Japan Family Day Brings Anime, Cosplay and Japanese Culture to California

Event dates: 2026-10-24 – 2026-10-25

Where: Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, United States

Genre: Japanese Culture Festival

Japan Family Day returns to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, October 24-25, pairing Japanese food, taiko, and an anime/cosplay component with the Tokyo City Cup horse race on Saturday.

Article

A Weekend of Japanese Culture at a California Racetrack

Japan Family Day returns to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, October 24 (Saturday) and 25 (Sunday), 2026, running 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Food, Taiko, and Pop Culture

The festival's program spans four main areas: Japanese festival food from local and Japan-based vendors (with sake available for adults), live taiko drumming on the grandstand stage, anime merchandise and a cosplay competition, and a matsuri-style children's area with yo-yo fishing, character games, and a bounce house. Anime and cosplay are part of this broader Japanese-culture program, not the event's sole focus.

The Tokyo City Cup

Saturday's card includes the Tokyo City Cup Stakes, a horse race that has run since 1995 as part of Santa Anita Park's sister relationship with Tokyo's Oi Racecourse — making it, per the track's own materials, the only graded stakes race in the US named after an overseas city.

Tickets

Admission is $5 through October 18 and $10 afterward, including at the gate.

More About This Event

This Year's Highlights

• Program includes Japanese festival food and sake, live taiko drumming, anime merchandise and a cosplay competition, and a matsuri-style children's area.
• Saturday's card includes the Tokyo City Cup Stakes, run since 1995 as part of a sister relationship between Santa Anita Park and Tokyo's Oi Racecourse.

Scale & Past Events

• The Santa Anita–Oi Racecourse partnership behind the Tokyo City Cup dates to 1995.

Tickets

$5 through October 18, 2026; $10 afterward and at the gate.

Access

Santa Anita Park, 285 W. Huntington Dr., Arcadia, California.

What To Know

This is a rare US event where Japanese pop-culture fans (anime merchandise, cosplay competition) share the same weekend with a 30-year horse-racing partnership between a California track and a Tokyo racecourse — a genuinely unusual Japan-culture crossover, not a typical convention.

Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California — the Tokyo City Cup Stakes is the only graded stakes horse race in the US named after an overseas city, reflecting the track's long-standing sister relationship with Tokyo's Oi Racecourse.

Easy Japanese

アメリカ・カリフォルニア州の「サンタアニタ・パーク」で、10月24日と25日に「ジャパン・ファミリー・デー」が開催されます。日本の食べ物や太鼓、アニメのコスプレコンテストなどがあります。

Marine's View

競馬場で日本文化を楽しめるなんて、ちょっと意外で楽しいイベントですね。