Yokohama Chinese New Year Festival 2026: Dazzling Lanterns and Festivities

Yokohama will mark the Lunar New Year with an expansive light display and street program running January 20–March 3, 2026. The Spring Festival will install roughly 60 large-scale lanterns across shopping streets, transit hubs and retail complexes in the central waterfront area, forming lantern trails that lead visitors beyond Chinatown into downtown neighborhoods and transport nodes. 

The festival runs alongside Yokohama’s broader winter illumination campaign, dozens of light installations and immersive exhibitions across the city extend the season and offer additional evening attractions.

60 Gigantic Lantern Installations with Scheduled Performances

Many of the installations are monumental, highly photogenic pieces paired with festival-style lighting to create a continuous, citywide atmosphere after dark. The lantern trails link shopping streets, transit hubs and retail complexes, encouraging movement across the waterfront and into adjacent districts. 

Paired with the lanterns is a packed program of live events, lion dances, acrobatics, staged shows and scheduled parades, that bring evening streets and plazas to life. Anchoring the circuit is Yokohama Chinatown’s Shunsetsu (Feb. 17–Mar. 3), which, for its 40th anniversary, concentrates many of these performances into a neighborhood program of dragon and lion dances, costume parades, ritual shows and the popular red‑envelope lottery. 

A citywide digital stamp rally links lantern sites with partner venues, letting visitors collect stamps to enter on‑site lotteries and prize draws. Local restaurants and shops add seasonal menus, coupons and special promotions, and most outdoor displays and many performances are free.

THE YOKOHAMA ILLUMINATION

In addition to the Spring Festival, Yokohama’s winter illumination campaign continues to offer an extensive calendar of light displays. Dozens of installations remain active into January and beyond, including THE MOVEUM YOKOHAMA’s immersive art-and-light exhibition at Yamashita Pier (Dec. 20, 2025–Mar. 31, 2026), Yokohama Illumination Nishiguchi around Yokohama Station (Nov. 12, 2025–Feb. 14, 2026), Yokohama Milight across Minato Mirai (Nov. 6, 2025–Feb. 8, 2026), Pacifico Yokohama’s winter lights (Nov. 1, 2025–Mar. 1, 2026), Osanbashi pier illuminations (Nov. 1, 2025–Feb. 28, 2026), Motomachi and more.

While many outdoor installations are free, select ticketed offerings, like immersive exhibitions and dinner-cruise illuminations, carry admission fees. For a list of all illuminations in Yokohama see the offical event website:https://en.yorunoyo.yokohama/illumination/

The coordinated illumination program follows Yokohama’s recent recognition as one of Japan’s Three New Major Night-View Cities, a designation from national night-view tourism experts. The city’s bayside events and creative nighttime programming, including the expanded Lunar New Year festival, have helped raise Yokohama’s profile as a leader in nighttime cultural tourism. 

Yokohama Chinese New Year Festival 2026

Dates: January 20 – March 3, 2026 (44 days)
Hours: 16:00-23:00
Most outdoor lantern displays and performances run in the evening (typically between 16:00–23:00). Exact times for each venue and performance vary, check individual site schedules for precise start/finish times.
Main locations: Yokohama Chinatown, Yamashita Park, Motomachi Shopping Street, and selected partner sites including Shin‑Yokohama, Shibuya Station and Haneda Airport.
For the full list of lantern locations see the official map, for other illumination locations see THE YOKOHAMA ILLUMINATION.
Official Website: https://www.shunsetsu.jp/event/
Information and picture source: PR TIMES