Here you’ll find information about visiting the snow & winter festivals happening in Fukushima over the next couple of weeks. Please note the time tables listed below are the 2019 winter season time tables.
Skip to the festival you’d like to know about by choosing from the list below:
- Ouchi-juku Snow Festival
- Tadami Snow Festival
- Mishima Town Snow & Fire Festival
- Nakayama Setsugekka Festival
- Shirakawa Daruma Market
- Aizu-Wakamatsu Painted Candles Festival
- Winter light-up events ending in February
1) Ouchi-juku Snow Festival, Shimogo Town
Fantastic snow festival in the well-preserved Edo Era post-town of Ouchi-juku. Lots of events go on throughout the day on Saturday (including a wood-chopping competition and traditional performances). The night is ended with a spectacular firework display. See here for more info.
| Date | February 9 (Sat) 10:00-18:30, February 10 (Sun) AM |
| Highlights | Firework Display (Feb 9 from 18:00) |
Getting There
| By Train / Taxi | 5.5km from Yunokami Onsen Station (around 10 min in normal traffic) |
| By Train / Shuttle Bus |
|
Here are the train and bus times for Saturday February 9:
| Enyu Go Bus | Aizu Railways | |||
| Ouchi-juku (Departure) | Yunokami Onsen Station (Arrival) | Yunokami Onsen Station (Departure) | Aizuwakamatsu Station (Arrival) | |
| 15:00 | 15:30 | 16:12 | 16:53 | |
| 15:30 | 16:00 | 17:06 | 17:55 | |
| 16:20 | 16:50 | 18:10 | 18:51 | |
| 18:00 | 18:30 | 19:07 | 19:56 | |
| 19:00 | 19:30 | 20:08 | 20:45 | |
2) Tadami Snow Festival, Tadami Town
Local snow festival in rural Tadami Town in Aizu. Close to ski slopes where you can enjoy winter sports and snow activities during the day. Both festival days have a packed schedule of local performers and entertainment, and each day is finished with an explosion of colour against the night sky behind spectacular snow sculptures.
| Date |
|
| Highlights | Firework displays on both days |
Getting There
| Location | JR Tadami Eki-mae Hiroba (map) |
| By Car | 135km (2.5 hour drive) from Koriyama City |
| By Public Transport |
|
3) Mishima Town Snow & Fire Festival, Mishima Town
Warm yourself up at this festival, designated as a Nationally Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the Japanese Government. For Mishima Town, the tradition of burning 20-metre high pillars made from wood sourced from local mountains and old New Years’ decorations is an important part of their local history. The burning of these pillars is a way for local people to pray to the guardian of travel.
| Date | February 9 (Sat) 12:00-19:00 |
| Highlights | 18:00 Sai no Shintenka Fireworks |
Getting There
| Location | Mishima Town Chomin Undojo (map) |
| By Car | 50 min drive from Aizu-Wakamatsu City / 1.5 hour drive from Koriyama City (using the expressway) |
| By Public Transport |
|
|
4) Nakayama Setsugekka Festival, Shimogo Town
Designated as one of Japan’s best “Night View Heritage Sites”, this festival is held very close to Ouchi-juku. It’s a spectacular opportunity to experience the beauty of the snowy landscapes of Shimogo Town by candlelight. The thousands of lanterns and little kamakura (igloos) filled with candles are prepared by volunteers.
| Date | February 16 (Sat) From 16:30 |
Getting There
| Location | Nakayama Hana no Go Park (map) |
| By Car | Shuttle bus from Ouchi-juku Car Park (map) No booking necessary. |
| By Public Transport |
|
|
See here for shuttle bus times:
Aizu-Wakamatsu City to Venue
|
Aizu Railways |
Enyu Go Bus |
Shuttle Bus |
||
|
Aizuwakamatsu Station (Departure) |
Yunokami Onsen Station (Arrival) |
Yunokami Onsen Station (Departure) |
Ouchi-juku (Departure) |
Venue (Arrival) |
|
13:49 |
14:24 |
14:35 |
14:55 |
15:05 |
|
15:00 |
15:20 |
15:30 |
||
|
15:08 |
15:44 |
15:50 |
16:10 |
16:20 |
|
16:15 |
16:35 |
16:45 |
||
|
16:23 |
17:00 |
17:10 |
17:30 |
17:40 |
|
17:04 |
17:40 |
17:50 |
18:10 |
18:20 |
Venue to Aizu-Wakamatsu City
| Shuttle Bus | Enyu Go Bus |
Enyu Go Bus |
Aizu Railways |
Aizu Railways |
|
|
Venue (Departure) |
Ouchi-juku (Departure) |
Yunokami Onsen Station (Arrival) |
Yunokami Onsen Station (Departure) |
Aizuwakamatsu Station (Arrival) |
|
20:20 |
20:30 |
20:50 |
21:00 |
21:38 |
5) Shirakawa Daruma Market, Shirakawa City
This traditional market is held every year as an opportunity for people to buy new Daruma dolls for the new year. Daruma dolls are a traditional craft bought to help set goals and celebrate achievements. Shirakawa City is known nationwide and internationally as one of Japan’s best daruma-producing areas. Read more about daruma here.
| Date | February 11 (Mon) 9:00 to 19:30 |
Getting There
| Location | Naka-machi, Tenjin-machi, hon-machi roads running parallel to Shirakawa Station (map) |
| By Car |
|
| By Public Transport |
|
6) Aizu-Wakamatsu Painted Candle Festival, Aizu-Wakamatsu City
Lanterns and painstakingly hand-painted candles light up Aizu-Wakamatsu City at night over Feb 8 and 9. Painted candles were once a very important product made in the city, and are still very popular souvenirs. This festival was started to spread awareness and appreciation for the city’s tradition of producing painted candles.
| Date |
|
Getting There
| Location | Tsuruga-jo Castle (map), Oyakuen Gardens (map) & other areas of Aizu-Wakamatsu City |
| By Taxi | Oyakuen / Tsuruga-jo Castle take 10 min to reach by taxi from Aizuwakamatsu Station |
| By Public Transport | For info on reaching Aizu-Wakamatsu City, please see here. |
|
7) Other Light-Up Events
Abukuma Caves, Tamura City
- Light-up on until February 28.
- See here for more about the Abukuma Caves.
- See here for location
Higashiyama Onsen, Aizu-Wakamatsu City
- Light-up on until February 22.
- See here for location
It’s hard to pick which of these events to go to, seeing as many of them happen on the same weekend! I hope you get a chance to visit Fukushima this weekend to make the most of the winter and snow festival season!
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[…] Having been to Japan on winter, I seek to participate in a cold and snowy festival. But since my trip didn’t include Hokkaido area, I went to another prefecture which is also widely popular for it’s winter festivals, called Fukushima. When winter hit the area, numerous festivals are held to celebrate its annual presence, such as Tadami Snow Festival, Ouchijuku Snow Festival, Mishima Town Festival and many others. If we were not limited by time, back then we would have crashed all of the festivals. Luckily, we managed to be in at least two different festivals in Fukushima, and I’m here to share the mezmering experience with you. “Rediscover Fukushima” really helped us to get acquainted with the prefecture and what it can offer. Do check out their exhaustive list of snow festivals here. […]
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