KITTE Nagoya, the commercial facility inside JP Tower Nagoya, is holding "Joy forward Christmas -よろこびは、つぎの誰かへ-" (Joy Goes On to the Next Person) from Wednesday, November 11 to Friday, December 25, 2026. In its 10th anniversary year, KITTE Nagoya presents a Christmas that passes "joy" from one person to the next through light and sound, art, handmade crafts, and music.
This year's highlight is the butterfly drone show, in which glowing butterflies flutter around an 8 m tall tree as if they had flown out of the world of animation. KITTE Nagoya also holds a Christmas market and craft workshops by Creema creators for the first time. Through the fun of choosing gifts and the time spent making something for someone, the event aims to pass on the joy born at KITTE Nagoya, along with 10 years' worth of gratitude, from person to person and out into the city.
Note: Event details may change without notice. For details, see the KITTE Nagoya official website.
Event Overview
- Event name: Joy forward Christmas -よろこびは、つぎの誰かへ-
- Dates: Wednesday, November 11 to Friday, December 25, 2026
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya, the commercial facility in JP Tower Nagoya (1-1-1 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 450-6390)
- Organizers: Japan Post Co., Ltd., 名工建設株式会社
- Planning and operation: Japan Post Real Estate Co., Ltd., JPビルマネジメント株式会社
Lighting Ceremony With Butterfly Drones: The World of Animation Comes to Life
Original animation is shown on a large screen of more than 200 inches. As if butterflies had flown out of the video, two glowing butterfly drones fly through the open space of the atrium and pass their light on to 10 trees. The large-screen video and the actual drones are synchronized, and the space woven from light and sound is meant to feel as though the world of animation has leapt into the real space. With this immersive production, KITTE Nagoya's Christmas story begins.
The butterfly drone production is handled by ROBOZ, a Nagoya-based company that works on drone technology development, drone utilization support, and entertainment, and that is the special cooperation partner for this event.
The special production of the "Butterfly Drone Show" presented at the November 11 (Wednesday) lighting ceremony can also be seen on November 28 (Saturday), December 9 (Wednesday), and December 25 (Friday).
Lighting Ceremony
- Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2026
- Time: 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM (planned)
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
Butterfly Drone Show
- Dates: Saturday, November 28, Wednesday, December 9, and Friday, December 25, 2026
- Times: 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
An 8 m Main Tree Built From 10 Years of Joy, and a Daily Light Show
In the 1st-floor atrium, 10 trees symbolizing the 10th anniversary come together as one large main tree 8 m tall.
Each tree wears a different color, and ribbons connect them to express small joys gathering and spreading into something larger. In the lighting show held at set times every day, the tree shines in time with Christmas songs and wraps the whole space in light.
- Dates: Wednesday, November 11 to Friday, December 25, 2026
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
- Lighting show times: 12:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:30 PM, 6:00 PM, 6:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 7:30 PM, 8:00 PM, 8:30 PM, 9:00 PM
Notes:
- The special butterfly drone production takes place only at the November 11 (Wednesday) lighting ceremony and on November 28 (Saturday), December 9 (Wednesday), and December 25 (Friday).
- On November 11 (Wednesday), the lighting show starts at 7:30 PM.
- Times may change without notice.
A Popular Handmade Market Comes to KITTE Nagoya for the First Time
A Christmas market gathering creators who are active on the handmade marketplace Creema is held at KITTE Nagoya for the first time, so that visitors can choose a gift for someone special along with the thoughts of the person who made it. It runs for three days, Friday to Sunday, over two consecutive weeks, for a total of six days. Accessories, miscellaneous goods, and other works that show the makers' attention to detail and the warmth of handwork are on display, giving visitors the chance to find a favorite item they can only meet here.
Craft workshops, where visitors can enjoy making things together with the creators, are held at the same time. Both finishing a piece with your own hands and giving the finished work to someone can become a Christmas memory, and visitors can enjoy both choosing works and the joy of making.
The market and workshops are run by Creema, a handmade marketplace where works by 310,000 creators can be bought directly from the makers. Details on exhibitors will be available on the Creema event page from early November.
- Dates: Friday, December 4 to Sunday, December 6, 2026, and Friday, December 11 to Sunday, December 13, 2026
- Time: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM on all days
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
Customers who make a purchase at a participating market booth receive a Christmas card with a design exclusive to Joy forward Christmas, drawn by animation artist and picture-book author misato. (production cooperation: Sankeisha (三恵社))
- The Christmas cards come in 10 designs in total and are available while supplies last.
- The design cannot be chosen.
A Christmas Story Drawn by Animation Artist and Picture-Book Author misato.
A small joy born from Santa Claus's gift becomes a butterfly and flies to the next person. Where it arrives, the butterfly turns into a ribbon and creates new joy. This heartwarming Christmas story spreads across KITTE Nagoya this year, and its main visual and original animation are created by misato., an animation artist and picture-book author. With a gentle, soft touch, misato. portrays this year's theme, "Joy goes on to the next person."
During the event, the original drawings made for this year's Christmas story are also on display in the glass case in the 2nd-floor through-passage.
misato. is an animation artist and picture-book author whose work ranges widely across animation, picture books, and collaborations with companies. misato.'s hallmarks are a free imagination in which familiar things change into unexpected forms, and a warm view of the world. For this event, misato. created the main visual and original animation, telling the theme "Joy goes on to the next person" as a story in which butterflies and ribbons connect people. Website: https://3-3-10.com/
Participatory Ribbon Tree to Tie Everyone's Joy Together
A participatory installation appears on the 2nd floor where visitors tie ribbons of their favorite colors, with their thoughts in mind, onto a tree. The ribbons tied by each person pile up, and the look of the tree changes over the course of the event. Visitors can add their own joy to someone else's and decorate one Christmas tree together.
- Dates: Wednesday, November 11 to Friday, December 25, 2026
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 2nd-floor through-passage
Baton Pass Concerts With Nagoya College of Music
Concerts that pass the joy of music on to the next stage are held on selected days. The program is planned like a baton pass, handing a phrase from the previous performance's piece over to the next performance. In collaboration with Nagoya College of Music (名古屋音楽大学), the sounds of various instruments ring out over the course of the event and add to the Christmas mood. Free to watch.
- Dates: November 15 (Sunday), November 21 (Saturday), November 22 (Sunday), November 28 (Saturday), November 29 (Sunday), and December 19 (Saturday), 2026
- Times: 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM (on December 19 only, 4:00 PM to 4:45 PM and 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM)
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
Joy forward MUSIC DAY: A Day of Music
From classical and jazz to a band playing traditional Japanese instruments, KITTE Nagoya offers a day where visitors can enjoy music of many genres. Free to watch.
- Date: Saturday, December 19, 2026
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
- Schedule:
- 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Nagoya Municipal Koyo High School (名古屋市立向陽高等学校) Jazz Orchestra Club "Seven Sounds Jazz Orchestra"
- 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM: 100万人のクラシックライブ
- 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM: 和楽器おりじん
- 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM: Baton Pass Concert (Nagoya College of Music)
- 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM: Katie Ford JAZZ BAND
Note: Times may change without notice.
Christmas Night Special Live by amanojac, a Popular Nagoya Rock Band
On December 25, "amanojac," a popular rock band based in Nagoya, takes the stage for a Christmas special live with powerful sound. The baton of music passed along throughout the event goes to its final stage, with 10 years of gratitude and joy that connects to the future put into the music. Free to watch.
- Date: Friday, December 25, 2026
- Time: 6:30 PM (planned)
- Venue: KITTE Nagoya 1st-floor atrium
amanojac (アマノジャク) is a rock band from Shinsakae, Nagoya, that began activities in 2019. After building a track record at local live houses, it won an audition to appear at "FREEDOM NAGOYA 2022 -EXPO-," and in 2026 it is widening its range of activity, including a Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka tour that takes in Nagoya's RAD SEVEN and RAD NINE. Its hallmarks are lyrics that depict daily life and the swaying of the heart, and music that faces up to one's own weaknesses. Official website: https://amanojac.radcreation.jp/
Exterior Illumination
24 street trees are lit by about 27,000 LEDs.
- Dates: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 to Sunday, February 28, 2027
- Lighting hours: 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM
- Venue: Exterior along Meieki-dori and the north step garden
Event Schedule
