The best things to do in Tokyo this weekend

Heralding the arrival of the summer farming season, the Narita Gion Festival has been a key celebration of Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in the Chiba prefecture city of Narita for over 300 years. Taking place near Narita International Airport, this event is held annually to pray for prosperity and a good harvest while seeking the blessing of the temple’s main deity, Fudo Myoo. 

On all three days, ten beautifully carved and decorated floats plus one mikoshi (portable shrine) will be taken on a vibrant parade on the city streets, including the area surrounding JR Narita Station and the main road leading to Naritasan Shinshoji. The festivities begin on Friday July 10 with an opening dance ritual at Naritasan Main Hall at 1.30pm to pray for the safe proceedings of the festival. From there, the floats will begin their procession around town, with each having its own designated route. 

The festival highlights include a large-scale traditional dance performance involving all the floats, set to happen in front of JR Narita Station on Saturday July 11 at 9am. This event effectively kicks off the festival’s second-day festivities. 

Be sure to stay until the evening on the last day, Sunday July 12, as the festival will reach its climax with floats reconvening on the Omotesando road for an energetic race up the town’s main thoroughfare towards Naritasan Shinshoji. For this night procession, the floats will be illuminated with lanterns, giving them an even more awe-inspiring and mystical appearance amidst the frenzy.

For the full festival programme, see the event website or pamphlet.

Despite being 80km away from central Tokyo, the Narita Gion Festival is easily accessible as the events are held just minutes away from Keisei-Narita station. To get there, hop on the limited-express Keisei Line from Ueno or Nippori Station. The journey will take roughly an hour and ten minutes. The trek from Narita Airport is far more convenient, as there is a direct train service running every 15 minutes.

Held over several days every July, the Enoshima Tenno Festival culminates in the shinkosai – a procession in which an enshrined deity is carried across the open ocean on a mikoshi float from Enoshima island to Koshigoe Beach on the mainland. Once the mikoshi reaches land, it clashes with a similar float from Kodo Shrine, waiting on the opposite shore. Associated with the Shinto ritual of warding off summer plagues and disasters, the impressive face-off between the two portable shrines is a quintessential early summer sight in the Shonan area.

Head over to Harumi Wharf Park this summer for a spectacular bon odori dance celebration by the bay. The full-fledged summer spectacle by the waterfront is happening over two days, on July 11 and 12, with plenty of authentic bon odori songs to dance the night away.

Expect to also see an impressive line-up of food and ennichi game stalls, with over 48 booths selling delicious matsuri grub such as yakisoba, wagyu offal stew, kebabs, gelato and more. While the festival itself starts from 4pm, dancing begins later in the evening, running from 6.30pm to 8.30pm daily.

Art, crafts, fashion, accessories and much more – it’s all here at the annual Handmade in Japan Festival, a massive two-day celebration of artisanal crafts and creativity. The event attracts over 3,000 artists, designers and craftspeople in addition to thousands of amateur DIYers from all over Japan.

Shop for one-of-a-kind items at the market, including clothing, homeware, handicrafts and interior decorations. Or pick up a new skill at one of the many workshops – think lamp making, building a herbarium or crafting jewellery. You can also watch live painting performances, drop in on music shows and fill up at the food stalls. It’s a full-day affair.

One-day tickets go for ¥1,500 (advance purchase ¥1,300) while two-day tickets are ¥2,500 (¥2,000). You can buy tickets in advance from KKDay.

One of Tokyo's biggest annual festivals is celebrating its 75th edition this year. Held at its namesake park, Ueno Summer Festival is a month-long programme packed with a diverse array of traditional events, live performances and seasonal festivities. These include a traditional lantern-floating event on July 17 at 7pm, as well as Japanese taiko drum street performances on July 20 and 25 (from 1pm and 3pm) at Ueno Park’s Shinobazu Pond Bentendo Temple.

That said, the festival offers more than just classic Japanese celebrations. The antique market, which will run every day from July 10 to August 11 (from 2pm to 8pm) at the gates of Shinobazu Pond Bentendo Temple, for instance, is a great place to look for small treasures and summer mementoes.

For a picture-perfect spot to capture your summer memories, don’t miss the nearby Hasumi Deck lookout, adorned with more than 4,000 wind chimes that create a soothing summer soundtrack.

As always, there will be plenty of food and drink stalls encircling Ueno Park's Shinobazu Pond (from 3pm to 9pm daily), selling popular street eats like yakisoba and kakigori shaved ice – a staple summer treat.

Check the event website for the full programme (in Japanese only).

For four days in July, Ueno Park's fountain square turns into a Taiwanese street food market. Marking the event's 12th return, there'll be plenty of crowd-pleasing dishes themed around Taiwanese wedding banquet meals from around 11 booths, including Taiwanese braised pork, sticky rice, dumplings, spring rolls, geng tang banquet soup, steamed buns, shaved ice desserts, and tapioca bubble tea. 

This festival will also feature a beer garden where you can enjoy Taiwanese beer and a tropical fruit fair with an ample supply of lychee and mango. 

As well as keeping you well-fed, the festival will entertain you with folk dances that bring happiness and wealth, along with other cultural performances (including those with fire), plus a range of shops selling Taiwanese fashion, handicrafts, traditional sweets, and tea.

Tokyo is home to some incredible vintage T-shirt stores, offering everything from rare designer tees to nostalgic anime prints. But it’s not often you can find a curated exhibition of over 1,000 tees under one roof – including rare pieces linked to cultural icons. More than just clothing, vintage T-shirts capture the messages, aesthetics and pop culture of their era, developing a unique character as they’re worn, cherished and passed down through generations.

The Grand T-shirt Exhibition 2026 is now on at Space O at Omotesando Hills and features a collection of over 1,000 rare vintage T-shirts from the worlds of fashion, music, film and art. 

An annual affair in Kurihama, now a quiet seaside town on the Miura Peninsula south of Yokosuka, the Perry Festival commemorates the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and his 'black ships' on July 14, 1853. The Americans' landing on the shores of Kurihama set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the opening of Japan to foreign trade and, later, a rush towards national modernisation to avoid being bossed around by the Western powers. In the afternoon, you'll be able to shop for local produce and knickknacks at the bazaar and watch a parade (from 3pm) complete with marching bands and 'black ship' floats, while the fireworks show starts at 7.30pm and sees around 7,000 rockets – shot up at the beach.

Enjoy a late-night stroll under an artificial Milky Way at Tokyo Tower’s main deck. As an alternative experience for astronomy enthusiasts, Tokyo Tower has recreated the Milky Way using 30,000 LED lights, so you can gaze up at the (artificial) stars in the middle of the city.

Every 15 minutes, the blue LED lights that represent the starry sky turn pink and gold, while the Milky Way changes from white to a rainbow of seven colours. This special effect makes the Tokyo skyline look even more mesmerising, as if our beloved city is under a magical starry night.

The light-up runs from 9am to 11pm.

Shinjuku welcomes a brand new Korean pub-style beer garden, located on the rooftop of the Lumine Est shopping complex in the heart of the city. You can choose from four meal plans: the Pocha course (¥3,500), which includes yangnyeom chicken and bulgogi kimbap; the Korean Chicken BBQ course (from ¥4,000), offering chicken marinated in sweet and spicy miso sauce as well as salted green onion sauce; the samgyeopsal and beef galbi course (¥5,000), featuring makgeolli-aged samgyeopsal and seafood pancake; and the premium BBQ course (from ¥6,000), which builds on the samgyeopsal set with the addition of wagyu steak. All four courses come with a two-hour all-you-can-drink plan, with the options including fruit-flavoured soju, makgeolli, highballs, and both Korean and Japanese beers, along with unlimited banchan (Korean mini side dishes), French fries and curry.

Popular German craft beer brand Schmatz takes over the Lumine Ikebukuro rooftop with its annual beer garden serving modern German cuisine. The premium all-you-can drink plan features three original craft beers, plus a range of beer cocktails including shandy gaff, cassis beer, mango beer and even a peach weizen. Additionally, there are regular cocktails, highballs, wines and soft drinks to choose from as well. 

The standard barbecue plan with the premium 2-hour all-you-can-drink option will set you back ¥6,500, and includes spare ribs, beef shoulder loin, specialty sausages, chicken, corn and an array of veggies to grill. If you're looking to save, the standard all-you-can-drink lager beer plan at ¥6,000 is worth considering too.

Make a reservation via the official website.

Known for emotionally resonant works that bridge intimate storytelling and speculative worlds, Mamoru Hosoda is the man behind landmark films such as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. His cinema is marked by a fluid interplay between everyday life and digital or fantastical realms, as well as a sensitivity to themes of family, memory and transformation.

Marking the 20th anniversary of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, ‘The Creative Origins of Mamoru Hosoda’ unfolds at the Creative Museum Tokyo from June 20 to August 31. Conceived as the most comprehensive exhibition ever dedicated to the director, it offers unprecedented insight into the creative processes behind his most celebrated works.

Drawing extensively from original production materials, the exhibition presents storyboards, layouts, key animation drawings and background art that illuminate the construction of Hosoda’s cinematic language. By foregrounding these foundational elements, the show reveals how influences from painting, cinema and animation converge within his visual storytelling.

Rather than simply looking back, the exhibition invites visitors to reconsider Hosoda’s films through the lens of their origins, tracing recurring motifs and stylistic evolutions across his oeuvre. In doing so, it captures both the enduring appeal of his past works and the continuity of his artistic vision as it extends toward new creative horizons.

From June 20 to July 20, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum showcases the winning works from one of the world’s most prestigious international photography competitions. Since its launch in 2007, the Sony World Photography Awards has championed photographers at every stage of their careers, providing a global platform for both emerging talent and established practitioners while celebrating the diversity and vitality of contemporary photographic practice.

This Tokyo presentation adopts the thematic concept developed for the exhibition’s debut at Somerset House in London. Visitors are invited to engage with the award-winning photographs through three interconnected narratives: Absence, which reflects on memory, loss and erasure; Humans in the Stories, focusing on the immediacy and complexity of lived experience; and Conflicted Territories, examining borders, divisions and the political and social tensions that shape today’s world. By placing the works in dialogue with one another, the exhibition encourages viewers to consider broader global issues through photography’s uniquely evocative visual language.

A special highlight is a presentation of works by Joel Meyerowitz, recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Contribution to Photography award. Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of colour street photography, Meyerowitz has profoundly influenced the evolution of the medium through his luminous explorations of urban life, light and everyday experience. Displayed alongside this year’s award-winning projects, his photographs create a compelling conversation between the history of modern photography and its most current international expressions. Free to the public, the exhibition offers a timely overview of the diverse perspectives shaping contemporary photography across the world.

When the boundless imagination of Pablo Picasso meets the vibrant creativity of Sir Paul Smith, fireworks follow. Picasso (1881–1973), one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, revolutionised modern art with his radical innovations in form and colour. British designer Smith, noted for his playful approach to tailoring and his masterful sense of colour and pattern, brings his unique sensibility to the table, transforming the NACT’s galleries into a dialogue between art and fashion, and tradition and reinvention.

‘Adventure of Playful Spirits’ offers a fresh encounter with approximately 80 works from the Musée National Picasso-Paris. Following the success of the 2023 Paris exhibition ‘Picasso Celebration: The Collection in a New Light!’, this Japan edition invites visitors to rediscover the painter’s creative evolution from his early Portrait of a Man to the tender Paulo as Harlequin, through Smith’s imaginative spatial design.

From colour-splashed walls to whimsical décor, every element of the exhibition reflects Smith’s joyful spirit and his fascination with artistic play. This meeting of two creative giants – one who shaped modern art and another who redefined contemporary design – conjures up a vibrant, immersive world where curiosity, humour and craftsmanship intertwine.

Window manufacturer YKK AP teams up with a number of prestigious Spanish institutions to highlight a small but crucial detail of Antoni Gaudí’s wide-ranging oeuvre. Zooming in on the role apertures played in the Catalan visionary’s singular architectural language, which was defined by organic forms, intricate ornament and a profound understanding of structure and light, ‘Windows on the Future’ forms part of a wider research initiative examining Gaudí’s creative methods.

Organised to mark the centenary of Gaudí’s death, the exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight shares its concept with a more extensive presentation at Barcelona’s Palau Güell, a UNESCO World Heritage site, adapting it to the design-focused environment of Gallery 3. Through models, research materials and visual documentation, visitors are invited to explore Gaudí’s enduring ideas and consider how his inventive thinking may inspire the windows, and architecture, of the future.

Ron Mueck has long been celebrated for redefining figurative sculpture through extraordinary craftsmanship and emotional acuity. After early work in film and advertising, the Australian-born, UK-based artist emerged on the contemporary art scene in the mid-1990s, gaining international attention with Pinocchio (1996) and Dead Dad (1996-97), the latter exhibited in the landmark ‘Sensation’ show at London’s Royal Academy in 1997.

Over the decades, his meticulously crafted human figures, rendered at startlingly altered scales, have probed themes of vulnerability, solitude, resilience and the fragile complexity of existence. With a rare and limited oeuvre of about fifty works, each sculpture distills months or even years of observation and reflection, resulting in pieces that feel at once hyper-real and quietly enigmatic.

From April 29 to September 23, the Mori Art Museum hosts the artist’s first solo exhibition in Japan in eighteen years. Organised in collaboration with the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the exhibition gathers eleven works tracing Mueck’s evolution, including six making their Japanese debut. Its monumental centrepiece is the Japan premiere of Mass (2016-17), an immersive installation of 100 giant skulls reconfigured to reflect the museum’s architecture. Other highlights include Angel (1997), Woman with Shopping (2013) and the iconic In Bed (2005), each inviting viewers into a deeply intimate emotional space.

Complementing the sculptures, photographs and films by Gautier Deblonde offer a glimpse into Mueck’s studio practice, revealing the quiet rigour behind some of contemporary art’s most affecting works.

A visionary who worked along the boundaries between art, design and everyday life, Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Italian design. Rising to prominence in the 1950s through his groundbreaking work for the typewriter and computer manufacturer Olivetti, Sottsass redefined industrial design by infusing functional objects with emotion, symbolism and wit. His restless creative spirit culminated in the 1981 founding of the Memphis Group, an international collective whose bold colours, playful forms and radical aesthetics came to define post-modern design and reshape global visual culture.

‘Design begins where magic begins’ at the Artizon Museum is the first comprehensive retrospective of Sottsass’s work in Japan. Drawing from the Ishibashi Foundation’s extensive collection, the exhibition brings together 112 works spanning the entirety of its subject’s long and prolific career, from early experiments to later, more philosophical creations.

Through furniture, industrial design and conceptual works, the exhibition traces Sottsass’s lifelong challenge to strict rationalism and his belief that design should reflect the emotional and spiritual dimensions of human life. Humour, colour and sensuality emerge as tools with which he sought to illuminate the lived experiences, desires and contradictions of modern society. Offering a rare opportunity to encounter Sottsass’s work in depth, the exhibition reveals a visionary who insisted that true design begins with imagination and magic.

Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of Japan’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, whose practice spans photography, architecture and stage production. At the core of his work lies a profound engagement with analogue silver gelatin photography, a medium he has elevated through rigorous conceptual frameworks and extraordinary technical mastery, even as it faces obsolescence in the digital age.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo now offers a major survey that traces the evolution of Sugimoto’s photographic practice from the late 1970s to the present. Featuring approximately 60 silver gelatin prints, the exhibition brings into focus a medium the artist recognises as endangered, while asking broader questions about truth, memory and time.

Structured into three chapters, the exhibition spans 13 series, from early works that established Sugimoto’s reputation to later bodies of work that probe abstraction, perception and the limits of representation. Newly unveiled pieces, including additions to the Diorama series, offer fresh insight into themes Sugimoto has pursued for more than half a century.

The exhibition’s title refers to a deeper meditation on what is disappearing from contemporary visual culture. As digital images become infinitely mutable, Sugimoto reasserts photography’s original power as a medium of evidence and presence. Through its breadth and philosophical depth, ‘Extinction’ is set to offer a rare opportunity to reflect on photography’s past, and its uncertain future, through one of its most rigorous practitioners.

This expansive exhibition is the largest in the Doraemon franchise’s 56-year history, bringing together manga panels, animation, sculptures, limited-edition merch and a themed food menu all starring the world’s favourite blue robot cat and his friends. It launched in Hong Kong in July 2024, attracting over five million visitors during its month-long run. Since then, it has continued to captivate fans across Asia, making its way through several cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Bangkok, and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

The exhibition space contains over 100 distinct Doraemon figures, each with its own expression and costume. In addition to showcasing the content from the previous cities, the Tokyo exhibition also features Japan-exclusive works. Here you can see Doraemon transformed into a shiba inu, a sumo wrestler and a few other forms inspired by Japanese culture, as well as view two original animations not seen elsewhere.

‘100% Doraemon & Friends’ runs until September 30 and is open from 10am to 6pm daily (last entry 5.30pm). Tickets start from ¥2,400 for adults, ¥1,800 for primary and secondary school students and ¥1,600 for children four years old and below – purchase yours here. As an added bonus, upon arrival exhibition visitors receive one of nine Doraemon-themed acrylic pins and one of four promotional cards (both chosen at random).

Did you even have a childhood if you didn’t turn the hole-punched pages of The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Originally published in 1969, this children’s classic will be celebrated at the Museum of Contemporary Art, marking 50 years since the book’s Japanese release (Japan was the first place the beloved caterpillar ever appeared in print).

Prepare to feast your eyes upon 180 objects – all bursting with bold bright colours, playful patterns and Eric Carle’s specially curated collages. Over 27 picture books will also feature, offering a deep dive into the ingenuity of Carle’s imagination. The late American author and illustrator was famed for his fresh take on storytelling; simple shapes are layered with textured hand-painted tissue paper, resulting in whimsical works that were deceptively clever and remain iconic to this day.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government No 1 Building in Shinjuku serves as the backdrop for a jaw-dropping and record-breaking projection mapping show. Covering an area of a whopping 13,905sqm, the after-dark spectacle has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest permanent display of its kind in the world.

The nightly showcase features a range of visual wonders created by a mix of local and international artists. Some shows are inspired by Tokyo’s rich history, while others draw on themes like the lunar cycle. 

Currently, on weeknights, you can catch striking visuals synchronised to ‘800’ and 'Zankyosanka' by hit Japanese pop singer and lyricist Aimer as well as ‘Pac-Man eats Tokyo’, ‘Lunar Cycle’, ‘Synergy’, ‘Tokyo Resonance’ and ‘Evolution’. On weekends, you can look forward to the aforementioned ‘Zankyosanka (Aimer)’, as well as ‘Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo’ and ‘TYO337’, a display featuring motifs of traditional Japanese performing arts such as Kabuki paired with electronic beats. 

From March 20, Pokémon Trading Card Game ‘Tokyo Luminous Night’, a brand-new projection-mapping show featuring Pokémon cards on a massive scale, has been running on weekends and holidays from 6.30pm, 7.30pm and 9pm. Be sure to check the event website for more details.

Shows take place every night at fifteen-minute intervals from 6pm (Mar from 6.30pm, 7pm from Apr, 7.30pm from May to Aug) to 9.45pm. For more details and to check the full programme of daily projection mapping shows, visit here.

Step into a world of vibrant chrysanthemums this spring at this free collaborative exhibition between teamLab and Galaxy. Now in its fifth year, the interactive, immersive space at Galaxy Harajuku uses cutting-edge projection mapping to depict flowers caught in an endless cycle of birth and death. Reach out to touch them and they’ll wither; stand still beside them and they’ll bloom more quickly.

Look down and you’ll see flowing currents of gold beneath your feet – traces shaped by your very presence. The movements of others create their own currents, which intertwine and form swirling vortices. The result is a constantly shifting environment where no two moments are ever the same. The Galaxy store also invites visitors to capture these fleeting scenes using the foldable smartphones available at the venue.