[2025] A classic song themed around summer festivals. A song of summer memories.
When you think of summer, it’s the season of summer festivals and fireworks.
Hearing the festival music brings back happy memories, and those who love festivals might feel their excitement bubbling up.
In this article, we’ll introduce songs themed around summer festivals and fireworks, as well as tunes that capture summer memories.
From lively, boisterous tracks that embody the fun of festivals to beautiful, fleeting songs about a bittersweet summer romance, these recommendations are full of summer vibes.
If you’re looking for festival songs or summer-themed tracks, or want to listen to songs about summer festivals, be sure to check them out!
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[2025] Masterpieces with the theme of summer festivals: Songs of Summer Memories (71–80)
festivalSaburō Kitajima
After all, when you think of festivals, this is the song, right? That powerful vocal that conjures an image of carrying the mikoshi with the sound of taiko drums echoing—if you’re Japanese, it’s hard not to feel your blood start to boil.
When it comes to summer festival songs, there are plenty of bittersweet tracks that signal the end of summer or tell sweet-and-sour love stories, but you can’t talk about them without this one that radiates almost sweltering masculinity! Many young people might not usually listen to enka, but take this opportunity to feel the spirit of Japan.
sparklermoon drop
A moon drop song that etches the memories of a summer festival into your heart.
The night I spent with you in a yukata, the footprints left on the beach, the flashes of fireworks.
.
.
all of it colors a fleeting yet beautiful page of youth.
Released in June 2024, this track splendidly captures the ache of unrequited love and the pull of nostalgia.
It’s a deeply evocative song you’ll want to listen to while gazing up at the summer night sky.
I highly recommend it to those who cherish their summer memories or carry a bittersweet love in their hearts.
It’s sure to become the song of summer that lingers in your soul!
Gion Festival OndoChiyoko Shimakura
An indispensable song for Kyoto’s Bon Odori is Gion Festival Ondo.
It’s also used during the Gion Festival, Kyoto’s major summer event, and incorporates the festival’s distinctive chant, “Konkonchikichin.” Released in 1957 as a locally sold record available only in Kyoto, it’s a duet by Chiyoko Shimakura and Hideo Yamagata.
For those living in Kyoto, it’s a familiar tune; for those who once lived there, it’s a nostalgic sound.
Be sure to visit the Gion Festival and listen to Gion Festival Ondo!
Fireworks, manga, chocolate, and rainHachimitsu Rocket
This is a cute-sounding song by Hachimitsu Rocket that seems to portray the longing to meet someone important and the frustration when things don’t go well.
The title, “Fireworks, Manga, Chocolate, and Rain,” lists the excuses used as reasons to meet, and you can picture the narrator pondering how to get just a little closer from there.
The buoyant, powerful rhythm of the sound is striking, conveying a determination to keep moving forward.
Through feelings of regret, the lyrics depict emotions gradually growing stronger and the singer wholeheartedly encouraging themselves, leaving a memorable impression.
fireworksSandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE
This is “Hanabi” by Sandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE, a dance-vocal group popular across a wide range of generations.
Released in 2012, this song also earned them a spot in that year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen.
It’s a number where burning passion and the beauty of fireworks seem to synchronize, and anyone who’s ever fallen in love in the summer is sure to find themselves empathizing with it.
Summer NudeMagokoro Brothers
“Summer Nude” is a single released by Magokoro Brothers in 1995, written as the commercial song for Nissin Foods’ summer-only Cup Noodles product “Summer Noodle.” In 2010 it was used as an insert song for the TV Tokyo drama “Moteki,” and in 2013 Tomohisa Yamashita, the lead actor, covered it as the theme song for the TV drama “SUMMER NUDE.” Its bright sound and driving rhythm, coupled with lyrics that convey the excitement of fireworks, are sure to liven up any summer festival!
summer festivalTsuyoshi Nagabuchi
Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi’s song “Natsu Matsuri” is a track included on his live album Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi LIVE, released in 1981.
The album reached No.
4 on the Oricon album chart, and the song became a signature folk tune about summer.
In “Natsu Matsuri,” Nagabuchi showcases an acoustic guitar technique known as three-finger picking.
The lyrics, which express the feeling of not wanting to part even when it’s time to go home, evoke memories of a faint, bittersweet love.
If you like folk songs, be sure to give “Natsu Matsuri” a listen!