How we choose

A directory is only as good as what it refuses to list. These are the standards behind every page on Matsuri Travel.

What gets in

• Living traditions first. We cover celebrations that belong to the people celebrating them: religious rites, seasonal rituals, harvest feasts, carnival seasons, dance and lantern festivals. Commercial events and one-off spectacles are the exception, not the rule.
• Recurring events. If you miss it this year, you should be able to go the next. That recurrence is the backbone of our search.
• Visitable.A festival must genuinely welcome outsiders. Where parts are private or sacred, guides say what’s open to you and what isn’t.

How dates work

Every festival carries per-year dates marked confirmed (fixed by rule or officially announced) or estimated (lunar or variable calendars, reconstructed from the rule until organizers confirm). Estimated dates are labeled everywhere they appear, search results included, and we publish structured data for confirmed dates only.

Money, when it arrives

Matsuri Travel currently earns nothing. When affiliate links to hotels, flights, or tours arrive, they will be labeled, they will never reorder editorial judgments, and this page will document exactly how they work. Coverage is never for sale: no festival, tourism board, or operator can pay to enter the catalog or improve how we describe them.