The VANTAN Cultural Festival 2026 will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at five campuses of the vocational school VANTAN, in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo. Details of the festival's collaboration with the popular game series Monster Hunter have now been decided. Four special projects will liven up the autumn festival, letting visitors dive into the world of Monster Hunter through hands-on experiences built around looking, walking, solving puzzles and eating.
A Popular Annual Event with About 10,000 Visitors
The VANTAN Cultural Festival is an autumn event where students studying games, anime, fashion, beauty, confectionery, IT, music and other fields present what they have learned through shows, exhibits, shops and hands-on booths. It is a regular event that draws about 10,000 visitors, including students' families and junior high and high school students considering enrollment.
This year, the festival goes beyond presentations by individual departments, with multiple departments working together to create a single piece of content. With the cooperation of Capcom, the festival collaborates with Monster Hunter and recreates the world of the series in an immersive way for the first time, treating the entire school building as part of the game's world.
The Monster Hunter series is now in its 22nd year since the release of the first game in 2004, and is played across generations, from children to adults. It is also an IP (intellectual property) that extends beyond the games themselves into food and drink, merchandise and events. At the festival, students from different departments, including games, confectionery, cooking and design, will show their expertise and the results of their daily studies under a single IP. On the day, large monster panels will be set up at each campus building, and a stamp rally that takes visitors around the buildings will also be held. The puzzle quest lets visitors solve puzzles while enjoying the world of the series, and the collab cafe serves menu items created by students.
Four Monster Hunter Collaboration Projects
Four special projects, created by students with Capcom's cooperation, will be offered at the venues. The content offered differs by campus, so check the official website listed at the end of this article for details.
1. Solve: Original Puzzle Quest
Each campus will hold the puzzle event "VANTAN VILLAGE QUEST (バンタン村クエスト)." It is a puzzle available only on the day of the festival, created jointly by the puzzle-event company RIDDLER and students in the puzzle creator major at VANTAN Game Academy. Participants play hunters who have received the order "Save VANTAN Village!" and solve puzzles as they walk around the school building.
The puzzles were devised by students based on the world of Monster Hunter, using the game's ores and items, the sound of the Hunting Horn, monster visuals and more as themes. They combine different ways of solving: looking and listening as well as working with your hands. One puzzle asks participants to find clues in monster visuals posted around the school, another asks them to listen to sounds to work out the answer, and another asks them to fold paper from the distributed kit to make a "weapon." Participants use their smartphones, sending answers via LINE to progress through the story.
Venues:
- Tokyo campus: Nakameguro Building 1 and Ebisu Building 4
- Osaka campus: Shinsaibashi Building 5
- Nagoya: Building 1
- Fukuoka campus: Building 1
- Sapporo campus: Building 1
How to play
- Take on quests: Register the puzzle LINE account using the QR code on the kit handed out at reception. Using the kit, go around the notices posted in the school building and clear the puzzle quests.
- Collect materials: Sending the answer to a quest via LINE clears it and earns a clue for solving the final puzzle.
- Aim to clear the quest: Using the clues collected, take on the final puzzle and aim to clear the quest.
2. Eat: Collab Cafe
Students at L'ecole Vantan, VANTAN's food school for students aiming to open a cafe, become pastry chefs or work in the food business, created collab menu items based on the world of Monster Hunter. They will be sold only on the day of the festival. Based on items familiar from the game, such as the "Potion (回復薬)" and "Well-Done Steak (こんがり肉)," as well as the hunter's partner Felyne (アイルー), the Tokyo and Osaka campuses each offer different food, sweets and drinks. The Osaka campus also offers an interactive drink in which visitors add cotton candy inspired by the "Smoke Bomb (けむり玉)" to their drink to finish it themselves. For the festival only, a "Fluffy Felyne 3D Latte Art" supervised and created by latte artist Runa Kato (加藤瑠菜), whose work has been provided at the Super Bowl and Tokyo 2020, will also be sold. The lineup features items that visitors who have used them many times in the game can now actually taste.
Tokyo campus menu (served at Tokyo campus Nakameguro Building 3)
- Great Hunt Hunter's Meat Rice Bowl (大狩猟のハンター肉飯): ¥1,200 (tax included). A filling bowl loaded with three kinds of meat: beef, pork and chicken. Inspired by a feast after a hunt, it lets you fully enjoy the flavor of the meat. Charge your stamina and get ready for the next quest.
- Felyne Verrine (アイルーヴェリーヌ): ¥1,000 (tax included). Caramel milk mousse with a vanilla and blackcurrant center, layered with chestnut cream, almond cream and crunchy cookies. It is a Mont Blanc-style sweet packed with autumn flavors, including candied Japanese chestnut.
- Mega Potion Drink V (回復薬グレートドリンクV): ¥500 (tax included). A drink that pairs the fresh acidity of orange and lemon with the fragrant aromas of elderflower and thyme. Inspired by the Mega Potion (回復薬グレート), it is a festival-only drink. Take a breather, then head to the next quest.
Osaka campus menu (examples) (served at Osaka campus Shinsaibashi Building 2)
- Hunter's Taco Rice (ハンターズ・タコライス): ¥1,300 (tax included). Taco rice topped with meat flavor inspired by the Monster Hunter staple "Well-Done Steak (こんがり肉)" and rich cheese. Two kinds of sauce create an addictive taste, and the portion is filling. Eat well and charge your stamina.
- Palico: Pistachio Chocolate Agrumes (オトモアイルー～ピスタチオ ショコラ アグリューム～): ¥700 (tax included). A verrine inspired by the hat and coloring of the Palico (オトモアイルー), fun to look at. Pistachio and citrus, which pair well with chocolate, are layered so that each layer has a different flavor. It is a soothing sweet that gently wraps around the person eating it.
- Potion / Demondrug / Dash Juice (回復薬／鬼人薬／強走薬): ¥600 each (tax included). A drink in which fluffy cotton candy "Smoke Bomb (けむり玉)" is dropped in. The moment it fizzes and melts, a crackling sound and sparkles spread. Visitors add the final touch themselves, so they can finish the drink feeling like a hunter.
Fluffy Felyne 3D Latte Art (もこもこアイルー 3Dラテアート) (served at Tokyo campus Nakameguro Building 3)
- ¥800 (tax included). This menu item is supervised and created by Runa Kato, a latte artist active since 2018 who has drawn attention with her delicate touch and original expression, and whose work has been provided at events in Japan and overseas, including the Super Bowl and Tokyo 2020. A Felyne peeking out from fluffy milk foam is expressed as 3D latte art.
3. Buy: Student-Designed T-Shirts on Display and for Sale
A T-shirt design competition themed on Monster Hunter was held for students at all VANTAN schools. Students from any department could enter, not only fashion and graphic design students but also those studying games, illustration and manga, and more than 40 entries came in from across the country in total. VANTAN instructors served as judges, and after supervision by Capcom, six selected works were turned into products.
The finished T-shirts vary in style. Students used the kinds of expression they are good at to give form to the "Monster Hunter look," including a pop illustration of Felynes, artwork depicting a monster with a heavy texture, a watercolor-style design with a flower motif, and a Japanese-style design with a monster drawn inside a circle. On the day of the festival, the winning works will be displayed and sold in limited quantities.
Sales details
- Price: ¥3,000 each (tax included)
- Colors: black or white (varies by design)
- Quantity: limited to 50 pieces per design, while supplies last
Venues for display and sale:
- Tokyo campus: Nakameguro Building 6 and Ebisu Building 4
- Osaka campus: Shinsaibashi Building 1
- Nagoya campus: Buildings 1, 2 and 3
Photo Spot, Stamp Rally and Clear File
Large monster panels and a photo spot are also available. For the stamp rally, which uses an app developed by IT students, visitors who collect stamps by touring the school buildings receive a limited collab sticker.
In addition, visitors who reserve in advance and attend will receive an original "Monster Hunter x VANTAN Cultural Festival" clear file, which can be obtained only here.
The special website for the VANTAN Cultural Festival, where reservations are taken: https://www.vantan.co.jp/special/bunkasai/
Tickets must be applied for on the website even for those attending on the day.
Nine Schools Gather with Stage Shows and Exhibits
Besides the collaboration projects, the festival is packed with creative presentations by students who will be the creators of the future.
Fashion and beauty
- Tokyo campus (Ebisu): Styling Show (2:00 PM to 2:30 PM)
- Osaka campus (Shinsaibashi): High School Fashion Show (3:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
- Free hair and makeup and nail experience booth
Games and entertainment
- Trial play sessions and a game tournament featuring original games made by students
- Full-fledged stage plays and reading-theater performances by the voice acting major
Event Details
| Event Name | VANTAN Cultural Festival 2026 (Monster Hunter × VANTAN) |
| Date and Time | Saturday, November 14, 2026, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (varies by campus and project) |
| Admission | Free (limited goods gift with advance reservation) |
| Venues (5 locations nationwide) | Tokyo campus: Ebisu / Nakameguro / Gotanda / Hiroo; Osaka campus: Shinsaibashi / Honmachi; Nagoya campus: Nagoya; Fukuoka campus: Hakata; Sapporo campus: Sapporo |
| Collaboration Visual Art Direction | 山崎 直輝, Representative Director and Art Director, 株式会社レイスアーツ |
| Official Website (Reservations) | https://www.vantan.co.jp/special/bunkasai/ |
