A community gathering at a national park overlooking Hakata Bay, where the sound runs from morning until dawn
For three days beginning October 2, Synapse Festival takes over INN THE PARK FUKUOKA — a "park you can sleep in," tucked inside Fukuoka's Uminonakamichi Seaside Park. In its third year, the festival expands to three days for the first time and relocates from Nokonoshima. Morning coffee between live sets and DJs, sauna, conversations around the fire: these Fukuoka-born three days treat all of it as time worth designing.
What is Synapse Festival
A community festival where music becomes the catalyst for connecting people, cultures and regions. Entrepreneurs, creators, digital nomads, artists and local players from Japan and abroad come together, aiming to create a space where new encounters and co-creation emerge through music, art, wellness and food.
The vision it holds up: Be a Dancer in your life. To increase the number of people who fully enjoy their own lives as if dancing through them. The mission: Share immersive experiences to find your rhythm. To share experiences that touch the senses, and to find your own rhythm. Using the framework of a music festival, what it's really after is a shared way of living.
This year's theme is "Where EN Happens. Rise Together."
With "EN" (connection, fate) as the keyword, the ties formed in various places converge in Fukuoka.
In 2024 and 2025, the festival was held at a campsite on Nokonoshima, the island floating in Hakata Bay. In its third year, Synapse changes shape in three ways. First, the venue: it moves inside Uminonakamichi Seaside Park. Second, the duration: from two days to three. The extra day was added out of the belief that the value lies not only in the live sets and DJs, but in the time that emerges between them. Third, the stages: a new chill-out stage, "EN CIRCLE," where diverse forms of expression intersect.
After closing hours, the national park belongs to the attendees alone
The venue is the "park you can sleep in," located inside Uminonakamichi Seaside Park, a national park spanning roughly 350 hectares. Nothing obstructs the vast lawn facing Hakata Bay — sunrise and sunset both fall straight into view. Six-meter spherical tents line the grounds, glowing at night and overlapping with the lights of Fukuoka city across the water.
The heart of this venue lies in what happens after closing. Once the general visitors have gone home, the park becomes a space for attendees alone. From night until morning, a national park opens up as a single festival ground.
It's about 30 minutes by car from central Fukuoka, and less than a 10-minute walk from JR Uminonakamichi Station. That kind of time exists right next to the city. Accommodation options include tent sites, pre-pitched GER TENTs, rental camping sets in partnership with hinata, plus a tie-up with the adjacent resort hotel The Luigans. From the all-ocean-view hotel, you can commute to the venue on a free shuttle bus.
The bay by day, the depths by night, and a crossroads of expression
Three stages, each with its own character, stand at the venue. The three days pass moving back and forth between them.
SYNAPSE STAGE
The heart of Synapse. In an open space overlooking Hakata Bay, the sound continues from sunrise to dusk. The energy born here envelops the entire festival.
OBORO STAGE
The midnight stage, carrying the night through to dawn. Experimental, hypnotic sound plays on without pause. The name holds two meanings: "oboro," the hazy blur of a moonlit landscape, and "Ryu no Miyako" (Capital of the Dragon), the alternate name for Shikanoshima.
EN CIRCLE
Newly created this year, a place to encounter the unknown. Live performances, film screenings, talk sessions. A chill-out stage where various forms of expression intersect — listen to music, engage with words, and spend the time however you like.
40 acts, from overseas, from across Japan, and from Kyushu
From overseas
GE-OLOGY (Brooklyn, New York)
Building a career from the underground hip-hop of the '90s onward, he's known for releases on Theo Parrish's Sound Signature and for "Pursuit Of The Journey," a track emblematic of Rainbow Disco Club. A Public Records resident.
Idjut Boys (London)
Legends of the UK disco-dub scene who established the "Disco-Dub" style. From 2025 they helm their new label, Bite The Day.
PARK JUHEUM (Busan, Korea)
A founding member of Seoul's Nyapi and owner of the Busan club Nasub. The first invitation from the Busan scene, roughly an hour from Fukuoka.
From across Japan
Ground (Osaka)
Head of Chill Mountain Rec. Having performed in over 29 countries, he serves as Synapse's sole resident.
SO (Tokyo)
A resident and organizer of The Labyrinth, active in the scene for over 20 years. Appearing for the third consecutive year.
Occa (Sapporo)
With Precious Hall's "ARCHIV" as his home base, he makes a long-awaited first appearance after being sought since year one. He'll present a Downtempo Set on the SYNAPSE STAGE.
DOLTZ. (Fukuoka)
Having played Berghain and Bassiani, he's also known for Omega Point alongside DJ Nobu. This time, his first outdoor morning Ambient & Experimental Set.
Tonbo (Tokyo)
A live performance fusing modular synths, bansuri and voice. In January 2026, he became the first Japanese artist to perform at Mexico's Day Zero.
From Kyushu's local scene
YSK (Kitakyushu), head of sound space α and a performer at Berghain Säule, appears for the third year running. Also on the lineup from the local scene: DJ FUMI, who has driven the Fukuoka underground for a quarter century; Rei Nakagawa, born in 2008, who has taken part since the first edition and released a debut MIX CD in August 2026; and Mr. Disco Kid, a record dealer whose clients include Gilles Peterson and Antal.
Live painting
Four artists: eri2win (Osaka), LUISE ONO (Tokyo), nyke (Fukuoka) and HIJY (Hokkaido). The process of each work coming together over three days unfolds in public at the venue.
The time that exists outside the music
The seaside public bath and sauna are available at any time during the festival — reach that state of "totonou" while taking in the full sweep of Hakata Bay. This year the sauna area has been expanded, with direct access to and from the bath. Sunrise yoga in the morning, sunset yoga in the evening. Bonfires, sound baths, ecstatic dance, film screenings, fortune telling, massage.
Eleven workshops in total. Nada Yoga, a djembe class, kung fu meditation, "Samurai Reset" featuring tanden breathing and sword swinging practice, and "Baul songs," the meditative music of Bengal. There are also dialogue-based programs on themes such as partnership and casual conversation.
More than 30 vendors will be on site for food and merchandise.
The three days in Fukuoka are the destination of a journey
Synapse's 2026 doesn't begin and end with the main festival. Da Nang, Taiwan, Kyoto, Okinawa, Sapporo. Synapse Nights are held in each location, and the connections formed there converge at October's main event. This year's theme points to the journey itself.
Just before the main festival, on September 24, Synapse Night Sapporo takes place at PROVO in Sapporo as an official side event of NoMaps 2026. On September 25, Synapse Night Fukuoka lands at KIETH FLACK in Fukuoka, offering a one-night preview of the OBORO STAGE.
INFORMATION
Tickets: 3DAYS PASS ¥22,000, 2DAYS PASS ¥17,000, U-24 ¥12,000. Sales via imin.
Sauna, public bath, yoga and workshops are included in the pass. Apart from a few paid programs, everything can be experienced at no extra charge.
Something begins from a chance encounter, and through connection, each person's world opens up.
These three days at Uminonakamichi exist as the place where those ties come together.
◯ Dates / 日程 2026.10.02 (Fri) - 10.04 (Sun)
◯ Venue / 会場 INN THE PARK FUKUOKA, Uminonakamichi, Fukuoka
◯ Genre / ジャンル House / Disco / Techno / Ambient
🎫 3DAYS PASS ¥22,000 / 2DAYS PASS ¥17,000 / U-24 ¥12,000 / imin
