Things to do in Tokyo this week

Established in 2013 to celebrate 400 years of relations between Spain and Japan, this vibrant and scrumptious food fest takes place at Yoyogi Park Events Square. Having attracted approximately 100,000 visitors last year, this popular fiesta is back with its expanded live performance lineup, highlighted by an all-day flamenco event and a Sevillanas Contest. While details of this year’s food lineup have yet to be announced, last year’s event featured 35 food and drink stalls, complemented by about 20 booths selling various Iberian goods and crafts. 

This is the time to sample a wide variety of Spanish delicacies, from the world-famous paella to tapas and more. Spanish beer is, of course, a must while watching elegant flamenco.

Suit up in your cheeriest Santa outfit for a fun holiday run (or walk) at Tokyo’s Santa Run, an annual charity event popular worldwide during the year-end season. The ticket includes your Santa get-up, while a portion of the proceeds goes to hospitalised children in Japan and nutrition improvement programmes for indigenous children in the Philippines.

The run takes you on a 2.5km loop from Yoyogi Park Event Square through Koen Dori and Meiji Dori to Jingumae Intersection before ending back at the park. After the run, you can reward yourself with food, drinks and activities at Yoyogi Park's Fiesta de España, which is happening at the same time.

Keep an eye out for Rilakkuma, as he'll make an appearance at the event dressed up as Santa. Ready, get set and ho ho ho. 

Event start times are subject to change. Check the event website for the latest details and ticketing information.

Band-Maid will close out their 2026 world tour with two long-awaited performances at Nippon Budokan. Formed in 2013, the heavy-hitting, maid-costumed five-piece sold out their 2025 tour and have kept busy this year with the single ‘Energetic’ and a (largely sold-out) run through Asia, Europe and North America. 

With the pandemic forcing the cancellation of a 2021 Budokan performance, these shows will finally close a major chapter in the band’s career. The finale comes ahead of a break from live shows expected to last until their 15th anniversary in 2028 and will feature the up-and-coming Nek! on both nights.

November 14, December 5 & 6, January 10 & 11, February 13 & 14, March 6 & 7

Tokyo’s charming historic neighbourhood of Yanaka is hosting an antique flea market on select weekends at Hojuzan Enmei-in Temple. The otherwise serene Edo-era temple grounds get lively at this time of year, as they host 100-odd vendors over the span of two days. Each day, the first 100 people to enter the venue will receive a lottery ticket with a chance to win a discount coupon worth ¥50 to ¥5,000. Queuing is permitted from 9.20am onwards.

Taking place every other weekend at the renovated Shibuya Municipal Kitaya Park, this outdoor vintage market is the place to pick up everything from American Levi's and handmade knit sweaters to candles and unique artisanal accessories. Boasting approximately 20-30 booths, the market offers a curated selection of shops selling on-trend vintage outfits and trinkets from local artists, making it an exciting day out for fashion fiends.

Dates are subject to change. Check the event Instagram for more details.

Neuro-tech startup VIE is bringing its masterful soundscape engineering to Tokyo National Museum for the first time with Zen Night Tokyo, an event taking place in the gardens behind the main museum building from October 14 to December 6. Held to coincide with the upcoming ‘Daitoku-ji: Japan’s Unrivalled Zen Monastery – 700th Anniversary Special Exhibition', the Japanese garden is hosting this special after-hours autumn leaves illumination spectacle designed to soothe the senses and let visitors admire the natural beauty of the grounds, which are ordinarily closed to the public.

Themed around the Buddhist concepts of rebirth and cyclical existence, this immersive journey guides visitors through different areas along the mirror-like Suigetsu pond, including an open-air teahouse zone where you can enter different realms through soundscapes tuned to distinct wavelengths, each designed to evoke a unique emotional experience. Continuing along the pond, visitors discover a path of spider lilies, flowers often associated with the arrival of autumn and the honouring of ancestral spirits. Aptly named Hyakki Yado (Night Path of One Hundred Demons), the path is lined with some 3,000 hauntingly beautiful spider lilies illuminated against the night.

Meanwhile, at the Kujokan teahouse, you can drink matcha while admiring the breathtaking illuminated rock garden. The tea experience is paired with a high-tech ‘Brainwave Zen’ meditation experience, which involves measuring brainwaves with an earphone-type monitoring device. The signals are visualised in real time through sound and projected imagery, creating an immersive meditation space. You can take home the results of your brainwave analysis and learn about your Zen meditation strengths and weaknesses. Note that the tea and ‘Brainwave Zen’ experience is a ticketed programme and requires a separate date- and time-designated reservation made online.

General tickets for Zen Night Tokyo are also available now, with early-bird discounts offered until October 13. Tickets include admission to the museum’s Daitoku-ji exhibition.

Grab your tickets now via the official website.

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.

Ikebukuro’s rooftop Christmas market is back this holiday season, but it’s not quite what you’d expect. The vibe here is more festive beer garden, with beautiful lights, Christmas trees and all sorts of mini-games at Tobu Department Store’s 8th-floor Sky Deck Hiroba square.

One of the highlights is the Christmas-themed BBQ course, featuring a selection of grilled meats and seasonal drinks. The menu encompasses charcoal-grilled beef sirloin steak, chicken drumsticks, raclette cheese sausage, spare ribs, grilled vegetables, mulled wine, free-flowing alcoholic beverages and more. Available at three price points (¥3,500, ¥4,500, ¥6,000), the course also includes access to the fire pit, where guests can toast marshmallows and make s’mores around an open flame.

For those looking to enjoy smaller bites or drop by without a reservation, this year’s market area will feature six food and drink stalls offering à la carte options such as mulled wine, soup, hot chocolate, bread and Christmas desserts. It’s a convenient option for unwinding after a day of shopping or sightseeing around Ikebukuro.

Barbecue plan reservations can be made through Tablecheck.

Check the event Instagram for more information.

Everyone loves Chiikawa right now. Get your fill of the mischievous characters created by Japanese illustrator Nagano in Shibuya, where the franchise’s official ramen shop returns for a limited time. Located on the basement floor of Shibuya Parco, it deals in ramen of the pork variety, hence the buta (pig) in the name. The ramen is served in three sizes: Chiikawa (mini), Hachiware (small) and Usagi (large). Each bowl will come with a novelty paper apron featuring Chiikawa's face, and a novelty sticker featuring either Chiikawa, Hachiware or Usagi depending on the bowl you ordered.

As for drinks, the Shisa Mandarin Soda is a must-try, named after the hard-working lion dog and ramen shop assistant in the Chiikawa universe. Each drink comes with a novelty character card, which you can draw at random from a selection of 10 characters.

Visitors who grab a bite of the ramen are also allowed exclusive access to the adjacent merch shop, complete with limited-edition goods – think T-shirts, ramen bowls, beer jugs and towels featuring the adorable Chiikawa.

Reservations are essential if you're looking to visit on weekends.

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the most magnificent parks in Tokyo, and if you need another reason to visit this top attraction, this two-week-long chrysanthemum exhibition is it.

Just as cherry blossom is the representation of spring in Japan, chrysanthemum (or kiku in Japanese) is the symbol of autumn. More importantly, it is the ‘royal flower’ of Japan – the Imperial Seal of Japan is also known as the Chrysanthemum Seal. At Shinjuku Gyoen, this annual exhibition (since 1929) highlights the regal blooms under protective awnings. They are a sight to behold, and perfect for your Instagram, too.

There’s no separate ticket to see this exhibition but you do have to pay the park entrance fee of ¥500 (high school students ¥250, free for younger children).

For more information, check the official English pamphlet.

The 400m-long Keyakizaka Street next to the Roppongi Hills shopping centre is lighting up with 930,000 sparkling white and blue LEDs until Christmas Day. From the pedestrian bridge near the Roppongi Hills Arena, you'll get a stunning view of the trees covered in shimmering lights, with Tokyo Tower in the background, from 5pm to 11pm daily. 

Until January 31, the district surrounding Tokyo Skytree Town and Asakusa is lighting up with ornate takeakari bamboo lanterns created by Chikaken, a company specialising in these unique traditional lanterns. Many of their takeakari bamboo light creations have been featured at some of Japan’s popular illuminations including Hana Akari at Yomiuri Land and select Tokyo hotels.

The Sumida River Walk, a pedestrian bridge connecting Tokyo Mizumachi with Sumida Park on the Asakusa side, is particularly picturesque. Look out for a special installation with Tokyo Skytree as its backdrop, as well as arches of bamboo lanterns stretching across the 160-metre-long bridge.

There’s another installation at the Kitajukken riverside terrace running alongside Tokyo Mizumachi, where you'll find beautifully handcrafted takemari bamboo ornaments lining the 400-metre walkway from Genmori Bridge to Koume Bridge.

Ushijima Shrine in Sumida Park is also lit up daily from 5pm to 10pm with bamboo lights as well as colourful takemari that are beautifully hung in the air.

The 1.2-kilometre-long Marunouchi Naka-dori street, always one of the most popular Tokyo illumination spots, will have around 250 trees lit up with about 775,000 low-energy, champagne-coloured LEDs this year, making for an environmentally friendly and stylish display.

If you’d rather stay cosy while admiring the lights, visit the renovated Marunouchi House, where the seventh-floor terrace will feature festive illuminations for a limited time. The terrace has plenty of seats surrounded by outdoor heaters.

Closer to Christmas, Gyoko-dori between the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station will have more illuminations between November 27 and December 25, bringing the total to around 810,000 LEDs.

The annual illuminations at Oi Racecourse (also known as Tokyo City Keiba) are returning for their ninth and final run, with the sprawling venue bathed in colourful lights every evening. You can enjoy elaborate light-up and projection mapping displays across two areas.

Upon entering the venue, you’ll find yourself in the Twinkle area, where you’ll walk through a long corridor lit up with twinkling blue lights leading you to the main attractions. Aside from the vivid light projections on the ground and a rainbow-coloured Christmas tree, you’ll also come across the Aurora Forest with glowing trees and laser-lit mists. This particular attraction puts on regular five-minute light shows synchronised to music. 

The Wa no Kirameki area, on the other hand, occupies the centre of the racecourse. Here, a colourful water fountain becomes the centre of an aurora light display synchronised to music. There's also an illuminated cherry blossom tunnel, a large trellis of artificial wisteria all decked out with pink and purple lights, plus an illumination recreating a typical Japanese rural landscape complete with paddy fields and a stream.

What's more, with this event taking place at a racecourse, you can even pet and take photos with real horses.

Note: The illuminations are closed on November 16-20, November 30-December 4, December 24-January 1 2027.

Mt Takao is one of the most picturesque destinations in Tokyo to see autumn leaves. And one of the best ways to do that is by taking the scenic cable car ride, which brings you closer to the mountain’s Yakuoin temple. Here you can sample shojin ryori, a traditional Japanese Buddhist vegetarian meal. To secure a lunchtime seat, be sure to book a reservation for two or more people at least two days in advance via phone.

The best time to see the autumn leaves for 2026 is mid-November to early December, when the foliage around the cable car tracks turns deep orange and red.

Throughout the duration of the festival, you can also look forward to a host of free events at Kiyotaki Station, the cable car stop at the base of Mt Takao, including musical and dance performances by local university students. While details are yet to be announced for 2026, check the event's English website for the latest updates.

As is the case every year, the base of Mt Takao will be crowded in autumn, so it’s best to arrive via public transport.

Showa Kinen Park is the most beautiful in autumn, with the maple and ginkgo trees blushing in fiery red and yellow respectively. The ginkgo trees are the first to turn and you can see one of the two boulevards of golden yellow trees as soon as you enter the park’s Tachikawa gate. These trees are expected to turn full yellow in mid-November. The momiji and kaede trees, however, present their signature vermillion hues a bit later towards the end of November.

During this season, the park stays open after dark, with special light-ups taking place at the Katarai no Icho Namiki Ginkgo Tree Avenue (near the futsal and basketball courts), the canal ginkgo avenue by the Tachikawa park entrance and the traditional Japanese Garden from 4.30pm until 8.30pm.

While you can enjoy the light-ups at Ginkgo Tree Avenue with just the park's regular admission fee (¥450, free for junior high school students and younger), you need an extra ticket to enter the Japanese Garden for the evening light-up (advance ticket online ¥1,200, primary and junior high school students ¥600; same-day tickets sold at Komorebi House (cash-only) close to the Japanese Garden ¥1,300, ¥700).

Tickets to enter the Japanese Garden are available for purchase online from October 22, including park admission and Japanese Garden bundle pass for a discounted price of ¥1,600 (¥600).

Admission into the Japanese Garden is waived on October 29 and 30.

Enjoy the changing of the leaves before anywhere else in Tokyo at the 60th-floor observatory of Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City this autumn. From September 10 to November 30, the relaxing indoor park with artificial turf is decorated with vivid red momiji leaves. Here, you can enjoy the seasonal foliage with the stunning Tokyo skyline as your backdrop without having to worry about rain.

During the event period, the Tenbo Park café is churning out autumn-themed menu items like the buttered sweet potato (¥900) and the refreshing Grape soda (¥800), an autumn-inspired concoction of Nagano Purple grapes, soda and jelly.

Tickets can be purchased via the official website.

Tokyo-born Mariko Mori is recognised for her visionary fusion of art, science and spirituality. After studying at New York’s Chelsea College of Art and completing the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program, she emerged in the early 1990s with striking performance-based photographs and videos exploring post-human identity and the aesthetics of a rapidly technologising world. Over the decades since, her practice expanded from futurist imagery to a broader investigation of themes including ancient cosmologies, quantum physics and ecological interconnectedness.

Mori’s large-scale installations, often created through collaborations with scientists, engineers and architects, invite audiences into meditative environments shaped by Buddhist cosmology and the concept of ‘oneness’. Her works are held in major global collections, and the Faou Foundation she established and runs aims to install site-specific public artworks on six continents to reconnect humanity with the natural world.

This show at the Mori Art Museum is the artist’s first major exhibition in Japan since 2002. Organised with the Guggenheim Museum’s Asian Art Initiative, the sweeping retrospective brings together some 80 works spanning three decades: interactive installations, sculptures, videos, photographs, drawings, and rare archival materials shown publicly for the first time.

Arranged as a chronological journey, the exhibition traces Mori’s evolution from cyborg-inspired early works to the immersive, contemplative environments of recent years. By foregrounding themes of interdependence, cosmic time and environmental stewardship, the show invites visitors to reflect on humanity’s place within a fragile and interconnected universe.

'Shibuya Archive Photo Exhibition 2026' showcases photos of the Shibuya area ranging from the early 1900s to the late 2010s. The collection is brought to you by the Commons Archive Collective, an organisation founded in 2021 that puts on exhibitions of its holdings, many of which feature Shibuya in some capacity.

This particular Shibuya-themed exhibition is in its fourth year. While the 2025 show featured 170 photos focusing on specific streets and places of cultural significance around Dogenzaka, Koen-dori, Center-gai and Shibuya Station, this year's edition shifts its focus to the people and activities that bring these streets to life. By layering the voices and oral histories of people who have spent time in Shibuya over streetscapes and photographs, the exhibition reveals aspects of the neighbourhood that cannot be captured through photography alone.

The exhibition takes place at 8/Court on the 8th floor of Shibuya Hikarie 11am-8pm on November 10-22, 11am-6pm on November 23. Entry to the exhibition is free of charge.

Tokyo Node presents the largest solo exhibition to date by Japanese artist and art director Yoshirotten. Widely recognised for his ability to move seamlessly between fine art, graphic design, moving image, spatial design and commercial projects, the Tokyo-based visionary has spent more than two decades developing a distinctive visual language that bridges urban culture, technology, nature and the cosmos. From collaborations with global brands and musicians to ambitious independent art projects, his work consistently seeks to make the invisible visible.

‘Communication with the Other Side / Beyond Earth’ brings together the artist’s major ongoing series, while introducing new large-scale, site-specific installations. Across these works, Yoshirotten explores enduring themes that have shaped his practice: light, colour, natural phenomena, planetary systems and humanity’s relationship to the unknown.

A highlight of the display is a new project created in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which transforms space-related data into immersive visual experiences. Expanding upon the speculative and sci-fi-inspired worldview that has characterised Yoshirotten’s recent work, the exhibition invites visitors to contemplate perspectives that extend beyond the boundaries of everyday perception – and even beyond Earth itself.

Serving both as a retrospective of key developments in Yoshirotten’s career and as a platform for new experimentation, the exhibition marks a major milestone for one of Japan’s most influential contemporary visual creators. Through a dynamic fusion of art, technology and imagination, it offers a compelling vision of unseen worlds and the possibilities that lie beyond them.

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).

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.

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.