The best things to do in Tokyo this weekend

Yukata-clad spectators crowd the streets of Harajuku and Aoyama during the mesmerising Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival, a display that ranks as one of Tokyo's top summer festivals. Now in its 45th year, this edition of the event will boast 10,000 fireworks, launched over the span of an hour from Meiji Jingu Gaien Rubber-ball Baseball Field.

The cluster of sports stadiums to the south of the launch site offers the best vantage points, with paid seating available at Meiji Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. Ticket prices are yet to be announced for 2026 – more details to come here.

Alternatively, just wander around the surrounding area until you find somewhere you can see the action for free. The fireworks display lasts for one hour from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

In case of stormy weather, the festival will be postponed to August 9.

Asagaya has been holding its own distinctive Tanabata festival for 70 years now – complete with extravagant kusudama ornaments and a colourful curtain of wind-swept streamers, but the event has moved with the times. In recent years, the papier-mâché decorations dangling from the ceiling of the Pearl Center shopping arcade have included modern characters like Godzilla, Chiikawa, Buzz Lightyear and even Donald Trump.

The decorations are there to be seen all day long, but many people wait until dusk to go and enjoy them. That's when the shopping street comes alive with a host of food and drink stalls offering Japanese festive fare.

Kanda Shrine’s Noryo Matsuri takes place over three days in August. This all-encompassing summer festival features everything from Bon Odori dancing to classic matsuri food, plus a small beer and sake festival that starts a day earlier on August 6.

During the Bon Odori session on Friday (4.30pm-8.30pm), you can dance to popular anime songs, while the ones over the weekend (from 5.30pm) feature Kanda Shrine’s original song ‘Kanda Myojin Ondo’. The organisers uploaded a practice video to their YouTube channel, so make sure to learn the steps before heading over. The festival ends at 8.30pm on all three days. The event may be cancelled in the event of bad weather. 

Bon Odori Dances will not be held on August 6.

Tanabata, the festival that celebrates the star-crossed lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi, takes place across Japan in early July (and some in August). You'll find one of Tokyo's longest-running iterations of this event in the western town of Fussa.

While other such festivals tend to be fairly low-key affairs, this one (now in its 76th year) is packed with events, including a Princess Orihime contest and a folk dance parade with mikoshi floats. The latter is making a comeback on Friday from 6pm, starting at Fussa Station’s west exit and ending in front of Fussa City Hall. There are also shows and cheerleading performances on Sunday. Plus, of course, plenty of food stalls around Fussa Station throughout the duration of the festival.

Prepare for more than three hours of lively dancing right in front of Shibuya 109, as the seventh edition of Shibuya Bon Odori takes over Dogenzaka and Bunkamura-dori on Saturday August 8. Both streets will be pedestrianised from 4.30pm to 10.30pm, creating a festive atmosphere as hundreds of revellers in yukata and other traditional attire dance through the evening. While few details have been announced so far, you can also expect a handful of food stalls serving classic matsuri grub.

Around 19 floats and portable shrines are carried around the north side of Hachioji at this summer festival. It is one of the top events of its kind in the Kanto region, held traditionally on the first weekend of August.

When rival floats pass one another, their bands attempt to throw each other off their groove in a musical face-off known as buttsuke – a distinctive Hachioji tradition. While the floats and portable shrines appear on Saturday and Sunday, also look out for ice sculptures (Aug 7, 1.30pm-4.10pm), taiko drummers (Aug 8, 3pm-4.30pm), Taiwanese dance performances from Kaohsiung (Aug 7 & 9, 6pm-6.20pm, Aug 8 4.30pm-4.50pm) and more in the course of the three-day fest, which attracted over 800,000 spectators every year before the pandemic.

For the festival programme, download the official English pamphlet.

Escape the city for this spectacular show of fireworks in the great outdoors. This weekend’s Okutama Noryo Fireworks Festival is now in its 49th year and it’s held at Hikawa in the scenic mountain village of Okutama. Expect to see 1,000 shells of fireworks light up the night sky and the surrounding mountains.

This year, paid seats are only available for purchase in advance via Ticket Pia. Tickets at the Togehara parking lot and Okutama Junior High School parking lot ticketed viewing areas are now sold out, but the Hikawa Elementary School viewing area still has seats, with prices starting at ¥2,500 per lot for four people. Access the venue by getting off at Oku-Tama station, and taking a short four-minute walk uphill to the school on the other side of the station.

In case of stormy weather, the festival will be postponed to August 9.

Step back into the heyday of the ’70s and ’80s at this open-air disco taking over the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse this summer. Set against the waterfront, the dance floor will come alive with soul, disco, funk and techno spun by some of Japan’s top DJs, including DJ Nori, Muro of Captain Vinyl, Drunken Kong, DJ Hasebe and Grooveman Spot.

Complete with neon lighting, mirror balls and lasers, the venue recreates the atmosphere of a classic disco under the open sky. To make the event as accessible as possible, admission is free on select days. On dates featuring special DJ performances, entry ranges from ¥1,000 to ¥3,800, so be sure to check the official schedule before heading over.

Tickets are now on sale via Asoview. 

Kyoto’s Otoboke Beaver are taking time out of their busy international touring schedule to put on a co-headline show with Tokyo dance-punk outfit Have A Nice Day! The show, part of Shinjuku Loft’s 50th birthday celebrations, represents a sonically disparate meeting of two of the country’s most exciting live acts. 

Have A Nice Day!, affectionately known as Habanai, emerged from Tokyo’s underground alternative scene of the 2010s. Sitting somewhere between indie rock, synth-pop, dance-punk, electronic and hip-hop, they’re known for massive hooks, emotive lyrics, prolific output and chaotic live shows. Their latest album, Cloud Nine, released in April, surprised fans with a decidedly more guitar-driven approach than their defining Dystopia Romance series, the fifth instalment of which was released just last year.

Otoboke Beaver continue an incredibly busy year with their new full-time drummer. Having just completed a European tour with the Foo Fighters and currently in the midst of a North American tour, they’re quickly becoming one of the country’s biggest exports – and for very good reason. Their insanely tight, rapid-fire and playful live performances have earned them an ever-growing following at home and internationally, and this show will be an exciting and increasingly rare opportunity to see them up close.

Enjoy a sensational stage show this summer with powerful drum battles, breathtaking marching formations and an impressive line-up of more than 50 percussion instruments at Blast! The Tony and Emmy Award-winning production concludes its Japan tour this August with a grand finale at Tokyu Theatre Orb in Shibuya Hikarie, running from August 4 to 16 for a total of 18 performances. Don't miss this electrifying showcase of virtuoso percussionists, brass and wind musicians, and dancers, all coming together in a high-energy spectacle.

Tickets are currently on sale via Eplus, Lawson Ticket, Kyodo Tokyo and Asoview. Check the event website for the latest Tokyo showtimes.

Inage Seaside Park in Chiba is hosting weekly DJ parties on its picturesque 90-metre-long pier that stretches out into Tokyo Bay, until September 27. Taking place on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 4pm to 8pm, the parties showcase artists spinning tunes from a variety of genres, including Balearic house, afrobeats, tech house, South African amapiano and more.

While the full 2026 line-up is unannounced, expect to see local favourites including Golden Roa, Mark Mila and Ahreum will also take to the decks, spinning everything from techno to R&B to keep the summer vibes alive.

Check the event website for the most up-to-date DJ line-up.

The National Stadium’s swanky next-door park is hosting a summer beer garden and outdoor cinema festival this month from July 17 to September 27. During the event, the park will be transformed into an open-air beer garden complete with tables, tents and plenty of seating. Hosted by Corona, the beer garden will serve favourites such as Corona Extra (¥750), alongside the brand’s non-alcoholic Corona Cero (¥600) and inventive Corona-infused cocktails. New for 2026 is the Corona Sunsets Truck, which will be serving drinks and appetisers designed to pair perfectly with Corona beer every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

While you’re there, don’t miss the free outdoor film screenings taking place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This weekend outdoor cinema event is one of Japan’s largest, with screenings running for over 70 days. While the cinema line-up for 2026 has yet to be announced, last year’s programme featured Academy Award-winning titles such as Green Book and Top Gun: Maverick, as well as family favourites including Paddington, School of Rock, The Minions and more. Note that most screenings are Japanese-dubbed versions of the films.

While entry to the festival is free, a special reservation is required to enter on August 8, when the nearby Jingu Stadium is hosting the Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival. Capacity is limited to two thousand visitors, so reserve a slot via the official website before it's too late.

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).

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.

Tokyo Midtown has a packed programme of summer fun this year. If you want to take it easy, cool down at Midtown Garden’s Ashimizu area. The gentle stream here has been transformed into a foot bath, open between 3pm and 9pm (closed on Tuesdays). It can accommodate up to 70 people at a time and, best of all, it’s free. Towels are available for ¥100 each, but of course, you can always bring your own. Cool down in the mist and ice-cooled water, with a free rentable parasol that even glows softly after nightfall for a calm evening ambience.

Feeling wiped out by the summer heat? Make a beeline for the restaurants and cafés at Tokyo Midtown, now hosting a refreshing summer sweets fair featuring cool desserts such as the mango syrup kakigori shaved ice at Hal Yamashita, the strawberry and condensed milk kakigori shaved ice at Ukafe and many more.

New for 2026, enjoy a casual summer evening with small firework sparklers at the Midtown Garden from 5.30pm to 9pm on July 18, 19, 20, and August 8, 9, 10, and 11. Sparklers can be purchased on-site, starting at ¥500 for five sticks and ¥1,000 for 12 sticks. Up to two people may enter the fireworks space per purchase.

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.

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.

A new exhibition space in the basement of the Tokyo International Forum, Yurakucho Museum is opening this July, and its inaugural exhibition brings the whimsical world of Pingu to Japan. Running from July 10 to September 6, it features priceless clay models used in actual animation production, alongside storyboards and other production materials. What’s more, you can pretend to be in Pingu’s Antarctic igloo with a photo spot made to look like the penguin boy’s home.

While you’re there, take the opportunity to study Pingu’s facial expressions, unique play-doh-like contortions and language, and maybe you’ll learn to decipher his noot noots once and for all. The exhibition also includes three collaborative art pieces by renowned miniature photographer and artist Tatsuya Tanaka, who has reimagined Pingu with everyday items.

Tickets are now on sale via Epus.

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.

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.

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.