You know when you go on YouTube — or Spotify, or Netflix — and you’re faced with so many options for entertainment that you don’t know where to start? It can feel like that with Japanese summer festivals, too.
In addition to the abundance of traditional festivals held in neighborhoods across the country, there are events to satiate every possible taste in entertainment. The problem you end up facing isn’t deciding what to do, it’s more deciding what not to do.
Unfortunately, a lot of these summer festivals can’t be done on a whim — with a population of 127 million, you’ll need to book things in advance. From weekend-long concerts to pool parties that will liven up your Instagram Stories, here are some of the season’s finest.