Things to do in Tokyo this week

First held in 2015, this multinational celebration returns this March to welcome the arrival of spring at Yoyogi Park Events Square and Keyaki Namiki road, where you can enjoy food, drinks, music and entertainment, plus all the salsa dancing you can possibly take over a single weekend.

Grab a spicy taco and wash it down with beer, caipirinha or a tropical cocktail before moving on to the vast selection of rum and tequila. In between meals and dancing, go check out the stalls selling handicrafts and other fun accessories.

Now into its 31st year, Asia's largest St. Patrick's Day parade is always good for a highly festive atmosphere. The main strip of Omotesando is closed to traffic during Sunday afternoon (March 15), when a parade of costumed revellers, marching bands and cheerleaders wends its way up the hill and back again – then off to the nearest pub for a few rounds of Guinness. While you're there, make sure to also check out the Green Ireland Festival, which takes over Yoyogi Park Events Square for the weekend with stalls hawking Irish grub, music and dance performances, playful rugby scrums and more.

The 20th St Patrick’s Day Parade in Yokohama takes place again along the 600m-long Motomachi shopping street. Dress up in green and celebrate Ireland's national holiday with visitors from all around the world. The spectacle kicks off around 12.30pm with Irish music and dance, followed by the parade from 2pm and finishing with an open-air Ceili dance performance from 3.30pm. Afterwards you could head over to one of the little bars in the vicinity to end the day with a cool Guinness, or two.

Celebrating two decades at the forefront of Japan’s art market, Art Fair Tokyo will take place from March 13 to 15 at the Tokyo International Forum. Founded in 2005 and rooted in the legacy of Asia’s first contemporary art fair, the former NICAF, Art Fair Tokyo has grown into the largest art fair in Japan and the oldest in Asia, offering an unparalleled panorama of art from antiquity to the cutting edge.

This landmark 20th edition brings together 141 participating galleries from Japan and abroad, including 10 new exhibitors. The line-up spans contemporary, modern, antiques and crafts galleries, alongside international participants and institutions that defy conventional categories. Leading Japanese galleries such as Tomio Koyama Gallery, ShugoArts, Kaikai Kiki and Taro Nasu will be there as usual, while the fair’s main visual features Tatsuo Miyajima’s Counter Skin in Hiroshima-3 gold.

Structured around five core sections (Galleries, Crossing, Projects, Encounters and Films) the fair emphasises dialogue across eras, media and disciplines. Notably, the Films section returns with an expanded focus on moving-image works, encouraging new modes of collecting in Japan. Balancing market vitality with curatorial ambition, Art Fair Tokyo remains a great place to discover new and emerging artists.

Japan's largest regular urban farmers' market always features 80-odd vendors from around the country. In addition to a vast range (more than 50 types) of Western and local vegetables, each month the market highlights a different seasonal fruit, vegetable or other specialty. In addition to the seasonally changing children's events, farmers hold workshops and let visitors get involved with harvesting, making the market a great option for parents hoping to sneakily educate their kids. The market is held on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month.

The market is held on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month.

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).

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.

This spring, Kiba Park in Koto is taking part in the Flower and Light Movement, which sees city-run parks transformed with brand-new flowerbeds and limited-run, floral-inspired illuminations. During the festival, you can see fresh spring blooms planted in a sakura-shaped flowerbed, a 3.5-metre-tall light sculpture inspired by old lighthouses that symbolise the area’s historic waterways, and more.

The blooms will light up from 5.30pm to 8pm (8.30pm on weekends) daily. Make the most of your visit by stopping by the adjacent Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo as well.

This cherry blossom festival, one of Tokyo's most popular, takes place along the 700m-long Chidorigafuchi Ryokudo promenade near the Imperial Palace, around which there are some 230 sakura trees. During the day, you can take a stroll along the Chidorigafuchi moat or even rent a rowboat to see the cherry blossoms from the water. By night, you can enjoy the pink flowers lit up with LEDs.

If you’re interested in viewing the cherry blossoms from the water, boat rentals (seats 3 maximum) are available but require payment. Fortunately, a pre-reservations system is available, designed to minimise wait times.

Advance online reservations (sales period to begin around March 10) cost ¥12,000 per boat and allow you to select your preferred date and time. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Chiyoda Ward Sakura Fund for the conservation of the Chidorigafuchi landscape.

Same-day tickets purchased onsite at the Chidorigafuchi boat pier cost ¥3,000 per boat for one hour of use, which is inarguably the more affordable option. Be sure to get in line fast though, as tickets will be distributed from 9am daily and are sure to run out quickly. 

For those who can’t get a hold of tickets during the peak period between March 15 and March 31, shorter 30-minute rides are available for ¥1,000 from April 1.

For the sakura illuminations that start at sunset, expect lights out at 9pm. The boats, on the other hand, will be available from 9am to 7.30pm. 

The dates for the cherry blossom illuminations will be announced soon.

If you’re looking for the most OTT illumination in Tokyo, this is it. Yomiuri Land's annual winter light show will bedazzle even the most jaded illumination-fiend. As the name suggests, jewels are the focus here: literally millions of colourful LEDs are set up throughout the vast theme park evoking sparkling gems. The park is split into ten areas where you will be treated to beautifully lit attractions. 

In addition to the 180-metre rainbow-lit Jewellery Promenade and the 140-metre Crystal Passage illumination tunnel, you can also admire the newly built 'Sky-Go-Land' Ferris wheel, which features a special two-sided light display — a dazzling diamond pattern on the east side and elegant gold on the west. The highlight, however, is the fountain show, with water illuminated in different colours and sprayed into the air to create stunning shapes. There are three kinds of show happening every 15 minutes from 5pm daily. Also look out for the fountain’s flames and lasers, which are synchronised to music.

 There will be no illuminations from March 2 to March 13, 2026.

Visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) transformed the landscape of modern architecture through his organic forms, bold innovations and deep reverence for nature. His iconic works, including Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà and, above all, the Sagrada Família, remain enduring testaments to his genius, blending mathematics and faith into living architecture. Today, seven of his masterpieces are recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s passing and the completion of the Sagrada Família’s main tower, ‘Naked meets Gaudí’ at Warehouse Terrada offers a groundbreaking fusion of art, technology and scholarship. In official collaboration with the Gaudí Foundation, the immersive exhibition unveils Gaudí’s personal notebooks, letters, architectural tools and original blueprints, many on display for the first time worldwide.

Through cutting-edge projection, participatory installations and interactive experiences, visitors are invited to step inside Gaudí’s creative universe; to touch, feel and co-create the harmony of nature and architecture that defined his vision. Bridging a century of imagination, the exhibition celebrates Gaudí as an architect of stone, but also as a designer of dreams, whose spirit continues to shape the future of art and design.

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.

This winter, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo presents a landmark exhibition tracing the evolution of Japan’s landscape printmaking from the twilight of the Edo period (mid-1800s) to the dawn of modernity.

At the heart of the survey stands Kiyochika Kobayashi (1847–1915), often called ‘the last ukiyo-e artist’. Published from 1876, his Tokyo Famous Places series transformed the traditional woodblock print aesthetic by infusing it with Western notions of light and shadow. Through his ‘light ray paintings’, Kiyochika, as he was known, captured the melancholic beauty of a city in transition, the lingering spirit of Edo illuminated by the glow of modernisation.

His vision, steeped in nostalgia yet alive with innovation, profoundly influenced the shin-hanga (‘new prints’) movement that emerged in the early 20th century under artists such as Hiroshi Yoshida and Hasui Kawase. These successors revived ukiyo-e craftsmanship while reimagining Japan’s landscapes for a new era.

Drawn from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, ‘From Kiyochika to Hasui’ reunites these masterpieces with their homeland, illuminating how light, both literal and emotional, guided Japan’s printmaking into the modern age.

Donald Judd was one of the most decisive figures of twentieth-century art; an artist whose rigorous thinking reshaped the conditions under which art is made and experienced. Emerging from painting in the early 1960s, Judd developed three-dimensional works that rejected illusion and hierarchy, insisting instead on clarity, material presence and spatial integrity.

Beyond form, he was equally concerned with context: how, where and for how long a work should exist. His writings, architectural projects and advocacy for permanent installations reveal an artist for whom art could never be separated from its environment.

The Watari-Um’s ‘Judd | Marfa’ traces its protagonist’s radical vision through the lens of his life and work in Marfa, Texas. After leaving New York in the 1970s, Judd transformed former military and industrial buildings in the remote desert town into sites for the permanent installation of his own work and that of artists including Dan Flavin and John Chamberlain. These spaces, later formalised through the Chinati Foundation, remain preserved as Judd intended.

The exhibition brings together early paintings from the 1950s, key three-dimensional works from the 1960s to the 1990s, and extensive archival materials (drawings, plans, videos and documents) that illuminate Judd’s conception of Marfa as a total environment for art, architecture and living.

A special section revisits The Sculpture of Donald Judd (1978), organised by museum founder Shizuko Watari, underscoring the museum’s long-standing engagement with Judd’s legacy. Together, these materials articulate Judd’s enduring conviction that the installation of art is inseparable from its meaning.

Emerging in the wake of the Margaret Thatcher era, the Young British Artists (YBAs) and their contemporaries embraced shock, irreverence and entrepreneurial flair. While the YBA label (applied after the landmark 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition organised by Damien Hirst) was often contested, it came to define a generation that reimagined what art could be. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation all became tools for probing themes of identity, consumer culture and shifting social structures. 

The National Art Center’s ‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’ is the first exhibition in Japan devoted exclusively to British art of the 1990s. Featuring around 100 works by some 60 artists, the show captures a turbulent and transformative period in British culture, when politics, society and art collided to spark a wave of radical experimentation.

Highlights include works by Hirst, Tracey Emin, Steve McQueen, Lubaina Himid, Wolfgang Tillmans and Julian Opie, alongside others who reshaped contemporary art on a global stage. More than a retrospective, ‘YBA & Beyond’ offers a vivid portrait of 1990s Britain, an era when art intersected with music, fashion and subculture, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate today.

Roe Ethridge is one of the most influential photographers of his generation, celebrated for a practice that fluidly moves between fine art and commercial imagery. Born in Miami in 1969 and based in New York, Ethridge has developed a distinctive visual language by repurposing techniques from fashion and advertising photography into the realm of contemporary art. His photographs, often still lifes or seemingly mundane subjects, create subtle tensions between reality and fiction, familiarity and estrangement. Collected by major institutions including MoMA, Tate Modern and the Guggenheim, his work consistently reveals how images construct meaning in both personal and cultural contexts.

‘Chanel History Collection by Roe Ethridge’ is an exhibition unveiling a body of work commissioned for Chanel Arts & Culture Magazine, launched in 2025. For this project, Ethridge was granted rare access to the House of Chanel’s Patrimoine archives and to Gabrielle Chanel’s preserved apartment at 31 rue Cambon in Paris. There he photographed objects that shaped Chanel’s artistic universe: a sculpted bust by Jacques Lipchitz, manuscripts by Pierre Reverdy, works linked to Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso, and even an ancient Egyptian funerary mask.

Reimagined through Ethridge’s lens and combined with contemporary props in his Paris studio, these images breathe new life into Chanel’s legacy as a visionary designer and patron of the avant-garde. The exhibition encourages dialogue between past and present, extending Chanel’s century-long commitment to artistic creation through the eyes of a photographer who thrives on reinvention.

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.

Hirohiko Araki began serialising JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1986, launching a saga that has since spanned decades, generations of protagonists and shifting aesthetic paradigms. Renowned for its flamboyant characters, bold compositions and philosophical undercurrents, JoJo stands apart for its synthesis of classical art, fashion, music and pop culture. With cumulative circulation exceeding 120 million copies, the series has become a global phenomenon, while Araki himself has become recognised as a singular figure bridging manga and contemporary art.

From January 8 to June 28, the Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery presents this three-part exhibition that foregrounds Araki’s work through the lens of fine-art printmaking. The exhibition has previously been shown in San Francisco and Kyoto, but this marks the first time Araki’s lithographs and lenticular works are displayed in Tokyo.

To allow visitors to encounter as wide a variety of works as possible, the exhibition unfolds in three rotations: Part 1 (January 8–February 23), Part 2 (March 3–April 19) and Part 3 (April 28–June 28). At the heart of the display are nine lithographic prints, produced in 2025 at the request of Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage and representing Araki’s first foray into lithography. Unlike conventional manga printing, which reduces drawings to stark black-and-white data, lithography preserves the artist’s hand with remarkable fidelity. Drawing directly onto metal plates with lithographic pencils and chalk, Araki has embraced the medium’s irreversibility: lines cannot be erased, lending each mark a palpable tension and decisiveness.

The resulting prints, featuring figures such as Jotaro Kujo and Dio, reveal a new intimacy with Araki’s lines, from the controlled force of slow strokes to the rhythmic energy of rapid shading. Each work is produced in an edition of 100, printed by master lithographer Satoru Itazu.

Complementing these are lenticular works depicting protagonists from Parts 1 through 6 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Utilising a technique with roots in early 20th-century optical experimentation, these prints create the illusion of depth and motion, activated only through the viewer’s movement. As one shifts position, time seems to unfold within a single image – an effect that resonates with the manipulation of duration and perspective, a familiar technique in manga.

Together, the lithographic and lenticular works position JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as an evolving artistic practice – and one that continues to expand the possibilities of manga within the broader history of visual art.

This pop-up collab is the first of its kind and celebrates the upcoming February release of Walpurgisnacht Rising, the long-awaited sequel to the 2013 film Rebellion, which itself is a continuation of the popular animated series Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

The magic starts at Tembo Galleria (Floors 445 and 450), where the entire place has been decked out in décor featuring scenes from the series and films. On Floor 445, you can have a cute little photo op with one of nine Madoka characters. The photographer takes your photo, then edits in the character of your choosing for ¥1,700 per pic.

The Skytree gift shop on Floor 345 features exclusive items with original visuals ranging from acrylic stands and keychains to handbags and hologram badges. Spend over ¥5,000 to receive a special themed shopping bag.

The Skytree café on Floor 340 features a limited-time speciality menu with food and drink items inspired by the Madoka franchise. For a savoury option, try the Kyubey-themed rice gratin with white sauce, or if you’ve got a sweet tooth, go for the sinfully rich Walpurgisnacht-inspired chocolate parfait.

Beverages come in a variety of flavours, from Madoka’s pink strawberry-flavoured Calpis drink to the lemon tea with orange jelly, inspired by Mami Tomoe’s yellow garb. Each purchase of a Madoka-themed café item gets you one of seven free coasters.

On select evenings, the tower lights up in an array of coloured lights corresponding to each magical girl’s outfit, alternating every two and a half minutes throughout the night.

Tickets are ¥3,100 on weekdays (¥2,150 for children 12-17, ¥1,300 for children 6-11 and free for children under five) or ¥3,400 on weekends and holidays (¥2,350 for children 12-17, ¥1,400 for children 6-11 and free for children under five).

By the way, you can purchase a special ticket that includes a 2026 calendar, which you can print yourself at any local 7-Eleven. Special tickets are ¥3,500 on weekdays (¥2,350 for children 12-17, ¥1,450 for children 6-11) or ¥3,800 on weekends and holidays (¥2,550 for children 12-17, ¥1,550 for children 6-11). Special tickets must be purchased at least a day in advance (no same-day tickets available), so plan accordingly.

For info on tickets or photo op and tower light-up times, visit the official ‘Moonlit Waltz’ website.