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PRODID:-//Falkor//Falkor Events//EN
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DTSTART:20260808T180000Z
DTEND:20260810T003000Z
SUMMARY:Toro Nagashi Festival 2026 — Japanese Friendship Garden
DESCRIPTION:For one evening near the water\, a few hundred strangers write the names of people they have lost onto paper lanterns and set them adrift together\, and the garden goes quiet in a way no other event in Balboa Park ever does. Toro Nagashi is a Buddhist tradition in which floating lanterns guide the spirits of ancestors who have passed. In Japan it closes the Obon season\; here it has become a shared civic ritual that draws thousands of San Diegans of every background into one of the garden's most intimate spaces.\n\nAround the lantern ceremony\, both days fill with taiko drumming\, traditional Obon folk dancing\, cultural presentations\, and Japanese food vendors — yakitori\, mochi\, shave ice\, and a sake garden for adults — plus a curated marketplace of Japanese crafts and artisans. There are no branded stages\, no VIP sections\, no DJ sets. It is a ceremony that happens to be open to the public\, and the crowd that shows up for it is the kind that makes a city feel like a real place.\n\nThe 2026 festival is August 8–9 at the Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego\, near the Prado in Balboa Park and easily reached via the free Balboa Park Tram. Lanterns go on presale starting in May. Metered parking is available throughout the park\, closest off Park Boulevard and Pan American Road. Festival admission is included with standard garden admission.
LOCATION:Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego\, 2215 Pan American Rd E\, San Diego\, CA 92101
URL:https://www.falkorevents.com/eventcal/event/5724/details/
UID:event-5724@falkorevents.com
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