Things to do in Tokyo today

This September, Shimokitazawa welcomes the return of its annual lunar art festival that will coincide with the upcoming autumn moon. Back for its fourth edition, Moon Art Night Shimokita will span several venues in the neighbourhood, including the Shimokita Senrogai Open Space in front of Shimokitazawa Station’s east exit, the rooftop of Higashi-Kitazawa Station, and the Bonus Track complex. Exhibits include an outdoor moon installation by UK artist Luke Jerram, whose giant floating model features striking details of the moon’s surface as captured by Nasa. This particular installation – titled ‘Museum of the Moon’ – is set to be on show every day at the vacant lot of the Shimokita Senrogai complex.  The festival is also hosting London-based artist Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, whose luminous blue cat inflatables will be on display at the Bonus Track complex. Inspired by the paradoxical Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment, which explores how a cat can be both alive and dead at once, the artist created the cats as a way to spark imagination and explore our relationship with the universe. A new addition this year, Japanese visual artist Takayuki Mori is participating with a three-dimensional installation titled ‘Uranometria’. The work depicts constellation motifs across a celestial dome using ultraviolet-responsive threads, which illuminate the invisible lines that connect the stars in glowing neon colours. His work, which invites viewers to reflect on how humanity has...

Once used for everything from writing paper to umbrellas and clothing, sekishu washi is a type of traditional Japanese paper made from paper mulberry trees in the Iwami region of Shimane prefecture. Thought to have been produced locally for around 1,300 years, the paper is durable and long-lasting – features that during the Edo period (1603–1867) made it a sought-after commodity for government officials, merchants and other professions in which record-keeping played a key role. This exhibition at the Iwami Art Museum, a part of the Shimane Arts Center in Masuda, explores the illustrious history and intriguing present of sekishu washi, which is still made in the local area, albeit on a much smaller scale than centuries ago. Today, the paper is used for purposes such as creating costumes for traditional performances and repairing the interiors of centuries-old castles around the country. Recognised by Unesco as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, sekishu washi is an embodiment of the culture of Iwami, a place where traditions that have fallen by the wayside in many other parts of Japan still endure. The exhibition highlights this legacy through 100-year-old pieces of paper, paper-making tools, textiles and other historical artefacts, as well as contemporary artworks created using sekishu washi following an exhibition at the same museum in 2016.

Traditional Japanese erotic art – shunga – flourished during the Edo period (1603–1867), along with the rise of ukiyo-e woodblock printing. Some of the greatest artists of the time, including Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai, employed ukiyo-e to depict Edo’s hedonistic ‘floating world’ of geisha, kabuki, sumo – and sex. Shunga was in great demand and widely available, despite an official ban, and developed into a highly sophisticated genre in which artists incorporated references to waka poetry and the Chinese classics while tiptoeing around taboos and government censorship. But once Japan opened itself up to the Western world after centuries of isolation, Shunga was deemed ‘obscene’ and purged from the culture – for nearly 150 years, it turned out. Only after several critically acclaimed exhibitions had been held overseas did the first major display of Shunga open on these shores – at the Eisei Bunko Museum in 2013. That landmark show slowly cleared the way for similar exhibitions, and now Tokyo’s getting perhaps the most rousing (sorry) Shunga show to date. From July 26 to September 30, visitors to the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Stage can rest their eyes on around 100 pieces by the likes of Hokusai, Utamaro and Hishikawa Moronobu. Curated from the collection of Mitsuru Uragami, one of Japan’s foremost Shunga connoisseurs, the exhibition extends throughout the distinctive venue – from the Noh stage itself to the auditorium and dressing rooms. Yasutaka Hayashi from...

Held in the Tokyo Node creative complex on the upper floors of the Toranomon Station Tower, the Design Ah! exhibition by national broadcaster NHK transforms its acclaimed educational TV programme (of the same name) into a vivid hands-on experience. Suitable for visitors of all ages, the exhibition reimagines everyday actions like walking or eating through a design lens, fostering curiosity, creative thinking, and a sharper awareness of the world around us. While you’re there, don’t miss the chance to try out the interactive gesture screen, where visitors are invited to use gestures to interact with subjects in a video in an immersive and responsive way. With immersive 360-degree audiovisual installations, visual puzzles and interactive zones, the show offers a playful yet thought-provoking way to explore how design influences daily life.

Few artists have touched the soul of modern art as profoundly as Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). In a mere decade, the Dutchman produced an astonishing body of work, including vivid landscapes, tormented portraits and expressive still lifes, that continues to resonate deeply with audiences worldwide. Yet Van Gogh’s posthumous fame owes much to those closest to him: his brother Theo, Theo’s wife Johanna, and their son Vincent Willem. Together, they ensured that the painter’s vision and legacy would endure for generations. The first exhibition in Japan to focus on the Van Gogh family and their collection, ‘Van Gogh’s Home’ at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum features over 30 of its protagonist’s works, from early drawings to late masterpieces, as well as four letters shown on these shores for the first time. The display traces the journey of the collection from the artist’s death to the present day, with highlights including immersive digital experiences and rarely seen works by Van Gogh’s contemporaries.

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 ‘Idol’ and 'Butai ni tatte' by hit Japanese pop duo Yoasobi as well as ‘Pac-Man eats Tokyo’, ‘Lunar Cycle’, ‘Synergy’, ‘Poetic Structures’ and ‘Golden Fortune’. On weekends, you can look forward to a showcase featuring 'Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo!', the aforementioned ‘Butai ni tatte (Yoasobi)’ as well as ‘Tokyo Concerto’ and ‘TYO337’, a display featuring motifs of traditional Japanese performing arts such as Kabuki paired with electronic beats.  From April 26, ‘Tokyo Gundam in the Future’, a brand new projection mapping show featuring a Gundam with a newly reimagined Mobile Suit colour scheme, will begin on weekends and holidays every hour from 7pm (7.30pm from May 10). Be sure to check the event website for more details. Shows take place every night at half-hour intervals from 7.30pm (Sep from 7.30pm, Oct from 6pm, Nov & Dec from 5.30pm) to 9.45pm. For more details and to check the...

In the news for his role as the designer of the Expo 2025 site, Sou Fujimoto is an architect whose work explores the relationship between nature and architecture. Born in Hokkaido, he is inspired by the natural landscapes of his childhood and seeks to integrate organic forms into the built environment through an approach he calls ‘primitive future’. This philosophy translates into an exploration of the limits between indoors and outdoors and the natural and the artificial, creating spaces that invite a new experience of inhabiting it. Fujimoto’s residential projects in Japan, such as House N, House O and House T, as well as international projects such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, illustrate this desire to blur spatial boundaries. His work is characterised by the use of simple materials, often only one per project, implemented in innovative ways to create complex and intriguing shapes. The balance between a defined program and the freedom of appropriation by the occupants is at the heart of his approach. Fujimoto’s first major Tokyo retrospective takes over the Mori Art Museum from July 2 to November 9. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the architect’s journey over the past quarter century, showcasing his achievements. Models, plans and documentary photographs sit alongside life-size models and installations, providing an immersive visual and spatial experience of the essence of his work. The exhibition highlights projects such as the...

The Roppongi Museum invites visitors to step into a parallel past this summer with the chilling and poetic ‘1999: Memories of a Day that Doesn’t Exist’, which runs from July 11 to September 27. Inspired by the apocalyptic prophecy of Nostradamus, who famously predicted the world’s end in July 1999, the exhibition explores a question both eerie and alluring: what if it really happened? Brought to life by the newly formed horror creators’ unit Bermuda 3 – novelist Sesuji, Siren screenwriter Naoko Sato and rising director Masaki Nishiyama – the exhibition offers a sensory narrative that blurs the boundaries between memory and imagination, and reality and fiction. Guests are led by a mysterious ‘End-Time Girl’ through immersive environments and surreal soundscapes into a world suspended in time: a forgotten room in 1999, phantom voices from a vanishing landscape, and visions from a train window that never existed. Illustrated by animator and illustrator Mai Yoneyama, the exhibition culminates in a limited-edition short story written by Sesuji, gifted to those who experience the ‘end’. At once unsettling and strangely beautiful, this otherworldly journey dares visitors to remember what never happened, and discover who they might have been.

Studio Ghibli’s immersive sculpture exhibition is returning to Tokyo to captivate a new generation of fans. Featuring 3D recreations of iconic scenes from hit animated films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle and Porco Rosso, the show is a new and improved version of Studio Ghibli’s first ever art exhibition, held in Tokyo back in 2003.  Running from May 27 to September 23 at Warehouse Terrada’s B&C and E halls in Tennozu, the exhibition will feature mock-ups of scenes such as Chihiro’s first crossing over the bridge into the bathhouse in Spirited Away, and the thrilling scene from Ponyo where the titular character rides the waves to catch up to Sosuke in the storm. The main highlight, however, is arguably the true-to-size mock up of Porco’s Savoia S-21 seaplane from Porco Rosso. When hunger strikes, head over to T-Lotus M, a waterfront event space adjacent to the exhibition venue, for some ham ramen inspired by a similar dish in Ponyo. Tickets can be purchased in combination with the Ghibli Museum or in conjunction with hotel accommodation plans. For more details and ticketing information, check the event website. (Japanese only)

Creator of the iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa – and more than 30,000 other works across a remarkable 90-year life – Katsushika Hokusai was known for his restless spirit (he moved 93 times) and ever-evolving identity (he used more than 30 artist names). And by the way, the ukiyo-e impresario’s prolific genius also laid the foundation for what we now recognise as manga and anime. This autumn, ‘Hokusai’ at Creative Museum Tokyo offers an immersive journey into the artist’s seemingly boundless world. With over 300 pieces on display, including the complete Hokusai Manga (from the world-famous Uragami Collection), all three volumes of One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, and a set of 16 newly discovered hand-painted works from his final years, the show promises unprecedented depth. And as we’ve come to expect from this venue, the artworks on display will be accompanied by some certifiably contemporary exhibits. These include animated adaptations of Hokusai prints by top Japanese animators, highlighting how the visual storytelling of Edo’s greatest artist continues to resonate. Be sure to exit through the gift shop for a look at some 150 pieces of exclusive merch, including collaborations with Peanuts, Chums and Swiss Army knife maker Victorinox.