Utsunomiya is famous throughout Japan for its gyoza, and so it’s only fitting that an annual festival to the fried dumplings would be held in the city. The Utsunomiya Gyoza Festival has been held at the beginning of November since 1999, with members of the Utsunomiya Gyoza Committee setting up stalls to sell their famous dumplings.   Visitors will be able to enjoy the subtle differences of dozens of dumplings as well as fill empty stomachs at a low cost: A three to five piece portion of gyōza, whether fried, boiled or steamed, will cost just 200 yen.   During the two days of festivities, visitors can also watch music bands and comedians at Miyajazz Inn, or see other live concerts at nearby venues.

Utsunomiya Gyoza is an important part of the culinary culture of Utsunomiya City. The city has over 300 Gyoza restaurants，and people enjoy queuing in front of their favourite restaurants. These eateries compete in creating unique recipes to be recognised as “one of the best” Gyoza in the city，with all sorts of ingredients and cooking methods. Go from one eatery to another like the locals do，and sample some of thier wide selection! You can even join Gyoza-making classes led by veteran lecturers. Gyoza-related goods are also popular as souvenirs.

The restaurant space houses five permanent restaurants and a total of 34 temporary restaurants working in rotation, with 8-10 open on any given day. In addition to an exclusive special dumpling menu, the souvenir corner offers frozen gyoza dumplings from all 35 outlets as well as gyoza-inspired sweets and goodies.

3x3 basketball, now recognized as an official Olympic sport, is showcased at its highest level in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour—an international series organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to determine the world’s best 3x3 club team. The 2025 season will span across 15 cities worldwide. The top teams from the tour will advance to the World Tour Final, where the global champion will be crowned. Featuring the previous year’s champions and top-ranked teams from around the world, this tournament represents the pinnacle of 3x3 basketball competition. Since 2016, the city of Utsunomiya has continuously hosted the FIBA 3x3 World Tour. Beginning in 2022, Utsunomiya was selected to kick off the season as the host of the Utsunomiya Opener, and will continue to do so through 2028—marking seven consecutive years as the opening venue. The 2025 Utsunomiya Opener is scheduled to take place over three days, from Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27. The venue for the event is the historic Utsunomiya Futaarayama Shrine, said to have over 1,600 years of history. A special 3x3 court will be set up in front of the shrine’s grand torii gate, creating a striking fusion of tradition and modern sports culture. Japanese elements such as mikoshi (portable shrines) will be featured to further enhance the atmosphere and share the unique spirit of "3x3 City Utsunomiya" with the world. In 2024, the local team UTSUNOMIYA BREX.EXE competed in the Utsunomiya Opener as the host city representative. They made history by advancing through the qualifiers to the final tournament stage for the second consecutive year—a first for any Japanese team. In the knockout stage, they faced off against UB (Serbia), the reigning champions of both the 2022 and 2023 World Tours. Although they were defeated 22–11, the team showed tremendous strength and determination in their battle against the world’s best.