Konnichi-wa and Aloha!

The 5^th Annual J-FESTA - Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival (J-FESTA) will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026 at the Royal Grove Stage in Waikīkī's Royal Hawaiian Center.

The 2026 festival will feature several steel guitarists and steel guitar groups from Japan including Michiyo Fujita, moani ito, Yukio Katagiri, Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi, Masami "Matt" Kobayashi, Paul Okubo, and Masami Sato and Makana.

The Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival is a collaborative project between HIMELE and Japanese steel guitar planners to bring Japanese steel guitar players to Honolulu to showcase their talents. The Royal Hawaiian Center will provide the Royal Grove Stage and other support for this project.

The festival is a culmination of years of planning with Hawai‘i and Japanese planners, including Japanese steel guitarist Tadashi Arakawa who passed away in early 2022. The 1^st annual festival was dedicated to him in his honor.

J-FESTA 2026 is a part of the weeklong 2026 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week, a celebration of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar that will be held during the week of July 5-12, 2026 and includes steel guitar events at the Royal Hawaiian Center and other venues throughout Waikīkī. J-FESTA 2026 will be livestreamed.