A full-size Aomori Nebuta float will stand at GREEN×EXPO 2027 for the whole run. The dates it moves and where it stands are not yet set. Before you see it, here is what a nebuta is made of, who builds it, and how it moves during the festival itself.
The Aomori Nebuta Festival (2026 schedule)
| Dates | Every year, 2 to 7 August, with an eve festival on 1 August |
| 2026 parade | 2 to 3 Aug: child floats (about 10), large floats (about 15). 4 to 6 Aug: large floats only (about 20). 7 Aug: daytime parade, then fireworks and floats on the bay at night |
| Place | Central Aomori City. The route is about 3km, taking about two hours |
| Designation | Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property “Aomori no Nebuta”, designated 28 January 1980, held by the Aomori Nebuta Festival Preservation Society |
| Outside festival dates | Nebuta Museum WA RASSE, one minute’s walk from JR Aomori Station |
An origin the festival itself calls uncertain
The official site states it plainly: nebuta is thought to be a form of the tanabata lantern-floating custom, but its true origin is not certain. A tanabata festival brought from China in the Nara period is said to have merged with older Tsugaru customs of sending off spirits, and figures grew from lanterns once paper, bamboo and candles became common.
The name has more than one theory too. The FAQ page cites “nemuri nagashi,” a custom of sending away sleepiness that gets in the way of work, with the local dialect word for sleepy, “nebutai.” It also notes a second theory: an Ainu word, “neputa-n,” meaning strange or mysterious.
Nebuta and neputa: the difference
Aomori and Hirosaki both hold the designation. The cultural properties database gives 28 January 1980 for Aomori’s nebuta, held by the Aomori Nebuta Festival Preservation Society. Cultural Heritage Online gives the same date, 28 January 1980, for Hirosaki’s neputa, held by the Hirosaki Neputa Preservation Society.
The shapes differ. Aomori’s nebuta is a paper figure on a wood or bamboo frame. Hirosaki’s neputa is fan shaped, paper on a fan-shaped box. Aomori’s own FAQ adds a historical note: around the Kyoho era, records place people near Aburakawa copying Hirosaki’s neputa festival, carrying lanterns and dancing.
Wire, paper, and a nebuta-shi
Each float is wire frame covered in about 2,500 sheets of hosho paper, the official FAQ states. Including its cart, a float is limited to 9m wide, 7m deep and 5m tall, and weighs about four tonnes. Total cost runs to about 20 million yen, of which the nebuta-shi, the maker, is paid about 4 million.
A nebuta-shi designs the sketch, the structure and the colours. Counting wiring and paper work, around 300 people work on one float over roughly three months, starting in mid-May.
Haneto: no sign-up needed
The dancers, haneto, need no group and no registration, the official site says; you simply arrive in costume and join a float before it sets off. Between 500 and 1,000 people dance with a single float, up to 2,000 on busy nights, and around 100,000 join over the festival.
Getting there and WA RASSE
Shinkansen trains stop at Shin-Aomori Station. JR East’s timetable shows the Ou Line connects it to Aomori direction.
WA RASSE, the nebuta museum, is one minute’s walk from JR Aomori Station and displays festival floats year round on its ground floor. It is open 9:00 to 19:00 May to August and 9:00 to 18:00 September to April, closed 9 and 10 August and 31 December to 1 January. Admission is 620 yen for adults, 460 yen for high school students and 260 yen for younger children.
JR East’s train timetable shows the Hayabusa 23 leaving Tokyo at 12:20 and reaching Shin-Aomori at 15:29, a 3 hour 9 minute ride. Shin-Aomori to Aomori is one stop on the Ou Line, 6 minutes on limited express Tsugaru 43; a plain ticket covers that leg in an unreserved seat.
Extra trains during the festival
For the 2026 festival, JR East’s Morioka branch ran extra limited express and local trains linking Akita, Aomori and Hirosaki, plus added local runs between Shin-Aomori and Aomori. The route closes to traffic from about 18:00 to 21:40 on 2 to 6 August. Of the three free temporary car parks, only one takes ordinary cars; the other two are for buses only.
At the Expo: a permanent display, details to come
The Association’s announcement of 15 September 2026 says Aomori Nebuta will be on permanent display throughout the Expo. Which floats, how many and where they will stand are not stated, and parade dates are still being arranged.
Our take
Standing in front of a float, the first thing you notice is the size: 9m wide, 5m tall, 4 tonnes. The part worth knowing is what it is made of. Wire and about 2,500 sheets of paper, some 300 people over three months, around 20 million yen for a single float.
In Aomori, 500 to 1,000 people dance around each float, with no registration. Whether any of that comes to Yokohama depends on the parade dates still to be announced.
The Expo runs until 26 September and the Aomori festival is on 2 to 7 August, so you can see the display in Yokohama in spring and the moving floats in Aomori in summer of the same year.
Not yet announced
- Where the floats will stand at the venue, and how many will be shown
- The parade dates
- Which floats are coming
Check the festival’s own site and WA RASSE before you travel.