About Namaste Indian Festival

Namaste India, Japan's largest Indian festival, will be held for the 30th time this year.

The festival began in 1993 as a joint project of the Asia Club Foundation and the Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee. In 2005, the current organizing body took over the festival and moved the venue from Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple to Yoyogi Park, where Namaste India has continued to grow over the years.

The festival was suspended from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and returned in 2023. Since then, it has continued with the support of many people who share an interest in India and in cultural exchange between India and Japan.

India is home to the world’s largest population and an extraordinarily rich and diverse range of cultures, traditions, languages, and ways of life. As economic ties between India and Japan continue to grow, cultural and people-to-people exchange is becoming increasingly important as well.

Namaste India aims to provide a place where visitors can discover, experience, and enjoy India from many different perspectives.

Elephant park, Folk art’s park, Adults and kid’s park, and we will be introduced as new items for entertainment for all kinds of guests who wants to know more about India. On stage, dancers specially sent by Govt of India ICCR will perform along with Bollywood dance, seven classical dance of India, such as Bharat Natyam ,Classical Musical Instruments performance of North India such as Sitar, dance, Veena, of South Indian Music, dance, folkdance which involve almost 600 participants for gorgeous performance. Bodhisena Booth, Ainu Booth are directly held by Namaste India Office. Namaste India committees will arrange information house which show the latest Indian Film. NGO and NPO group concerning India are planning to have their own Booth. Onagawa town received the kind help from 47 Rescue team of India at the time of Northeast Japan Earthquake disaster and the relation is continuing till today. You can see the details here.

India Japan association, Govt. of India Tourist office, Air India, Bank of India, State Bank of India etc will have each booth this year too. The return Air ticket to India will be provided by air india and many other attractive items will be offered in our Loto Counter.

We request you to come and visit this Festival of India bringing your family, relatives and friends.

Experience India in All Its Diversity

At Namaste India, you can experience many different sides of India ― its knowledge, clothing, food, culture, and economy.

Enjoy a wide variety of Indian cuisine, including North Indian and South Indian dishes as well as vegetarian options. Explore booths filled with colorful saris, accessories, handicrafts, spices, and other Indian goods.

Visitors can also experience Indian traditions and culture through mehndi (henna art), Ayurveda, Indian astrology, sari dressing, and other activities.

There are also booths offering travel and tourism information, as well as opportunities to learn about companies, NPOs, NGOs, and other organizations connected with India.

See, listen, taste, and experience.
Walk through the festival and discover your own India.

A Colorful Celebration on Stage

Throughout the two-day festival, the stage comes alive with a wide variety of Indian performances.

The program includes Bharatanatyam and other forms of Indian classical dance, Bollywood and movie dance, folk dance and music, and many other performances representing both traditional and contemporary India.

More than 1,000 performers from Japan and abroad are expected to take part over the two days.

A dance group dispatched by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is also scheduled to perform, bringing the vibrant spirit of Indian culture directly to the Namaste India stage.

Cultural Exchange Beyond Borders

Namaste India is not only a celebration of Indian culture. Over the years, it has also become a place where different cultures, communities, and people can meet and connect.

Special areas such as the Bodhisena House, Ainu House, and Onagawa Town House introduce their histories, cultures, and connections with India.

Cultural exchange with the Ainu community has continued since 2007.

he connection between India and Onagawa Town began after the Great East Japan Earthquake, when an Indian rescue team came to the disaster-affected area to provide support. That relationship has continued through exchanges with the Embassy of India and people connected with India.

Meeting one another, learning from one another, and building connections across countries, regions, and cultures ―

this is also an important part of what Namaste India is all about.

Namaste India 2026

Dates
Saturday, September 26 & Sunday, September 27, 2026

Venue
Yoyogi Park Event Plaza, Tokyo

Admission
Free

Come with your family and friends and enjoy two days of discovering India ― through its food, culture, music, dance, people, and traditions.

Chugai Nippo (13 July, 2018) Tokio Hasegawa, Director, Mithila Museum
"Random Thoughts and Random Essay 3": "Continuation of the Festival of India in Japan: Later Became the Symbol of the Japan-India Exchange”

It has to be said that the economic liberalization policy of 1991 played major role in forming today's Indian economy. Then the Prime Minister of India, Narasimha Rao made a historical decision to open up the Indian economy which faced with the possibility of default. At that time, India lost much of foreign reserves due to the collapse of USSR, India's major trading partner at the time, and the boiling oil price triggered by the Gulf War.

By 2000, India emerged as ICT country, in less than 10 years from the economic liberalization. India called Indian IT engineers back from US and established technology universities inside the country one after another. It became successful in the outsourcing business by taking advantage of the time differences between India and countries of client companies.

However, Japanese companies were very much reluctant to the call by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to enter Indian market because they had bitter experience with India which used to be a socialist country. Mr. Hideaki Yamashita, then the Chairman of the Japan-India Business Co-operation Committee, organized an Indian festival named "Namaste India" to provide opportunity for Japanese and Japanese companies to learn about India, believing that it would be difficult to enter India without understanding and liking its culture. I was requested to support the effort by JIBCC as many of them were business persons who had no knowledge in Indian culture or organizing cultural events.

I suggested JIBCC to invite dance troupe or musicians from India as main attraction of the festival. Initially, the Namaste India was held in a facility of Sumida Ward but as the festival became popular, we had to shift the venue to Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple to accommodate the increased number of visitors. However, JIBCC decided to stop it in 2004 when Japanese economy started to stagnate.

I decided to continue JIBCC's effort by establishing my own NPO, the Society to Promote India-Japan Cultural Relations. My NPO became the main organizer of the Namaste India. We shifted the venue to Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Because of the generous support and cooperation from the Embassy of India, Tokyo, various India-related organizations and individual persons, we were able to continuously organize the festival. We will be organizing the 26th Namaste India on 29th and 30th September this year. There will be performances by 600 dancers and musicians, including dancers or musicians dispatched by the Indian Government. As India is the diverse culture, we invited Japan's minority tribe in Hokkaido, the Ainu, to perform at the Namaste India. They have participated in the festival for over a decade now. We have had a seminar house at the Namaste India where people can learn about Indian philosophy. This year, we decided to name it as Hajime Nakamura House, after the late prominent Indian researcher, Dr. Hajime Nakamura. In addition, we have over hundred booths introducing Indian cuisine, commodities, tourism and culture. At the festival venue, we also have a special house dedicated to Bodhisenna, an Indian monk who came to Japan as the first Indian. In the Bodhisenna house, we have the statue of Bodhisenna on display during the festival. Moreover, Onagawa City sets up a booth at the festival. In March 2011, 46 members of India's rescue team went to Onagawa City and engaged in rescue operation there.

We have about 200,000 visitors throughout this two-day festival. Namaste India is now recognized as the world largest Indian festival by EOl, surpassing those organized in New York and London in scale, and has become the symbol of Japan-India relations.

Implementation Overview of the 31st Namaste India 2026

Yoyogi Park Event Zone B