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Fushimi Inari Taisha

伏見稲荷大社Kyoto

Image 1 of 6: Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

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Shichi-Go-San 2026: Japan’s Day for Children Aged 3, 5 and 7, Explained
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Latest ArticleCulture

Shichi-Go-San 2026: Japan’s Day for Children Aged 3, 5 and 7, Explained

Shichi-Go-San’s traditional date, November 15, falls on a Sunday in 2026 and is not a public holiday. Which ages celebrate, what children wear, why chitose-ame candy matters, and how a family prayer works at Meiji Jingu: no booking, offerings from ¥5,000, gates closing at 16:10 in November.

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Tori no Ichi 2026: Tokyo’s Rooster-Day Fair, Lucky Kumade Rakes and How to Visit
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Recently PublishedCulture

Tori no Ichi 2026: Tokyo’s Rooster-Day Fair, Lucky Kumade Rakes and How to Visit

Tokyo’s rooster-day fair falls on Saturday, November 7 and Thursday, November 19 in 2026. At the Asakusa Otori Shrine each fair day runs from midnight to midnight, with about 150 kumade stalls and 700,000–800,000 visitors. What kumade are, how to haggle and clap the deal, ceremony times, stations and Shinjuku’s Hanazono fair.

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Autumn Foliage Tracker 2026
2026 Tracker

Autumn Foliage Tracker 2026

Track real-time autumn leaf color changes and peak viewing times across 21+ curated locations.

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Japan’s Winter 2026–27 Forecast: A Record El Niño, a Likely Warmer Winter and Less Snow on the Sea of Japan CoastIllustration, not a photo: this image was generated with AI.
Travel

Japan’s Winter 2026–27 Forecast: A Record El Niño, a Likely Warmer Winter and Less Snow on the Sea of Japan Coast

JMA says the 2026 El Niño is the strongest on record (+4.0°C in September) and will last through winter. Its December–February forecast gives a 60% chance of a warmer-than-normal winter in eastern and western Japan, 70% in Okinawa, and favours less snow on much of the Sea of Japan coast. What the odds mean for travellers.

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A tradition since 1995

Kanji of the Year

今年の漢字

Each year the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation asks the public to name the single character that best captures the events and mood of the past year. The winner is brushed onto handmade washi at Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto on 12 December and offered at the temple — one year, one character, one collective sentiment.

熊
The winning character is written on washi roughly 1.5 m tall by Mori Seihan, head priest of Kiyomizu-dera.
2025First time chosen

ユウ／くまYū / kuma

Bear

Why it was chosen

The first year 熊 has won. Bear encounters followed one another across the country, casualties reached a record high, and bears reached city streets — disrupting daily life and the local economy, and prompting a national conversation about coexisting with nature. The return of four giant pandas (熊猫, “bear cats”) to China also put the character in the news.

Public vote23,346 of 189,122 ballots · 12.3%
Read the full storyOfficial announcement
31 characters
One a year since 1995
12 December
Kanji Day — “ii ji ichi ji”
189,122 ballots
Cast for the 2025 character
Kiyomizu-dera
Brushed and offered in Kyoto

Every character since 1995

Read in sequence, they make an unusually honest record of how Japan felt about itself.

Select a year for the story

Chosen more than once金×5(2000, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024)税×2(2014, 2023)戦×2(2001, 2022)災×2(2004, 2018)

How the character is chosen

The vote began in 1995 as part of the foundation’s campaign to show how much meaning a single character can carry. Nominations open each autumn — online, by post, and through ballot boxes in temples, bookshops and libraries nationwide — and the count is revealed on 12 December, read in Japanese as いいじいちじ (“one good character”).

At Kiyomizu-dera the head priest brushes the winner onto a sheet of handmade washi in a single pass, and the sheet is then offered at the temple: a rite to cleanse the year that is ending and to wish for a brighter one to come.

Characters, readings and selection rationales sourced from the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. 「今年の漢字」 is a registered trademark of the foundation.

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