Venue
Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
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Summer Sonic guide
One line-up shared between Makuhari and Suita.
In short
Summer Sonic suits fans who want a big international line-up without leaving the city. The Tokyo edition runs at Makuhari in Chiba and the Osaka edition at the Expo park in Suita, usually on the third weekend of August, though 2027 dates were not announced by October 2026. Pick a city, buy early and plan for heat.
Summer Sonic is Japan's big August city festival, staged in two places at once: a Tokyo edition at ZOZO Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe in Chiba, and an Osaka edition at Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Suita. Naoki Shimizu of the Tokyo promoter Creativeman Productions founded it in 2000, and the line-up rotates between the two cities, so an act playing Tokyo one day plays Osaka on another.
Where Fuji Rock heads for the mountains, Summer Sonic stays close to the train lines. The Tokyo site sits on the Makuhari waterfront, with a baseball stadium as the main stage and the halls of a convention centre beside it. The Osaka edition moved to the Expo park in 2024 after years on Maishima.
The 2026 edition marked the festival's 25th anniversary and ran over three days, from 14 to 16 August, with The Strokes opening in Tokyo and L'Arc-en-Ciel closing the festival. The organisers reported 179,000 visitors in Tokyo and 110,000 in Osaka. Tokyo's late-night companion event, Midnight Sonic, drew another 19,000.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Tokyo, Japan
Venue: ZOZO Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe
Held: Every year
Type of event: Live Events, Musical Events
Nearest airport: Tokyo (NRT) · 1 flight route
Currency: Japanese yen (¥ JPY)
Time zone: UTC+9 (JST), no daylight saving
Language: Japanese
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Coping with heat and walking between venues
Mid-August on the Tokyo Bay waterfront is hot and humid, and the site is split between an open stadium and indoor halls.
- Pacing
- the walk between ZOZO Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe takes time; check the timetable and leave early for sets you care about.
- Shade
- use the indoor stages to cool down in the hottest part of the afternoon.
- Water
- drink steadily from the morning, not when you already feel faint.
- Typhoon season
- watch the forecast and the official news page in the days before.
What to bring for a day at the festival
Keep the bag small; you will carry it all day.
- Your ticket and wristband, plus photo ID.
- A hat, sunscreen and a cooling towel.
- A light rain poncho.
- A power bank for timetables, maps and train apps.
- A rechargeable IC transport card for the trains home.
What happens on the day
- Night before
Sonicmania or Midnight Sonic
Separately ticketed late-night events run in some years in Tokyo.
- Festival days
Music from late morning
Stadium and hall stages run through the afternoon into the evening, with headliners on the main stage.
- Evening
Getting home
Trains from Makuhari and Suita are crowded after the last sets; expect queues at the stations.
Choosing between Tokyo and Osaka
The first decision is Tokyo or Osaka. Because the line-up rotates, you can usually see the same headliners in either city, so choose by where you want to base yourself. Tokyo's site in Makuhari is bigger and draws more people; the Osaka edition at the Expo park is smaller.
Multi-day tickets for Tokyo can sell out early, as they did ahead of the 2026 edition, so buy as soon as passes go on sale, before the full bill is out. Hotels in Tokyo and Osaka fill quickly in the August holiday period too.
The festival's history in both cities
Summer Sonic began in 2000 with an edition at Fuji-Q Highland and one in Osaka, before the Tokyo event settled in Chiba in 2001. The Osaka edition moved from the WTC Open Air Stadium to Maishima in 2007 and to Expo '70 Commemorative Park in 2024.
Along the way it added Sonicmania, a Shanghai edition in 2017 and a Thai edition from 2024. After the 2020 cancellation and the Supersonic stopgap of 2021, the 25th edition in 2026 returned to three days.
Getting there
Tokyo edition
Kaihin-Makuhari Station on the JR Keiyo Line is the usual station for Makuhari Messe and ZOZO Marine Stadium, with direct trains from Tokyo Station.
Osaka edition
Expo '70 Commemorative Park is served by the Osaka Monorail from central Osaka connections.
Flying in
Narita and Haneda serve Tokyo; Kansai and Itami serve Osaka.
Between the cities
The Tokaido Shinkansen links Tokyo and Shin-Osaka if you plan to see days in both.
Where to stay during the festival
For the Tokyo edition, most people sleep in Tokyo and commute to Makuhari by train; staying near the site in Chiba shortens the journey home after the headliner. For Osaka, central Osaka works well, with Suita a short ride north.
August is a holiday month in Japan, so rooms in both cities should be booked as soon as you know which edition you are going to.
Tokyo
The Peninsula Tokyo5-star hotel
No reviews yet
from$1,100.00/ night
- Internet – Wifi
- Airport shuttle
- Swimming pool
4 Rooms available
Book Now
Osaka
Cross Hotel Osaka4-star hotel
No reviews yet
from$169.00/ night
- Internet – Wifi
- Air conditioning
- Restaurant
3 Rooms available
Book Now
Weather and what to pack
Chiba's 1991-2020 normals give August an average high of 31.0°C and a low of 24.3°C, with about 116 mm of rain over 8.5 rainy days and around 189 hours of sunshine.
Expect heat and humidity on the waterfront, warm nights and the chance of a typhoon or heavy downpour; in 2026 heavy rain the day before delayed preparations, though the festival opened on time.
Worth packing
- A hat and high-factor sunscreen
- A cooling towel
- A light rain poncho
- A refillable water bottle
- Comfortable trainers for concrete and halls
- A power bank
- An IC transport card
Flights to Tokyo for Summer Sonic
The busiest routes into Tokyo (NRT).
FromTo DAC NRT DhakaTokyo Available airlines1 airline- Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Car hire in Tokyo
Airport transfer to Summer Sonic
Met at arrivals at Narita International Airport (NRT) and driven door to door to ZOZO Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe.
- Narita International Airport (NRT) → ZOZO Marine Stadium and Makuhari Messe
- 42 km · 40 min
Restaurants and food in Japan
Places to eat in Japan before or after the celebrations.
Nagataya
1F, 1-7-19 Otemachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan
Cuisine:Hiroshima okonomiyaki
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Okonomiyaki Mizuno
1-4-15 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka 542-0071, Japan
Cuisine:OkonomiyakiOsaka
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Kikunoi Honten
459 Shimokawara-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0825, Japan
Cuisine:Kyoto kaisekiJapanese
- Dine-in
Narisawa
Minamiaoyama Garden Court, 2-6-15 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan
Cuisine:InnovativeJapanese
- Dine-in
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
Not quite. The Tokyo edition takes place in Makuhari, in neighbouring Chiba, using ZOZO Marine Stadium as the main stage and the halls of Makuhari Messe. Most visitors still stay in Tokyo and travel out by train.
At Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Suita, north of central Osaka. The Osaka edition moved there in 2024; before that it was on Maishima Sports Island from 2007.
Largely, yes. The bill rotates between the two sites, so an artist playing Tokyo on one day plays Osaka on another. In 2026, for example, Tokyo's first day was mirrored by Osaka's second.
Naoki Shimizu, chief executive of Creativeman Productions, founded it in 2000. Creativeman still organises the festival.
The first Tokyo-area edition in 2000 was held at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida. It moved to Chiba the following year. Osaka has hosted an edition since the start, beginning at the WTC Open Air Stadium.
Usually two. The 2009, 2011 and 2026 editions ran over three days, the last of them for the 25th anniversary.
A separately ticketed overnight event, focused on electronic music, established in 2011 and held the night before the festival. Midnight Sonic is a similar late-night event held in some years, including 2026.
Yes. B'z, announced in 2019, was the first Japanese headliner in the festival's history. In 2026 Ado and L'Arc-en-Ciel took headline slots.
Yes. There was a Shanghai edition in 2017, and since 2024 a Thai edition has been held at Impact Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi, on the edge of Bangkok.
Cancellations & changes
The 2020 festival was cancelled. A scaled-down edition called Supersonic ran in September 2021, with a mainly electronic bill, and a typhoon disrupted its first day.
Booking
The organisers reported 179,000 in Tokyo and 110,000 in Osaka over the three days, with a further 19,000 at Midnight Sonic in Tokyo.