Next edition — Mar 20–22, 2027 (CONFIRMED)
Hotel check-in nights: Mar 19–22, 2027
Crowd size — About 20,000 over three days · 2024 edition (14-16 September 2024)
The Numazu Jimoto-Ai Festival is the recurring Love Live! Sunshine!! fan event in Numazu, the Shizuoka city where the anime is set. The fifth edition runs 20-22 March 2027 at Kira Messe Numazu, by Numazu Station: two ticketed shows a day with Aqours' voice actresses, and a local product fair. Tickets went by lottery; a room near the station means walking back after the evening show.
How the date is set — About once a year, but not on a fixed date: 14-16 September 2024, 1-3 November 2025 and 20-22 March 2027, each a Saturday-to-holiday-Monday weekend. The fifth edition's first ticket lottery opened on 24 July 2026.
How often it runs — An annual fixture, the organiser says; March 2027 is the fifth edition.
Goes first — Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 March, between show days on a three-day weekend (Monday 22 March is a public holiday). Add Friday 19 March if you travel far for the Saturday matinee.
Act by — As soon as your seat is confirmed: winners of the second ticket lottery were told on 31 October 2026.
The official page lists two eplus lotteries; the second announced results on 31 October 2026, with payment due by 21:00 on 3 November.
Project Love Live! Sunshine!! (official site) — “Love Live! Sunshine!! 5th Numazu Jimoto-Ai Festival: shows, tickets and product fair” — https://www.lovelive-anime.jp/uranohoshi/live/live_detail.php?p=jimoai5th (read 2026-11-03)
A sold-out listing may reopen after a cancellation or an additional room release. 空きウォッチ Aki checks Rakuten Travel for new openings, so you can act when one appears.
Watch the rooms — free, no account
Love Live! Sunshine!! follows nine girls at Uranohoshi Girls' High School, a private school in Uchiura, a seaside part of Numazu, who set out to become school idols. The Jimoto-Ai Festival (jimoto-ai means love for your home town) brings the voice cast to the real city about once a year.
Each day of the fifth edition features three of the nine voice actresses, in a 14:00 matinee and an 18:30 evening show, with a reading-drama segment of newly written stories built on keywords sent in by fans. The hall is Kira Messe Numazu, the exhibition hall of the Plaza Verde complex by the station.
Numazu City says about 20,000 fans came over three days in 2024. The city has run its own hometown-tax booth at the product fair next door, and in 2024 it announced that the mayor would appear there for an hour on the opening morning.
Recent editions have each taken a Saturday-to-holiday-Monday weekend: September 2024, November 2025 and now March 2027. The shows therefore share the town with ordinary holiday travellers, and both want the hotels by the station. Settle the room as soon as your ticket is confirmed, and keep Mishima, one stop down the line, as the fallback.
Each show needs a reserved-seat ticket: ¥8,500, or ¥11,500 with an acrylic plate collected at the venue on the day; restricted-view seats cost the same. Everyone aged 3 and over pays. Tickets went by eplus lottery, with a face photo registered for every attendee and photo ID as the fallback at the door. Both lotteries have closed.
Watching for free — The product fair alongside, in Plaza Verde's Convention Hall A, was free to enter in 2025; its 2027 details have not been published.
How hard it actually is — Kira Messe Numazu is three minutes from Numazu Station, so a room near the station is the easy choice; Mishima, one stop and about six minutes away, has the Shinkansen. Numazu City describes the festival as the weekend fans from all over Japan converge on the city. 空きウォッチ Aki checks well-rated hotels on Rakuten Travel across the Numazu, Mishima and Gotemba area for the nights of 19 to 22 March.
What a night costs — Budget the show ticket (¥8,500, or ¥11,500 with goods, plus fees) separately from the room. A room by Numazu Station saves the evening train; Mishima adds a six-minute ride each way.
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