Festivals & Events in Motobu Okinawa

Each year Motobu plays host to a wide variety of festivals and events but the one Motobu town is most famous for is the earliest cherry blossom festival of the year in all of Japan known as the “Motobu Yaedake Sakura Festival”. Many of the other festivals in Motobu Town center around Ocean Expo Park such as the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park All Japan Trim Marathon and the Ocean Expo Park Summer Festival.

	Mt. Yae Cherry Blossom Festival Start the Japanese Sakura season with the earliest blossoms of the year. While the rest of Japan has to wait until April, May, or even later in the year. Besides the more formal events the whole road from top to bottom of Mt. Yae is lined with pink blossoming cherry trees, and lanterns are lit up in the trees at night. Many people just lay out a tarp or blanket and have a picnic with friends or family under the short lived flowers...
	Ocean Expo Park Summer Festival Okinawa’s largest pyrotechnics display takes place at Okinawa Expo Park’s beautiful Emerald beach. Each year the sky lights up with over 10,000 fireworks in this impressive hour long exhibition over the East China Sea in Northern Okinawa.The event is more than just the fireworks as many ...
	Ocean Expo Park All Japan Trim Marathon prizes go to those who come closest to their predicted finishing time. In Okinawa this type of race is quite popular. All watches are banned and distance markers are kept to a minimum. The starting line is crowded but the roads in the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park All Japan Trim Marathon are wide, so the crowd thins out after ...