Cherry Blossom Festival at Japantown

Welcome to the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival®, one of California’s most prominent celebrations of Asian traditions and the biggest on the West coast. Since 1968, the Festival serves to cultivate the continued alliance between Japan and the United States using culture as its bridge. Each year, over 220,000 people attend this dazzling display showcasing the vibrant colors and grace of the Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese American Community.

The grand parade begins at the Civic Center at 1:00 pm on April 19, proceeding up Polk to Post Streets and ending in Japantown at Post and Fillmore Streets. Japanese classical (Buyo) and folk (Minyo) dance groups will perform throughout the parade route like a myriad of floating butterflies.

All are welcome to join in the festivities as we celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture in San Francisco’s Japantown! We expect this year to be filled with special events and new attractions.