
Two Cities and One Village Nippashi River 'River Festival' Fireworks Festival — Chinese fireworks feature unique colors and bursting sounds
The Nippashi River 'River Festival' fireworks close the event at a special venue on the Nippashi green space in Kitakata City, Fukushima, on July 26, 2026, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. Box seats and paid seating are installed with food stalls lining the grounds, and the crowd is expected to reach about 83,000. The launch count is not published. The festival runs all day: hand-built rafts race down the Nippashi River in the raft race before the fireworks bring the night to a close. Shiokawa Station is a 15-minute walk, the Shiokawa interchange about 2 minutes by car, and free parking holds about 1,500 cars.
The daytime raft race — teams paddling handmade rafts down the Nippashi — sets this festival apart, and the same river then hosts the night's fireworks from a special venue on the green space. Box seats and paid seating face the water, and food stalls serve the crowd through the day. Access is unusually car-friendly for a riverside show: the Shiokawa interchange sits about two minutes from the venue, with about 1,500 free spaces. Walkers can reach the grounds in 15 minutes from JR Shiokawa Station. Confirm the fireworks program details on the official site closer to the date.