Burning Japan General Incorporated Association
About Burning Japan
A regional burn in Japan, on the same principles as Burning Man in the Nevada desert. There is no audience and no commerce. Participants build a city, then leave the pasture as they found it.
Not a festival
Search “Burning Man” and you get desert, giant art, and naked people. What you are looking at was brought by participants, the same kind of person as you. There is no cast. No Spectators.
Money is not used on site. A small society runs on gifts that do not ask to be repaid. Not everything is allowed. You are responsible for yourself, you do not harm people, and you do not leave a single piece of trash.
It is also a place to step out of the role you play on weekdays and meet yourself. A festival is too small a word for it. The association has described it as a trial of another way of living together. What a screen cannot show, a few days on the pasture can.
The association
It began in 2012 with three people: Minegishi, Asami, and Afromance. Gatherings have ranged from about 100 to about 700 people. In 2017 they incorporated the Burning Japan General Incorporated Association. Directors are unpaid. From the first plan to the last bag of trash, the work is volunteer. Income is tickets alone. Sponsors have not been sought since 2012, and will not be. A surplus goes to keeping the association, to art grants, and to the next year.
History
Each year's theme and venue is in the archive. 2019 was cancelled for Typhoon No. 19, and 2020 did not happen. October 2026 was our 13th burn, Night Parade of a Thousand Demons. Next we meet Thu 7 to Mon 11 October 2027 at Tsumagoi Bokujo.
What is Burning Man?
Burning Man is a city that stands for a week in the Nevada desert, then comes down. Participants bring the art, the food, and the fire. There is no audience and nothing for sale. Larry Harvey wrote ten principles for the regional events that grew out of it.
Burning Japan is an independent event in Japan. The association's own notices call it Japan's official regional burn. The 2021 announcement points to the Burning Man Regional Network at regionals.burningman.org. It follows those ten principles. The Burning Man Project does not run it. Tickets, the land, and the crew belong to Burning Japan.
Financial reports
These are the financial reports the association has published. Reports for 2024, 2025, and 2026 are not out yet.