Japanese Festival 2024 in Midwest

One of the largest and oldest Japanese festivals in the United States

Dates: August 31-September 2, 2024

Japanese Festival is the annual three-day celebration of Japanese culture at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Held every Labor Day weekend, this event is dedicated to Japanese cuisine, people, and history. The popular event features martial arts demonstrations, taiko drumming, and bon odori festival dancing. One of its main highlights is the beautiful candlelight walk with shoji lanterns in the Japanese Garden. The walks take place from 8 to 10 pm.

Festival Highlights

Only during the festival, the private Teahouse Island at the Japanese Garden will be open for the public. Visitors can explore a cove, dobashi bridge, and a snow-viewing lantern yukimi-doro. The teahouse itself was built in Japan and presented to St. Louis in 1977 by Nagano, Japan. That was also when the first Japanese Festival took place with the support of local Japanese-American organizations and businesses. Since then, the festival showcases authentic Japanese dance, music, art, and food for thousands of Missourians every year.

Japanese Garden

Seiwa-en, the Japanese Garden, a place of “pure, clear harmony and peace,” occupies 14 acres at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Seiwa-en, was created in 1977 with the help of Koichi Kawana, a native of Japan and Professor of environmental design and landscape architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. The main attraction of the garden is a 4-acre lake, modeled after chisen kaiyu-shiki, or “wet strolling garden.”

Tickets and Hours

The festival runs from 9 am to 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. On Labor Day, the hours are from 9 am to 5 pm (last entry no later than 4:30 pm). Regular admission fees apply. Tickets are available beginning July 9, 2024. General admission to Missouri Botanical Gardens is $16 for ages 13 and up. Children ages 12 and under get in for free.

Outside of Japanese Festival, Missouri Botanical Garden is open to visitors. It's known to be a true oasis of the city and also the oldest continually operating botanical garden in America. For the tickets and latest updates, please check with the official website (see External Resources below).