabata celebration beyond the traditional fun.

Thanks to those inventive hanging sculptures, the Asagaya Tanabata Festival is favored by the young generation, best for family members with animation fans to make their good start in Japanese culture, collecting the funny ornaments while enjoying the classic festival games like goldfish scooping.

Kyoto - Kyo no Tanabata

• Date: from 1 to 16 August, 2025 (changes by each event)
• Best for: traditional fun, romance & various celebrations
• Access: Within a 20-minute drive from Central Kyoto

Kyo no Tanabata is a collection of summer events in Kyoto, with a series of celebrations and fun to make the most of your Japan holiday.

You can join the events along the rivers of Kamo and Hori, with food stalls to cool down, bamboo lamps and wind chimes for more summer sensation, and Milky Way-shaped illumination to add some romance.

Another popular place to go is the Kifune Shrine, which enshrines the god of marriage, making it a popular wishing location to write and hang your tanzaku, especially for couples. Stroll with the murmuring echo of the river and let the water show your fortune together through its special fortune slips.

Colorful Paper Cranes

Kawasaki & Kyoto - Tanabata Sky Lantern Festival

• Date:

• Best for: flying sky lanterns & traditional games
• Access:

Just as the name suggests, it is a special Tanabata festival with sky lanterns to highlight the summer celebrations. With another venue in Kawasaki in 2025, it provides more convenience and chances to witness the dreamy night views of thousands of floating lanterns.

Before the launching ceremony of the sky lanterns, enjoy the yatai street food while playing some old-fashioned carnival games, from balloon shooting to goldfish scooping. Selecting a handmade mask to pair with your yukata, tying your wishes on the bamboo, and lighting the paper lanterns when you get ready for your camera - a truly impressive moment to catch!

Add Some Tanabata Fun to Your Summer Japan Tour With Odynovo

From the summer yukata dressing to yatai food stalls for some ice and snacks, enjoy the games with concerts and fireworks, and most importantly, the rustling bamboo and waving tanzaku with your wishes! For more summer fun to fulfill your summer in Japan, or for more details about your trip with Tanabata, feel free to contact us!