Oishii Japanese Food & Sake Fest 2026 at the Japanese Friendship Garden

Oishii Japanese Food & Sake Fest is Sunday, October 4, 2026, in the lower garden at the Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum, 2215 Pan American Road East, Balboa Park. The garden’s Oishii page and Blackbaud ticket cart both lock 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Food last call is 4:30. Happy hour runs 4:00 to 5:00.

Every ticket includes garden admission, a passport good for five tastings or drinks, and that last hour. Extra food or drink tickets are $7 on site if you still have a valid passport. Sales are final. Unused tickets may be redeemed later for regular garden admission on a non-special day, per the ticket portal. Alcohol is 21 and over with ID. Bag check is posted.

On the live cart, JFGM members are $45 and general admission is $60. The portal still warns that prices will increase soon, so treat those numbers as the current lock, not a forever rate. Buy on the garden’s Blackbaud link from niwa.org. Do not copy a KPBS 10 a.m. start. Garden daytime hours open at 10:00; the festival itself begins at noon.

A short stage card is posted. The HollyGrinns play Earth Bridge at 12:30. Kamana is at 2:00 on the same bridge. Koto is at 3:00 on the lower koi deck. That is the lock. Vendor names were still a blank module on the event page, with a merchant application still open, so plan for the passport count rather than a named stall list.

Saturday, October 3, is already a full Balboa day: Deepotsav at the Organ Pavilion from 4:30, and Halika Fest at the cottages. The same Saturday, Mira Mesa Street Fair takes Camino Ruiz all afternoon. Oishii is the next day, a short walk from the organ lawn, ticketed, and over before dinner.

Yokai Masquerade is the garden’s Halloween night, October 31, 6:00 to 10:00. Kiku Matsuri is October 25 at Hangar 858 in Kearny Mesa, a different Japanese weekend and a different ticket. The garden’s own fall card also stacks Tezukuri-Ichi on November 21 and Akari Dreams in December, so Oishii is the early tasting beat, not the only JFGM date.

The garden is a San Diego–Yokohama sister-city project in the park. Regular hours are posted separately, daily 10:00 to 6:00 with last admission at 5:00, and the grounds can close early for private events. Festival entry is not a Free Tuesday. Park at Inspiration Point or the Presidents Way lots and walk. The garden phone is (619) 232-2721. Email jfgsd@niwa.org.

Our take: buy if you want a paced Sunday in the garden, not another street-fair stack. Five passport stops and the koto set is enough for one afternoon. Skip if you already did Saturday night on the organ lawn and your legs are gone.

When: October 4, 2026, 12:00–5:00 p.m.
Where: Japanese Friendship Garden, 2215 Pan American Rd E, San Diego, CA 92101