Things to do in Tokyo this week

Although summer is usually the season for fireworks in Japan, this Shonan festival breaks away from tradition with a captivating fireworks show in October. The 30-minute fireworks show is scheduled for 6pm on Saturday October 17.

You can expect approximately 1,000 rockets of colourful bursts, launched against the dark silhouette of the nearby Enoshima Island. The nighttime seascape makes for the perfect backdrop for this explosive showcase.

To catch the show, park yourself at the Katase Nishihama beach on the mainland.

The event may be cancelled in the event of inclement weather. 

One of Japan’s largest urban photography festivals has returned to Tokyo. Now in its eighth year, it runs from October 3 to October 26 across multiple venues in Yaesu, Nihonbashi, Kyobashi and Ginza.

This year’s edition features prints by South African visual activist and 2026 Hasselblad International Photography Award winner Zanele Muholi at the brand-new Tofrom Yaesu Tower, as well as photographs by internationally acclaimed contemporary photographer Lucas Foglia documenting the great migration of butterflies from Africa to Europe, displayed as public artworks at Tokyo Midtown Yaesu.

Meanwhile, be sure to visit Sarah van Rij's ‘L'épaisseur du temps’, exhibited across the Tokyo Tatemono Nihonbashi Building and Sanei Building. Photographs taken while walking through Paris, New York and Seoul will be installed on the exterior wall of the Sanei Building and within the Tokyo Tatemono Nihonbashi Building (accessible on weekdays and hols only), transforming the neighbourhood itself into a new stage for the work.

If you’re looking to take a quick break in the area, stop by Gallery & Bakery Tokyo 8min inside the Toda Building. The City Bakery is hosting ‘Trace and Vision: Nozomi Suzuki & Sayaka Uehara with the Higashikawa Award Collection’, a two-person exhibition exploring memory embedded in the landscape. Through photography, the artists reconnect past and present, place and lived experience.

Some exhibits are closed on weekends. More information can be found on the official website.

One of Greater Tokyo's most spectacular traditional matsuri festivals, the Kawagoe Festival has been going for more than 370 years. The matsuri is famous for its huge floats parading along the city’s kurazukuri (old architecture) streets. Make sure you stay until the evening when the floats are lit up and the festivities reach their peak in a cacophony of drums, bells, flutes, moving floats and dancing, known as hikkawase.

The festival float parade is held in front of city hall on Sunday (around 1.30pm-4pm), while the festival float light-up takes place on Saturday (around 6pm-7pm). If you're only coming for the main event, hikkawase is held throughout the evening on both Saturday and Sunday.

You'll also find fringe events on both days, including a mikoshi (portable shrine) parade (from 1pm at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine) on Saturday.

For the detailed event schedule, visit here.

Dougu Matsuri is an annual festival held in October in Kappabashi, the wholesale district between Ueno and Asakusa that specialises in tools and kitchen supplies for the restaurant industry. Known affectionately as Tokyo's Kitchen Town, many shops here also welcome home cooks and the general public as you can also purchase items individually.

Over 100 stores will be participating in the event, where you’ll find great deals on cooking utensils, tableware, food samples and more. While the festival officially runs for a week, most of the festivities will be held on October 12. Highlights include a local elementary school marching band parade (11am), wadaiko drumming performances by local junior and senior high school students (1pm and 3.30pm), kung-fu and taiko stage shows (10.30am in front of Taito Ward Life-long Learning Center and 2.30pm in front of Keisei Coop Apartments), cheerleading performances (2pm) and food trucks serving regional dishes from across Japan (Oct 11 & 12).

Check the event website and performance schedule for more details.

Oeshiki, the festival commemorating the anniversary of Buddhist saint Nichiren's death, is the annual highlight at the majestic Ikegami Honmonji, the place where this holy honcho is said to have drawn his last breath, and attracts around 300,000 people each year. With origins reaching back more than 700 years, this one's got both tradition and spectacle, especially in the form of Monday evening's mando procession that sees around 3,000 participants carry elaborate lanterns along the two-kilometre route from Ikegami Station to the temple (from 6pm). The festivities go on until late at night, ensuring an electric atmosphere.

Tachikawa's Showa Kinen Park has the most impressive fields of cosmos flowers in Tokyo and this is the ideal time to see them all in full bloom. The hilly grasslands of the park are usually draped in colour from mid-September with various types of cosmos flowers, and the multicoloured scenery can be enjoyed well into mid-October.

There are three main gardens: The Lemon Bright field, which is covered in vivid yellow sulfur cosmos; Autumn Bouquet Garden, which has a mixture of 20 different cosmos; and the Cosmos Sensation filled with lilac blooms.

Don't miss the picturesque soap bubble event, where you can see countless small bubbles floating over the flower gardens. This special spectacle happens twice a day from 10.30am and 12noon on September 12 at the Lemon Bright field, September 27 at the Autumn Bouquet Garden, and October 7 at the nearby Kochia garden garden.

Entrance fees are waived on October 25 and 25, 2026.

Tokyo itself becomes both subject and stage in Tokyo Atlas, a new international art exhibition unfolding across the capital’s waterfront from October 10 to December 20. The ambitious project transforms parks, public spaces and urban infrastructure into an open-air cultural landscape, inviting attendees to rediscover the city through encounters with site-specific works. Drawing on the dual meaning of its title – both the mythological Atlas and an atlas of maps – the exhibition encourages audiences to navigate Tokyo as a living constellation of artistic discoveries.

Anchored by major venues including Daiba Park and the Aomi Minami Port Park area, the exhibition explores how history, geography and global exchange continue to shape the metropolis. Daiba Park, originally constructed as an Edo-period (1603–1868) coastal battery, provides a striking backdrop where contemporary art meets one of the symbolic gateways to Japan’s modernisation.

Nearby, the working waterfront of Aomi becomes a setting for projects that reflect on community, ecology and coexistence. French artist Abraham Poincheval presents La Bouteille, a performance in which he inhabits a giant bottle, while the collaborative initiative Goat’s Eyes transforms the site into a participatory environment examining sustainable creativity and new forms of collective living.

Elsewhere, the atrium of the Telecom Center Building hosts a landmark installation by the recently passed Yayoi Kusama, bringing together her monumental balloon sculptures Yayoi-chan and A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe for the first time in Japan. Suspended within the soaring architecture, the works create an immersive dialogue between the artist’s inner universe and an expansive cosmic vision.

By activating overlooked corners of the city with works by internationally acclaimed and emerging artists alike, Tokyo Atlas proposes an alternative map of Tokyo – one that reveals the city’s hidden histories, evolving identities and boundless imaginative potential.

This annual design event, which this year explores the theme of ‘gazing’, sees the vast grass square adjacent to Tokyo Midtown host installations by an international cast of 19 artists and creators. Helmed by creative director and designer Taku Sato, the event also features a diverse programme of family-friendly events intended to help visitors rediscover the charm and value of design hidden in everyday life.

The main highlight is the aforementioned open-air ‘Design Live Exhibition’ on the Midtown lawn, featuring works such as ‘Sea Hammock’ by architect Yuko Nagayama, which makes its return to the event after four years. Elsewhere, catch some grooves at ‘Design Live Music’, where design and music intersect, or browse a selection of books and stationery at ‘Design Live Market’.

The Kyushu Fair is returning to Yoyogi Park during the three-day weekend of October 9 to 12, featuring over 60 stalls with delicacies from Kyushu prefecture. Try Miyazaki-style Chicken Nanban karaage fried chicken, pork rib skewers from Kagoshima, tuna bowls topped with freshly cut tuna from Nagasaki's Goto Islands, mentaiko (pollock roe) grilled scallops from Fukuoka or a classic American burger from the legendary Sasebo Burger joint.

While craft beer pairs beautifully with the menu, sake and shochu lovers should explore the drinks available from the on-site distilleries. Kyushu is a renowned hub for sake and shochu brewing, and these local specialities are well worth trying.

The stage will feature musical and dance performances throughout the day, including various idols, boy bands and singers. The food stall area is free to enter, but you must purchase a ticket (from ¥3,300) to watch the performances.

If you’re looking to max out your Halloween celebrations this year, you’re in luck. Harajuku’s OG kawaii café, Kawaii Monster Land, is putting on Spooky Season parties for an entire month. Reborn earlier this year with rides, claw and gacha machines and hyper-cute shows by the Monster Girls, the venue is bringing back Kawaii Monster Halloween for the first time in 11 years with plenty of spooky stage performances, DJs and dress-up, transforming the hyper-cute fantasy landscape into a Halloween wonderland.

While the venue will be decked out for Halloween throughout the month, you’ll want to time your visit for one of the special event nights. Held on select Saturdays, as well as Halloween Eve and Halloween itself, each night will feature a different line-up of performers and DJs, creating a distinct Halloween world with a mix of live showcases, music and Monster Girls.

Upcoming nights include the ‘Yokubari Kawaii Night’ on October 10, ‘Harajuku Gala’ on October 17, ‘The Halloween Monster’ on October 24, ‘Halloween Eve’ on October 30 and the grand ‘Kawaii Monster Halloween Party’ on October 31.

An entrance fee is required to enter Kawaii Monster Land. Tickets are on sale on the official website.

Spend a day sampling some of Japan’s best gyoza, as the festival will have around 30 stalls offering many different styles of the quintessential Japanese dumpling. Enjoy a mentaiko (cod roe) and cheese gyoza from Fukuoka’s Hakata Hachisuke, ground pork and Korean seaweed dumplings from Sangenjaya's Gyoza Shack, beef tongue gyoza from Hokkaido’s Kawa To Ann, and many more unique fillings that you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

The festival vendors only accept cashless payments.

2026 is shaping up to be a celebratory year for Harajuku-born clothing brand Beams, which is marking both 50 years since its founding and the 10-year anniversary of its Beams Japan label. The latest in a long line of collaborations and pop-ups is this limited-time shop popping up in one of the most unexpected places: on the Sensoji Temple grounds.

Setting up shop from September 26 to February 28, the compact pop-up consists of four interconnected shipping containers and offers exclusive merch made by artisans from eastern Tokyo. Highlights include tenugui hand towels by Nihonbashi’s Todaya Shoten, finished using a traditional Tokyo dyeing technique (¥2,750), and the Kaminarimon lantern-shaped ‘Kaminarimon Reflector’ (¥1,980), perfect for night runs and cycling rides. The store-exclusive, Asakusa-inspired, Beams Japan logo-adorned sacoche, pouches and wooden swords (!?) should be nice to have, too.

Try out some of the best soul-warming curries from Tokyo’s curry neighbourhoods of Kanda and Jimbocho this autumn. There are over 400 curry shops in the area and this long-running event brings together most of them to do battle for the Grand Prix title.

From August 1 to December 20, a stamp rally will be held in the area, where over 150 participating curry purveyors will have a stamp on hand to stamp your stamp card, which you can print yourself in A3 size. Visit ten curry restaurants to get a ‘Curry Buddy’ certificate featuring Rilakkuma, or 36 shops or more to become a ‘Kanda Curry Meister’. Check the curry restaurant map and list before making a visit. Get your ‘Curry Buddy’ reward by visiting the Chiyoda Tourism Office, or fill out the form to receive the more prestigious ‘Curry Meister’ award.

Additionally, on October 31 and November 1, there will be booths selling a range of curries from around the world at Ogawa Square for the Grand Prix finale, including Thai, Indian, Japanese and more – so come hungry.

Sound, visual art and site-specific elements blend together in innovative and challenging ways at Ambient Kyoto, a multisensory, immersive exhibition that now makes its first foray into Tokyo, landing at Azabudai Hills Gallery. The display centres on the installation ‘async – immersion’, envisioned by the much-missed Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani of Dumb Type and first presented in Kyoto in 2023.

Inspired by Sakamoto’s 2017 album async, ‘async – immersion’ features visuals by Takatani and spatial audio design by sound engineer ZAK, whose fingerprints are all over many of Sakamoto’s late-career projects. At Azabudai Hills, the work has been reconstructed exclusively for the venue, with the setup including a 26-metre-wide screen for displaying the video elements of the installation.

True to the title of the work, the aural and visual components are aligned but not fully synchronised; their constantly shifting relationship rewards attentive viewing and encourages visitors to approach the work on their own terms.

Inspired by an art-driven vision for urban space and a decade of private sector-led redevelopment that has seen the city of Maebashi in Gunma prefecture grow into an architecture destination, the inaugural Maebashi Biennale unfolds across the city’s central district. Art, architecture, food, music and poetry come together at sites scattered throughout the city centre, weaving walkable art experiences into Maebashi’s evolving urban landscape.

The line-up of some 70 artists and groups ranges from designer-turned-artist Martin Margiela to Mika Ninagawa with EiM, who will unveil a brand-new installation. Other intriguing projects include Food as Art?, curated by Takefumi Hamada, in which internationally acclaimed chefs including Rasmus Munk and Yusuke Takada come together to develop and offer a variety of culinary experiences, and the Tree Hut Project, which will see Tadashi Kawamata build a tree hut in the giant zelkova tree in front of the Arts Maebashi museum. This structure will be accompanied by other tree huts nearby, conceived by local citizens through workshops. The full list of art projects can be viewed on the official website.

Passport Tickets valid throughout the festival period allow for one-time entry to each paid exhibition venue and are available for purchase in advance.

One of Tokyo's three German beer fest spin-offs this autumn (including Shiba Park and Tachikawa), Munich Oktoberfest kicks off on September 18 at Urban Dock LaLaport Toyosu. This beer extravaganza at least manages to fall within a few weeks of the original German beer-fuelled festival it's copying, running from September 18 until October 12.

As with all the other Oktoberfests in town, you can enjoy pints of German beer served in glasses that can fill up to a litre, alongside bratwurst and sauerkraut. There will be oompah bands to sweeten the mood.

Entry is free and you can pay as you go. Do note that the event is mostly cashless; you can pay via credit card, PayPay, IC card, QuicPay, ID and other forms of electronic payment.

Tokyo Tower’s alternative to the usual summer beer gardens kicks off the outdoor drinking season with a double dose of whisky highball festivals. Head to the terrace at the base of the tower for a wide selection of highballs alongside snacks like karaage and grilled bacon.

There’s also a meatier option on the roof of the Tokyo Tower Foot Town, where the Tokyo Tower Rooftop Highball Garden serves all-you-can-eat jingisukan, the Hokkaido-born lamb barbecue named after Mongol warlord Genghis Khan.

Two hours of all-you-can-drink alcohol and limitless jingisukan costs ¥6,300 (teens aged 13-19 ¥4,300, primary school students ¥3,300, children aged 4-6 ¥2,300, all with non-alcoholic drinks, of course).

The Tokyo Tower Ultimate Kaku Highball Garden at the base of the tower is open until October 12, from 4pm-10pm on weekdays and 12noon-10pm on Sat, Sun & holidays.

The Tokyo Tower Rooftop Highball Garden is open until October 18, from 5pm-10pm daily. Make your reservations here.

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.

The force behind smash-hit titles including Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen, Japanese animation studio Mappa is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, the company is hosting its largest-ever exhibition from September 16, bringing together work from 23 titles at the newly opened Yurakucho Museum.

The exhibition features original drawings, large-scale sets and video projections that immerse visitors in the worlds of Mappa shows and films such as Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Attack on Titan: Final Season, Jujutsu Kaisen and more.

At the Chainsaw Man exhibition area, you can feast your eyes on exclusive production materials, including drawings that follow the story of The Movie: Reze Arc, from Denji and Reze’s first encounter and the explosive battle between Chainsaw Man and Bomb to the conclusion of their story. Don’t miss the illuminated life-size figure of Bomb, which is being unveiled for the first time.

The Attack on Titan: Final Season zone features original drawings for key scenes, displays explaining the production process, and original hand-drawn watercolour artwork of the symbolic hill from the story’s ending.

The Jujutsu Kaisen area revisits some of the series’ most iconic battle scenes and memorable moments. Production materials are exhibited in the first half of this zone, including original drawings from Season 1 and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, while the second half features materials from Season 2, Hidden Inventory / Premature Death, Shibuya Incident and Season 3, The Culling Game Part 1.

The exhibition will be held in two parts: the first from September 16 to October 25, and the second from October 28 to December 7. Some exhibits will be changed between the two parts, giving you a reason to plan multiple visits.

Tickets are available for specific dates and time slots. You can currently purchase tickets for the first half of the exhibition via Lawson Ticket, and place applications for advance lottery tickets for the second half (from Aug 22).

South Korean digital art and design firm D’strict is joining hands with Sanrio to bring a popular interactive exhibit to Japan for the first time after a successful run in Seoul last year. Utilising the latest digital media technologies, the hotel-themed exhibition in Shinjuku’s Tokyu Kabukicho Tower takes you on a photogenic and immersive journey through 11 themed areas in the imaginary hotel, with characters such as Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin appearing in their own dreamy, fairytale-like rooms.

While the full details are still under wraps, expect to see a plentiful line-up of exclusive Sanrio merch, including Hotel Floria room key charms, hotel sticker sets and travel-themed accessories.

The exhibition space is located on the fourth floor. Tickets are now on sale via Eplus.

The erotic art of old Edo returns to modern Tokyo’s most seductive ’hood with ‘Kunisada & Kuniyoshi: Shinjuku Kabukicho Shunga Exhibition – WA’. The fourth instalment in a series of exhibitions focused on Shunga, or traditional Japanese erotica, and organised by the Kabukicho-based Smappa! Group, the display showcases original ukiyo-e prints by two of the greatest masters of the form: Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Kunisada (1786-1864) is particularly renowned for depicting kabuki actors (yakusha-e) and beautiful women (bijin-ga). What’s more, his pieces are famed for their detailed portrayals of daily life in Edo, and have proved invaluable for historians researching the folksier aspects of the late feudal period.

Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), meanwhile, was dubbed ‘Edo’s ultimate graphic designer’. He illustrated the trending topics of his day – from political scandals and sexual fashions to mythical monsters – with a wit and humour that endeared him to the capital’s masses.

Curated from the collection of Mitsuru Uragami, one of Japan’s foremost ukiyo-e authorities and Shunga connoisseurs, the exhibition extends throughout the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Stage, incorporating bijin-ga, yakusha-e, musha-e (pictures of warriors) and illustrated books in addition to the erotica. Yasutaka Hayashi from artist collective Chim↑Pom from Smappa! Group returns as art director, bringing a hefty serving of Kabukicho flair to the table.

Advance tickets are available now via TimeOutShop. For a ¥200 discount on same-day tickets, use our Time Out Coupons offer.

Founded in Finland in 1951, Marimekko is one of the most influential design houses of the 20th and 21st centuries, celebrated for its bold prints, vibrant colours and optimistic approach to everyday life. Emerging in the postwar era, the brand quickly distinguished itself by treating textiles as a form of artistic expression, blurring the boundaries between fashion, design and fine art. From iconic floral motifs to abstract, rhythmical patterns, Marimekko’s visual language has come to symbolise freedom, individuality and joy.

From October 16 to December 20, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum hosts this extensive touring exhibition dedicated to the Finnish brand’s rich creative universe. Through a curated selection of textile designs, prints and related materials, the show explores Marimekko’s distinctive approach to printmaking and its enduring influence on visual culture. Emphasis is placed on the artistic processes behind the patterns, revealing how hand-drawn motifs and experimental compositions have shaped the brand’s identity across decades.

Note that tickets for this exhibition are only sold for specific time slots.

One of Tokyo’s premier contemporary art galleries, Nanzuka has opened its brand-new flagship space in Shibuya Axsh, marking the gallery’s return to Shibuya after a 20-year absence. The inaugural exhibition celebrates contemporary artist Keiichi Tanaami with his solo show ‘Do Not Bomb’. Spanning works from the 1960s to unreleased pieces made before the artist’s death in 2024, the exhibition explores Tanaami’s memories of war through around 60 works, including silkscreens, collages, paintings, animations, sculptures and videos.

The work closest to the entrance is ‘Do Not Bomb’, created while Tanaami was preparing for a large-scale solo exhibition in 2024. Made against the backdrop of ongoing wars around the world, the piece features a goldfish at its centre, flying towards the viewer like a cannonball.

The exhibition also features Tanaami’s ‘No More War’ series, which connects to ‘Do Not Bomb’. Created in 1967, the series was submitted to an anti-war poster contest hosted by American magazine Avant Garde in 1968, where it was selected as an outstanding work. Influenced by pop art, the silkscreen prints reflect Tanaami’s early interest in reaching a wider audience through reproduced imagery.

The exhibition runs until October 17. Check the gallery website for more details.

Minami Tada (1924–2014) was a quietly radical figure in post-war Japanese art whose practice unfolded across sculpture, relief, lighting and architectural space. Working at the intersection of art, design and emerging industrial technologies, Tada developed a distinctive visual language that embraced transparency, reflection and light – materials and phenomena closely tied to Japan’s rapid economic growth. As a pioneering female artist operating in a male-dominated field, her work anticipated many later conversations around spatial perception and the expanded field of sculpture.

From August 29 to December 6, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents the artist’s first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 35 years. This long-overdue retrospective traces the arc of Tada’s career, from early paintings to her most emblematic sculptural works, as well as large-scale pieces created for architectural settings. Drawing on industrial materials and contemporary technologies, her works explore how light interacts with form and space, producing effects that shift with the viewer’s movement.

The exhibition also includes archival materials that shed light on the artist’s process and intellectual context, situating her practice within broader developments in post-war Japanese art and design. At a moment when interest in overlooked modernist figures is growing both in Japan and internationally, ‘Still, shimmering light’ offers a timely reassessment of an artist whose work feels strikingly current. Elegant, experimental and forward-looking, the exhibition reintroduces Tada as a vital voice in the history of contemporary art.