March 2026 events in Tokyo

Here’s your chance to welcome the sakura season before the blossoms even come out this spring – at one of Tokyo’s tallest observatories to boot. Tokyo Skytree’s lower observation decks (at 340 and 350 metres above ground level) are getting a full cherry blossom makeover from February 26 to April 14, with plenty of photo spots and opportunities to take in the city’s breathtaking views framed by sakura.

As dusk falls, the flower decorations on floor 350 are accompanied by a majestic projection-mapping show using the observatory windows as a canvas. Each screening lasts three minutes and takes place at 7pm, 7.45pm and 8.30pm (7.10pm, 7.50pm and 8.35pm Mar 1-8; 7pm, 7.15pm, 7.50pm and 8.35pm Mar 9-31; and 7.30pm, 7.45pm, 8.20pm and 9pm from Apr 1 onwards).

If you’re looking for something to satiate your appetite, make a beeline to Skytree Cafe for their exclusive sweets and drinks menu. Along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that are appropriately pink and sakura-flavoured, the café is offering plant-based vegan and gluten-free doughnuts. The matcha-coloured Sakura Mochi doughnut and sky-blue Sakura Sky Vanilla doughnut make a perfect pairing with the cherry-themed drinks. 

After your visit, don’t miss the special cherry blossom light-up which lights up the tower in vibrant pink and blue almost daily from February 26 to April 14.

Tickets can be purchased through the official website.

Tokyo Tower is collaborating with digital art collective Naked Inc for a stunning projection mapping display this spring. This event takes place on the main deck's second floor and features projections of animals like deers, rabbits and giraffes walking among a forest covered in spring wildflowers and cherry blossom trees in vibrant pink. You can also see a Sakura Candle Monument produced by Japanese artist Candle June, which will be lit up in front of the main deck windows.

It starts at 6pm from February 28 to March 22, 6.30pm from March 23 to April 26 and 6.45pm from April 27 to May 6. Tickets cost ¥1,500 (¥1,200 for high school students, ¥900 for children, ¥600 for younger children) and can be purchased online or at the venue.

This two-day anime extravaganza returns for the 13th time to Tokyo Big Sight, having attracted over 150,000 fans last year with over 100 booths and plentiful entertainment such as talks and cosplay parades.

Dozens of events will take place across four stages: red, green, blue and white. Whether it's classics like Magic Knight Rayearth, modern hits like Mushoku Tensei or upcoming projects like Steel Ball Run, each event allows you the chance to view trailers, check out show footage or sit in on panel discussions with cast members (in Japanese, natch).

If you want to get into the live stage events, you’ll need to purchase an entry ticket that's bundled with a stage lottery ticket. Advance tickets with stage lottery passes are available via the official website at ¥2,500 per person, plus other ticket types. It will be ¥2,800 at the door.

Taking place around Yokohama Port, Yokohama Night Flowers (formerly Yokohama Sparkling Twilight) lights up not only the city but also the sky above it. It's a stunning sight as the fireworks are set off above the illuminated boats crisscrossing the sea in front of Yamashita Park. 

This time around, there are 9 five-minute fireworks displays scheduled from December to March. Depending on the date, the fireworks are launched from either Osanbashi Pier and/or Shinko Pier. This makes the seaside Yamashita Park and Yokohama's Red Brick Warehouse an ideal vantage point to catch all the explosive action.

Along with the fireworks, Yokohama is also hosting several nighttime events nearby, including the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Christmas Market (until Dec 25), Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Art Rink (until Feb 15), Yokohama Bread Festival (March 6-8) and more. See the event website for updates.

Fireworks displays are held on December 24 and 31, January 24 and 31, February 7, 14, 21 and 28, March 21. (2026)

Shinjuku's Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo is bringing back its annual month-long Hinamatsuri (girl’s doll festival) event for February. By displaying beautifully dressed ceramic dolls resembling members of the ancient imperial court, families wish for their daughters’ health and happiness. The tradition of displaying these dolls at home, believed to date back to the Edo period (1603-1868), is on full display at the exhibit, which is set up along a stunning curtain wall of approximately 5,000 hand-sewn ornaments made from vintage kimono silk.

After marvelling at the graceful handmade dolls and silk ornaments, be sure to visit the folding screen (byobu) exhibition in the main lobby and 7th-floor restaurant corridor. Folding screens, which usually occupy the background in displays of Hina dolls, take centre stage here, featuring works by Kataoka Byobu, Tokyo’s only folding screen speciality store, as well as pieces by a selection of contemporary independent artists.

The month-long exhibition is accompanied by live koto performances (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11am and 3pm in the main lobby), a market selling custom-made handpainted tabletop byobu (February 3, 19, March 3, 17 and 31 at the main lobby; prices start from ¥10,000) a live byobu painting performance (March 10 at 3pm, South Wing 2nd-floor space), and a karakuri trick-art craft workshop (February 12 and March 12 at 2pm and 4pm, with an additional 11am session on March 12; ¥4,400 per participant, first come, first served; main lobby).

Sagamiko Resort Mori Mori has gone all out for its winter illuminations, featuring over six million dazzling LEDs. This year, there's an entire area dedicated to Tamagotchi – Japan's beloved digital pets from outer space. Expect to see Mametchi, along with his sidekick Kuchipatchi and other pocketable pets such as Memechi.

You can hop on the park’s Mametchi and Kuchipatchi themed Rainbow Chairlift and sail over colourful stripes before reaching the top of a hill, where you'll find a series of illumination art walls showcasing the whole Tamagotchi family. Keep wandering and you might stumble upon a mysterious UFO beaming with colour – maybe a hint at where these pocketable pets really came from. To wrap up the night, take in the dazzling lights and sweeping mountaintop views from the Ferris wheel or hop on the Tamagotchi Starry Sky Pedal for stunning panoramas and a light leg workout.

While you’re there, indulge in Tamagotchi-themed meals and snacks. Enjoy a hearty Tamagotchi Poka Poka Star Ramen or the voluminous Mametchi's Omurice Curry Doria Plate. Prefer something sweet? Then check out Furawatchi's flower crepe or the Memechi mango sundae.

Celebrating three decades of Ghost in the Shell, one of Japan’s most influential sci-fi franchises, this large-scale exhibition takes over Tokyo Node at Toranomon Hills from January 30 to April 5. The ambitious showcase traces the evolution of the series from Masamune Shirow’s ground-breaking 1989 manga to its acclaimed anime adaptations and, with a new 2026 series from Science Saru on the horizon, into the future.

Organised with the full cooperation of Production IG, the studio behind the franchise’s animation, the exhibition brings together works by directors Mamoru Oshii, Kenji Kamiyama, Kazuya Kise and Shinji Aramaki, offering visitors an unprecedented deep dive into the cyberpunk universe that redefined anime.

Over 600 production materials are on display, including original drawings, storyboards and concept art. You can also look forward to immersive installations and interactive exhibits that explore key philosophical themes from the series such as identity, consciousness and the boundaries between human and machine.

Further highlights include new contributions by international artists, exclusive interview footage, and the ‘DIG-ru’ installation, which invites visitors to ‘digitally excavate’ the world of Ghost in the Shell. And of course, you get to shop for plenty of only-here merchandise at the gift shop.

Johnny Depp may be best known for his eccentric on-screen roles, but long before fame, he was quietly building a collection of artworks. Now, more than 100 of his paintings and drawings – spanning from his early twenties to the present – are on view at ‘A Bunch of Stuff – Tokyo’, held at +Base 0 inside Newoman Takanawa South. 

The exhibition features five themed spaces, beginning with bold calligraphed quotes that hint at Depp’s mindset. Visitors are then led into a bohemian studio-style room filled with the actor’s personal objects and art supplies brought directly from his workspace. 

Other highlights from the exhibition include Depp’s signature ‘Death by Confetti’ series, where celebratory motifs meet skeletons to reflect the pressure of fame, as well as a video work making its Japan debut inside the immersive ‘Black Box’. Projected across a curved screen, Depp’s paintings come to life as he narrates his reflections on art, identity and the highs and lows of his long career.

Shigeru Onishi (1928–1994) occupies a singular position in postwar Japanese art. Born in Okayama prefecture and trained as a mathematician, he pursued advanced research in topology at Hokkaido University while developing an intensely personal artistic practice. Moving freely between mathematics, photography and painting, Onishi sought visual forms capable of expressing abstract concepts such as ‘superinfinity’. Largely indifferent to fame or artistic movements, he devoted his life to what he described as ‘seeking the way’, producing a body of work that would only be fully recognised decades later.

The Tokyo Station Gallery’s ‘Onishi Shigeru: Photography and Painting’ is the first major retrospective of the artist ever held in Japan. Bringing together carefully selected works from the more than 1,000 photographs and paintings Onishi produced, the exhibition reveals the full scope of a practice that defies categorisation.

Onishi’s experimental photographs, created through multiple exposures, solarisation and chemically altered development, stood apart from the realist and journalistic norms of their time, aligning instead with the rise of subjectivist photography in Europe and Japan.

Equally striking are his ink paintings from the 1950s, whose turbulent, wave-like lines embody the spirit of Art Informel while asserting a powerful individuality. Supplemented by manuscripts and materials from his mathematical research, the exhibition offers a remarkable portrait of an artist who fused rigorous intellect with overwhelming visual force.

Feeling a bit out of luck recently? Good fortune is on its way – in the form of this pop-up museum, happening for two days on March 20 and 21. Taking place at Orinami Asakusa, Japan’s first workshop for hand-weaving omamori charms, the museum brings together an impressive variety of lucky talismans from various countries and cultures, in addition to spotlighting customs thought to bring great fortune. The eclectic selection includes rolling pineapples, toilet deities and Draco Malfoy – an unlikely mascot of good fortune in China to kickstart the year of the Fire Horse. Make your own luck by learning more about lucky charms and customs from different countries and cultures this spring.

The event is free to enter, but donations are welcome.