November is a busy month for families in Hiroshima. This guide picks 12 events and places for children: seven in and around Hiroshima City (including the Kure part of a building festival), and five in the Bingo area (Fukuyama City and Sera Town). For each one it gives the dates, the cost, whether you must book, and how to park.
In short
- Tuesday, November 3, 2026 (Culture Day) is the busiest day: free planetarium shows, free entry to the Local History Museum, a free children’s film, and the Forest Park’s anniversary festival.
- Book early for two events: the Tatemonogatari Festa tours and workshops (booking opens October 6 and October 16) and the Science Festival (booking opens October 31 at 12:00).
- The three Sera flower gardens end on November 3 (Dahlia and Cosmos) and November 8 (Rose and Flower Garden).
- 5-Days Children’s Museum and the Film Library have no car park, so plan to use trams and buses in central Hiroshima.
Checked with official pages on October 5, 2026.
1. The 12 events in one table
Depends on the provider
On Tuesday, November 3, planetarium shows at 5-Days Children’s Museum and entry to the Local History Museum are free, and the children’s film is also free. Tap an event name to jump to it. Hiroshima City comes first, then the Bingo area.
| Event | Dates | Cost | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tatemonogatari Festa | Nov 6–8 (Hiroshima), Nov 14–15 (Kure) | Free for the children’s programs | Some programs |
| Science Festival | Nov 14 and 15 | Not stated | Required (from Oct 31) |
| Free planetarium day | Nov 3 | Free | Free ticket on the day |
| Forest Park Autumn Festa | Nov 3 | Park entry free; some events paid | No |
| Local History Museum | Nov 3 | Free | No |
| Children’s film | Nov 3 | Free | No |
| MOCA picture book show | Nov 14 to Jan 24, 2027 | Free for junior high and under | No |
| Kusado Sengen Night Museum | Nov 20 and 21 nights, plus weekends | Admission ¥320 (adult) | Nov 21 only |
| Rose and Flower Garden | Until Nov 8 | Child ¥200–500 | No |
| Dahlia and Garden Mum | Until Nov 3 | Child ¥300–600 | No |
| Cosmos Festa | Until Nov 3 | Elementary school ¥400 | No |
| Setouchi Elegy | Until Nov 23 | Per program | Yes |
Prices and dates are from each official page. All of the official pages are in Japanese, and none of them say whether staff speak English.
2. Hiroshima City and Kure: 7 events
Hiroshima City
Two of the seven need booking ahead: the Tatemonogatari Festa (from October 6 and 16) and the Science Festival (from October 31). The others need no booking.
2.1 Hiroshima Tatemonogatari Festa 2026 (ひろしまたてものがたりフェスタ)
This festival opens buildings that are normally closed and runs tours and workshops in them. It is held in Hiroshima City from Friday, November 6 to Sunday, November 8, and in Kure City on Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15. There are 46 programs in total.
- Bird-call workshop at KItoNOKO (日興ホーム広島支社): November 7 and 8, 10:00–15:00, about 30 minutes. Ages 3–12, with a parent. Free; booking required; 64 groups.
- Coloring visor workshop at Hiroshima TONKAN (広島TONKAN): November 7 and 8, 10:00–18:00, about 15 minutes. Ages 4–12 (children must be able to use scissors). Free; no booking; first 100 children.
- Pop-up architecture (origami) workshop at Innovation Hub Hiroshima Camps: November 8, 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–16:00. Ages 8–15 (children must be able to use a craft knife). Free; booking required; 12 children per session.
- Children’s guide tour around Fukuromachi: November 8, 13:30–14:45 and 15:30–16:45, meeting in front of the former Bank of Japan Hiroshima Branch. Ages 7–12. Free; booking required; 7 pairs of child and parent per tour.
Booking opens at about 10:00 on October 6 for November 6–8 programs and on October 16 for November 14–15 programs; places go to the first applicants. You can join a waiting list if a program is full. As a general rule, everyone, including children, must be on the application, and children up to junior high school age need a parent with them. The origami workshop and the children’s tour are different: you apply with the child’s name only, and for the origami workshop only children aged 9 and under need a parent.
There is also a stamp rally across 8 spots. The prize is handed out at the information desk in TONKAN on November 7 and 8, 10:00–18:00, one per person, while supplies last. The rules say there is no parking at the venues except those marked “parking available”; KItoNOKO has parking. Ask the organizers at 082-513-2311 (weekdays 9:00–17:00).
2.2 Science Festival for Young People, 31st Hiroshima (青少年のための科学の祭典)
This festival is at 5-Days Children’s Museum (5-Daysこども文化科学館) on Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, with 44 experiment, craft and science show booths in total. There are four sessions: 9:30–12:00 and 13:30–16:00 on each day.
Only elementary school to high school students (and equivalents) can try the booths; preschoolers and adults cannot. Elementary school children need a parent with them. Online booking opens on Saturday, October 31 at 12:00 and is first come, first served. Each session has 1,000 places, including accompanying parents and family, and one booking covers up to 5 people. You need an email address. The event page does not state a fee.
The museum has no car park. It is about 300 m from the Genbaku Dome-mae tram stop, and the official site tells you to use a paid car park nearby.
2.3 Free planetarium day, 5-Days Children’s Museum
On Tuesday, November 3 (Culture Day), the planetarium is free for everyone. Entry to the museum is always free, and the planetarium normally costs ¥510 for adults and ¥250 for high school students and seniors (65 and over); middle school students and younger are free. Everyone needs a ticket, even if free. Tickets for all of the day’s showings are given out from 9:00 on the first floor.
The showings on November 3 are at 10:00 and 13:00 (“Pyonta Asks About Space Exploration”), 11:00 and 14:00 (“Moon Base: the Future of a Lunar Base”), 15:00 (“Sakanaction Good Night Planetarium”) and 16:00 (“Reflectarium 2026 Autumn Program”). You cannot enter or leave during a show. The museum is closed on Monday, November 2 and Wednesday, November 4.
Other free or cheap activities there: science shows on November 1 and 8 at 13:30 and 15:00 (free, no booking), and a “Fun Craft Room” on Monday, November 23 from 13:00 (¥30, for preschoolers to lower elementary school; it ends when materials run out). The museum will close from April 1, 2027 for earthquake-proofing and exhibit renovation, until it reopens in fiscal 2029.
2.4 Hiroshima City Forest Park anniversary festival
Hiroshima City Forest Park (広島市森林公園, also called Hiroshima Yugaku no Mori) in Higashi Ward holds its “Autumn Festa” on Tuesday, November 3, 9:00–15:30. The program includes Japanese drums, kids’ dance, marimba, a fire brigade band, a fire engine display, a show by the local hero Aki Senshi Maple Kaiser and forest pizza making. You do not need to book, and some events charge a fee.
The park does not charge for entry, but parking costs ¥450 a day for a car or light car (a price list dated 2019); motorcycles are free. It is open 9:00–16:30 (last entry 16:00) and closed on Wednesdays, or the next day if Wednesday is a holiday. On November 14 there is a “Forest School” for elementary school children and older with a parent (about 15 groups, free, apply by email by November 7, held in rain or shine; bring lunch). On November 15 from 13:00 to 15:00 there is a free kagura (traditional Shinto dance) show; if it rains it moves to November 22.
By car, it is about 3.8 km from the Hiroshima-higashi interchange of the San’yo Expressway. By bus, the nearest stop is Toishi, which is about 2.5 km (50 minutes on foot) from the park entrance.
2.5 Hiroshima City Local History Museum, Culture Day event
The Hiroshima City Local History Museum (広島市郷土資料館) in Minami Ward holds “Issen Yoshoku and Quiz Rally” on Tuesday, November 3, 10:00–16:00 (sign-up until 15:30). Issen yoshoku is a cheap snack (dagashi) that is said to be the root of okonomiyaki; you make and taste it (until the ingredients run out) and answer quiz questions about the displays. It is free and needs no booking, and entry to the museum is free for everyone that day.
On other days, entry is ¥100 for adults and ¥50 for high school students and seniors; middle school students and younger are free. The official page also says international students get free entry with a student ID. The exhibition “Gon the Fox and Life in the Past” runs until Monday, November 23, and on weekends and holidays (except November 3) a quiz event gives an original gift. The museum is open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30) and closed on Mondays (if Monday is a public holiday, it opens and closes on the next weekday instead).
It is 5 minutes on foot from Ujina 2-chome tram stop (宇品二丁目). The main car park has 13 spaces.
2.6 Children’s film screening, Hiroshima Film Library
The Hiroshima City Film Library (広島市映像文化ライブラリー) shows “The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Eric Carle Collection” on Tuesday, November 3 at 11:00 and 14:30. It is 5 animated stories, 33 minutes in total, shown from a DVD. It is free, needs no booking and has 100 seats. The lights stay on and you may come and go or talk, so it suits children who are seeing a film on a big screen for the first time. The page does not say which language the film is in.
The venue is on the 10th floor of Ale-Ale Hiroshima near Hiroshima Station, about a 5-minute walk. There is no car park or bicycle park, and no parking discount for visitors.
2.7 Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art: picture book exhibition
The special exhibition “Coming from Bratislava! Picture Books of the World” runs from Saturday, November 14 to Sunday, January 24, 2027, at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (広島市現代美術館, MOCA) in Hijiyama Park. It shows award-winning illustrations from the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava, held every two years in Slovakia, and works by 10 Japanese artists. It is open 10:00–17:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing). It is closed on Mondays (except November 23 and January 11), on November 24, from December 27 to January 1 and on January 12.
Admission is ¥1,100 for adults (¥850 in advance or for groups), ¥800 for university students (¥600), and ¥550 for high school students and people 65 and over (¥400). Junior high school students and younger are free. Advance tickets are sold from October 1 to November 13 at the online shop “339” and the museum’s desk. On Sundays (November 1, 8 and 15) 10:00–16:30 there is a free “Mokamoka Workshop” for drawing and crafts; preschoolers come with a parent. On Wednesdays (November 4, 11 and 18) at 10:30 there is a stroller tour of the museum’s Collection Exhibition 2026-II for parents with a child up to about 18 months (about 3 families); it is free with an exhibition ticket and you book on the museum’s website.
Parking: the museum says it has no car park of its own, but Hijiyama Park has 107 free spaces, open 9:00–19:00. Hiroshima Danbara Shopping Center’s car park is free for 3 hours that day if you take a proof of entry from the museum desk to the supermarket’s service counter (except on the shopping center’s closed days).
3. Fukuyama and Sera (Bingo area): 5 events
Fukuyama City and Sera Town
The Dahlia festival and the Cosmos Festa end on November 3, and the Rose and Flower Garden ends on November 8. Two things last longer: the Night Museum in Fukuyama and Setouchi Elegy.
3.1 Kusado Sengen Night Museum, Fukuyama
The Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of History (広島県立歴史博物館, also called Fukuyama Kusado Sengen Museum) turns its life-size reconstruction of a medieval town into the stage for a mystery game called “The Phantom Town and the Letter Left Behind”. You need a smartphone or tablet. On weekends and the third Friday of each month (November 20), you can play during the day, 9:00–17:00, without booking.
Night opening is on Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21, 18:00–20:00 (last entry 19:15), with lighting and projection mapping outside; viewing the outside is free. On November 21 the “Super Immersion Day” needs a booking on the web (120 people, first come first served, booking planned for early November), and only people who booked can enter the night session that day. On that day, people playing the medieval town’s residents appear in the exhibition room.
Daytime admission is ¥320 for adults under 65 and ¥230 for university students. People 65 and over and preschool children are free; the fee for elementary to high school students is “set separately”. Night admission is ¥320 for adults and ¥230 for university students; high school students and younger, and people 65 and over, are free. If you came in during the day, show your ticket stub to enter the night session free. The museum is open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30) and closed on Mondays.
It is about 400 m west of the north exit of JR Fukuyama Station. The city car park north of the museum is free for the first hour with a museum visit (show your parking ticket at the desk), but it has limited spaces and the museum recommends public transport. Allow extra time by car on night-opening days.
3.2 Rose and Flower Garden (Autumn), Sera Town
“Sora no Hanabatake Sera Kogen Hana-no-Mori” (そらの花畑 世羅高原花の森) has an English rose and perennial garden open from Saturday, September 26 to Sunday, November 8. It is open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30). It is closed for maintenance on some October days only. Tickets are ¥500–1,000 for adults and ¥200–500 for children (age 4 to elementary school); children 3 and under are free. The price changes with how much is in bloom. Tickets are also sold at the gate.
The garden has a nursing room and free loan of strollers and wheelchairs (limited numbers). Parking is free. Address: 1405 Tobari Soraguchi, Sera Town. Google Maps
3.3 Dahlia and Garden Mum Festival, Sera Town
“Sera Kogen Farm” (世羅高原農場) holds its dahlia and garden mum festival from Saturday, September 12 to Tuesday, November 3. It is open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30) and open until 18:00 (last entry 17:30) on October 31, November 1 and November 3. Tickets are ¥700–1,200 for adults and ¥300–600 for children (age 4 to elementary school); children 3 and under are free. The price changes with the bloom, and there are e-tickets.
There is a nursing room and free stroller loan. The free car park has 1,000 spaces. Address: 1124-11 Bessako, Sera Town. Google Maps
3.4 Cosmos Festa at Kozan Lavender Hill, Sera Town
“Kozan Lavender Hill” (香山ラベンダーの丘) holds its Cosmos Festa from September 12 to November 3, 9:00–17:00. As of October 3, entry is ¥1,000 for adults and ¥400 for elementary school children, and the price changes with the bloom. Each person may pick up to 5 cosmos flowers, and there is a roasted sweet potato festival on weekends and holidays.
There is a large free car park. Address: 794-9 Bessako, Sera Town. Phone: 0847-24-1108. Google Maps
3.5 Setouchi Elegy: experience programs in southern Fukuyama
Setouchi Elegy (せとうちエレジー) is a series of local experience programs, led by local people, in Tomo no Ura and the Numakuma Peninsula in southern Fukuyama City. The autumn 2026 season runs from September 19 to November 23. The official site lists 38 programs, and some have been cancelled or are full. Booking opened on August 1 and is done on the official site for each program.
Price, age limits and parking differ for every program, so read the page of the program you want. Several program pages say there is no car park at the meeting point and point to paid car parks in Tomo no Ura. The secretariat is the Fukuyama Convention Association: 084-926-2649.
4. Getting around and what to plan for
Depends on the provider
- Hiroshima City center: 5-Days Children’s Museum and the Film Library have no car park, and the Local History Museum has 13 spaces. MOCA is the exception, with 107 free spaces in Hijiyama Park (9:00–19:00).
- Sera Town gardens: all three have free car parks (Dahlia: 1,000 spaces). You will need a car.
- Fukuyama museum: the car park is small, and the museum recommends walking 400 m from JR Fukuyama Station.
- Forest Park: entry is free, but parking is ¥450 a day.
- Cancellations: for the science festival, tell the museum as early as you can if you cannot come: 082-222-5346.
5. Choose by date
Depends on the provider
Tuesday, November 3 combines the free planetarium, the Local History Museum event, the children’s film and the Forest Park festival. They are in different parts of Hiroshima City, so match show times to train and tram times if you want two in one day.
- Sunday, November 1: science show at 5-Days (13:30 and 15:00); Mokamoka Workshop at MOCA.
- Tuesday, November 3: free planetarium, Local History Museum, children’s film, Forest Park festival. Dahlia and Cosmos end.
- November 6–8: Tatemonogatari Festa in Hiroshima City (workshops on 7 and 8; origami and Fukuromachi tour on 8). The Rose and Flower Garden ends on 8.
- November 14–15: Science Festival; Tatemonogatari Festa in Kure; the MOCA picture book show opens on 14; Forest School (14) and kagura (15).
- November 20–21: Kusado Sengen Night Museum (21 is the booked Super Immersion Day).
- Monday, November 23: last day of Setouchi Elegy and of the Local History Museum exhibition; Fun Craft Room at 5-Days.
Common questions
Which events need booking?
The Tatemonogatari Festa tours and some workshops (booking opens October 6 and 16), the Science Festival (October 31 at 12:00), the Night Museum’s Super Immersion Day on November 21 (planned for early November), the Forest School (by email, by November 7) and all of Setouchi Elegy. The coloring visor workshop, the Local History Museum event, the children’s film, the MOCA exhibition and the Forest Park anniversary festival need no booking.
Which are indoors if it rains?
5-Days Children’s Museum, the Local History Museum, the Film Library, MOCA and the History Museum in Fukuyama are indoors. The Forest School is held in rain or shine, and the kagura show moves to November 22 if it rains. The Fukuromachi children’s tour is cancelled in bad weather. The Sera flower gardens are outdoors; check each garden’s page for that day.
Where can I find more November events?
Hiroshima Prefecture’s child-care portal Ikuchan Net lists November events, and the prefecture’s tourism site Dive! Hiroshima lists events across the prefecture. Ikuchan Net is in Japanese. Dive! Hiroshima has a language menu that includes English.
Sources (checked October 2026)
- Hiroshima Tatemonogatari Festa official site (Japanese): how to join, KItoNOKO, TONKAN, origami workshop, children’s tour, stamp rally
- 5-Days Children’s Museum: Science Festival (Japanese), visitor information, planetarium schedule, closure notice, access
- Hiroshima City: events for children at museums (Japanese, updated October 1, 2026)
- Hiroshima City Forest Park: November events (Japanese), fees, hours, access
- Local History Museum: events (Japanese), visitor information, access
- Hiroshima Film Library: facility and access (Japanese)
- MOCA: Bratislava picture book exhibition (Japanese), access
- Kusado Sengen Night Museum event site (Japanese), Prefectural Museum of History: visitor information, Night Museum notice
- Rose and Flower Garden (Autumn), Dahlia and Garden Mum Festival, Kozan Lavender Hill, Setouchi Elegy (all Japanese)
- Official Instagram posts embedded above: @tate_festa, @hiroshimacityforestpark, @hiroshimakyodo, @hiroshima_moca, @hiroshima_history_museum, @serahananomori, @kouzanlavender, @setouchi_elegy
