Yokai Expo 2027 Set for February on Shodoshima Island
The event's steady growth and the addition of a month-long campaign show Shodoshima is building a sustained yokai tourism identity beyond a single festival day.
Reporting from 1 sources: Denfaminicogamer.
The third edition of the yokai culture festival will take place on February 21, 2027, at Tonosho Town General Hall Fretopia Hall on Shodoshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture. Admission is free. The event has grown from 3,500 visitors in 2025 to approximately 4,000 in 2026. Organizers also plan a month-long tourism campaign themed around entertaining oni during Setsubun.
The Shodoshima Tourism Association and the Yokai Museum of Art announced the third edition of their yokai culture festival, YOKAI EXPO 2027, for February 21, 2027. The free-admission event will be held at Tonosho Town General Hall Fretopia Hall on Shodoshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture. Attendance has risen each year, from 3,500 in 2025 to roughly 4,000 in 2026. Past editions included merchandise sales, workshops, yokai-themed food, a cosplay fashion show, stage performances, and talks by folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu. A parade of yokai cosplayers walking the Angel Road sandbar has also been part of the program.
Beyond the single day, organizers are running a tourism campaign called Oni Resort Shodoshima throughout February. The concept is to entertain and heal oni, the demons driven away during Setsubun, treating the month as Oni Ari Zuki, or Oni Month. The event is organized by the Yokai Museum of Art, directed by yokai painter Chuhei Yagyu, which displays over 900 contemporary yokai works in four renovated old folk house galleries in the Maze Town area of Tonosho.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.