100 Breweries, 5 Days: Konzai 2026 Returns to Tokyo's Takanawa Gateway

Konzai 2026, a five-day festival showcasing Japan's drinking culture, is coming to Tokyo this summer. The event runs June 10–14, 2026 at TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY's NEWoMan Takanawa in Takanawa — a sweeping new development near Shinagawa Station. The organizers are camo Co., Ltd. and Lumine Co., Ltd., running the event jointly as the Konzai Executive Committee.

The inaugural Konzai festival in April 2025 drew roughly 10,000 visitors over three days. This second edition expands to five days, with a bigger program to match.

Drinking with the people who made it

The centerpiece is Konzai Park, an open-air space where over 100 producers from Hokkaido to Kagoshima rotate in daily. Each day brings a different set of brewers and distillers — sake producers, shochu makers, craft sake brands, and craft gin distillers — who pour and talk to visitors directly. Bottles can be purchased on the spot.

Food trucks and snack vendors set up alongside the drinks. For non-drinkers, amazake (a traditional fermented rice drink served sweet and non-alcoholic) in creative variations and shaved ice are also on offer. The organizers have explicitly designed the space to welcome people who aren't drinking, and kids too — not just dedicated sake enthusiasts.

Inside NEWoMan Takanawa, the program includes makers' dinners with producers, limited pairing menus, and hands-on workshops. A full schedule hasn't been published yet, but details are expected closer to the event.

What "Konzai" means

The name — 混祭, roughly "mixing festival" — reflects a deliberate concept. Organizer camo frames the event as an attempt to reframe Japanese drinking culture: not as a preserved tradition, but as something alive and contemporary, woven together with food, farming, nature, local communities, and art.

The backdrop: Japan's domestic sake and shochu markets have been contracting for years, driven by an aging producer base and shifting drinking habits. At the same time, international interest in "SAKE" has grown, and craft-conscious younger consumers are pushing the market in new directions. Konzai is designed to open a new door into all of it.

Event details

• Event: Konzai 2026
• Dates: June 10–14, 2026 (Wednesday–Sunday)
• Venue: TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY / NEWoMan Takanawa, Tokyo
• Organizers: Konzai Executive Committee (camo Co., Ltd. / Lumine Co., Ltd.)

Which day to go will depend a lot on the daily producer lineup — worth keeping an eye out when the schedule drops.