JAPAN’S SCHOOL FESTIVALS · TOKYO UNIVERSITIES
Golden leaves. Campus streets.
School festivals you can walk right into.
Photo: XIIIfromTOKYO / CC BY-SA 3.0 / source
BUNKASAI · GAKUENSAI — JAPAN’S SCHOOL FESTIVALS
Every autumn, Tokyo's universities open their campuses for their school festivals, called gakuensai (the university version of the bunkasai you know from anime): food stalls run by clubs, bands on the lawn, open research labs and a cheer squad dancing with radishes. Free, no reservation, no Japanese needed.
WATCH BEFORE YOU GO
Six short films, about four minutes each, one a day from 17 September. New episodes appear here as they go live.
EPISODE 01 · 4 MIN
Every anime has a school festival episode. It is not a fantasy: almost every school in Japan really does throw one, and the students build the whole thing themselves.
Watch on YouTube ↗ New episode Thu 17 SepFirst-time guide →
EPISODE 02 · 4 MIN
University festivals are open to everyone, free, with no ticket and no reservation. Most high school festivals are not. Here is the difference, and how to walk in.
Watch on YouTube ↗ New episode Fri 18 SepFirst-time guide →
EPISODE 03 · 4 MIN
We read the official programmes of eighteen Tokyo university festivals and counted: food stalls, live stages, celebrity guests, and open research labs you can walk into.
Watch on YouTube ↗ New episode Sat 19 SepWhat’s on →
YOUR AUTUMN STARTS HERE
Coming up this autumn. Find a festival that fits your trip.
Universities only: most high school festivals are closed to the public.
The first big university festival of Tokyo's autumn season.
Festival guide →
Japan's bilingual university: classes run in both Japanese and English, and about one in three full-time faculty come from outside Japan.
Festival guide →
An art school festival: student work on show in every building, and stalls decorated like installations.
Festival guide →Meiji University's main autumn festival, in its 142nd year.
Festival guide →
A big festival between Shibuya and Omotesando.
Festival guide →
Tokyo's agricultural university throws a harvest festival.
Festival guide →FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY
We counted the 2025 programs of 18 of the biggest festivals. Food stalls and stages at every one; open research labs at about half; the haunted classroom from anime at almost none. Plus a radish dance, plays in 26 languages and wild boar sausages at the University of Tokyo.
See what happens at a bunkasai →
THE CITY BEHIND THE CAMPUS GATES
A film location, a famous novelist, or a piece of your own country's history. Most campuses can be visited on normal days too.
The red-brick campus from Tokyo Ghoul, a Korean poet's memorial, and a giant Christmas tree.
Read more →
The zelkova avenue from Hana Yori Dango, the story remade across Asia.
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Haruki Murakami's alma mater and home of Japan's biggest university festival.
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The Red Gate, Yasuda Auditorium and the pond named after a Soseki novel.
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A 410,000-volume manga library and a free museum of Edo-period crime and punishment.
Read more →
The campus behind the anime Golden Time, on a moat lined with cherry trees.
Read more →
Japan's oldest private university, founded by the man on the old 10,000-yen note.
Read more →Bunkasai Japan is made in Tokyo and is not connected to any university. Every date on the calendar is checked against the festival's official site, and we say so when it isn't confirmed yet. Film-location claims that come from fans rather than the school are marked "fan-reported". Some hotel and tour links earn us a small commission; it never changes what we recommend.
