As temperatures soar across Japan during the summer months, one cool spot to head to is Hokkaido: in particular, the Sapporo Summer Festival (sapporo-natsu.com). The event takes place at Odori Park, which runs neatly through the heart of Sapporo, with the nation’s biggest beer garden taking centre stage – complete with countless regional brews and seasonal Hokkaido nibbles (20 July-17 August).
Summer also means fireworks season. Among the biggest and most famous is Tokyo’s Sumida River Fireworks Festival (29 July), which dates back to 1733 and draws thousands of onlookers (sumidagawa-hanabi.com).
Fuji Rock Festival (fujirock-eng.com) in the mountains of Niigata has headline acts including Gorillaz, Bjork and Aphex Twin (28-30 July). Sunset Live (sunsetlive-info.com), on the beach in laidback southern Fukuoka, is also super popular (2-3 September).
Meanwhile, gamers shouldn’t miss the Tokyo Game Show (23-24 September), a showcase of the most cutting-edge video and mobile games laid out at a sprawling complex in Chiba (tgs.cesa.or.jp).
