Konnichi-wa and Aloha!

The 4^th Annual Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival will be held on Friday, July 11, 2025 at the Royal Grove Stage in Waikīkī's Royal Hawaiian Center.

The 2025 festival will feature seven steel guitarists and steel guitar groups from Japan. Performers include Shinichi Kakiuchi, Yukio Katagiri, Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi, Masami "Matt" Kobayashi, Paul Okubo, Masami Sato and Makana, and Moto Suzuki.

The Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival is a collaborative project between HIMELE and Japanese steel guitar planners to bring Japanese steel guitar players to Honolulu to showcase their talents. The Royal Hawaiian Center will provide the Royal Grove Stage and other support for this project.

The festival is a culmination of years of planning with Hawai‘i and Japanese planners, including Japanese steel guitarist Tadashi Arakawa who passed away in early 2022. The 1^st annual festival was dedicated to him in his honor.

The 2025 festival is a part of the weeklong 2025 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week, a celebration of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar that will be held during the week of July 6-12, 2025. The festival will be livestreamed.