Editorial Standards

Who we are

Japan Events Guide is an independent travel resource covering Japan's seasonal events — cherry blossoms, matsuri, fireworks, autumn foliage and winter illuminations — in eight languages. The site is written and edited by Ren Sato, a Tokyo-based travel writer who regularly visits event sites across Japan, with contributions from freelance writers and photographers also based in or regularly visiting Japan.

Where our facts come from

• Primary sources first. Event dates, admission prices, access routes and opening hours are compiled from official operator websites in Japanese (prefectural tourism boards, shrine/temple offices, event organizing committees, Japan Meteorological Agency and Japan Meteorological Corporation forecasts, JR / airline / theme-park operators).
• On-site verification where feasible. Access routes, crowd patterns and photo-spot practicalities for Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and other reachable spots are verified in person where our writing team is already visiting.
• Secondary sources flagged as such. When we reference English-language secondary sources (newspaper articles, other guides), we attribute them inline so the reader can trace the claim upstream.
• No AI-generated article bodies.We may use AI tools (including Anthropic Claude) for research assistance, translation drafts, outline generation and copyediting. The finished article body is always human-reviewed, verified against the primary sources above, and published only after editorial sign-off. We follow Google's AI content policy: content exists to help the reader, not to game search.

How we update articles

Seasonal event articles are reviewed on a rolling basis. Each article carries a visible "Last content review" callout near the top; the structured-data `dateModified` field reflects the most recent meaningful edit (not minor typo fixes).

• Confirmed 2026/2027 event dates are updated within 7 days of the operator's announcement.
• Prices and admission fees are reviewed quarterly in January, April, July and October.
• Access/station information is reviewed whenever a transit authority announces route changes.
• Articles that fall more than 12 months out of date without a review are marked internally for refresh or retirement.

Author verification

Every article carries a byline linking to an author page with the author's credentials, home base and professional background. We do not accept anonymous contributions. Our default author profile is available on the About page. Freelance contributors sign a short attribution and ethics agreement before their first published piece.

Affiliate and commercial disclosure

Many links to booking platforms (Booking.com, Agoda, Klook, Trip.com, GetYourGuide, Hotels.com, Viator) are affiliate links — if you book through them, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. We never accept payment for favorable coverage, and commercial affiliate placement never influences which events, dates or booking windows we recommend. Our full disclosure policy is on the Affiliate Disclosure page.

What we do not do

• Publish sponsored content disguised as editorial
• Accept free hotel stays, meals or event access in exchange for coverage without disclosing the arrangement in the article
• Fabricate or inflate event dates, prices or crowd estimates for traffic
• Use AI to generate article bodies at scale without human verification against primary sources
• Scrape or republish other sites' original reporting

How to contact us

Factual corrections and editorial feedback: see the Corrections page. Press inquiries, partnership proposals and general editorial contact: via the feedback form on any article page.