The best things to do in Tokyo this weekend

You'll find a variety of family-friendly activities at this nautical festival, which commemorates the opening of Tokyo Port to international trade in 1941. It takes place over two days at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, where you’ll get to take a tour of Japan Coast Guard survey vessel Heiyo, the city-owned dredging vessel Kairyu and a frigate from the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. You can also ride the 50-minute Tokyo Port Cruise for free (times unannounced for 2026) without any reservations (limited to 300 people per session).

Away from the boats, you can feast on food truck bites, watch stage performances like cheerleading, musical performances, detector dog demonstrations and plays, take a look inside freezer storage, and watch a demonstration of the workings of an ocean cleanup vessel.

Put on your yukata gown and wooden geta sandals, as we have now entered Bon Odori season. The Oku-Asakusa Bon Odori Festival at Sanyabori Square in Sumida ward is happening on June 27, featuring a host of delectable street food, invigorating drumming performances (5.15pm) and joyous dancing around the yagura stage. 

While the festivities begin as early as 2pm with the opening of food stalls, the communal dancing is set to take place later in the evening from 6pm to 8.45pm. Here you can join the locals in some easy-to-follow street dancing and experience the atmosphere of traditional Japanese festivals typical of summer in Tokyo.

Check the event’s X account for the latest updates.

Tokyo Streets returns with its fourth multidisciplinary showcase, Tokyo Streets X, taking over WPU Gallery Shinjuku from June 23 to 28. Expanding beyond its street photography roots, the roughly week-long photography exhibition blends portrait and street photography with other forms of visual art and DJ spins, putting the spotlight on both local and international creatives.

Expect to see prints by talented photographers Lord K2i, Lukasz Palka and Yusuke Nagata, as well as illustrations by artists Chonmaru, Diego Branco, Masashi Nanri and Anna's Brain, among others. Free to enter, the show is an easy stop for anyone keen to tap into Tokyo’s contemporary street photography and art scene.

Time your visit for the reception on Saturday June 27 (from 6pm; ¥500 entry), when the exhibit’s resident DJs spin hip-hop and funk and special guests come together for a lively closing-weekend celebration. For those keen to explore Shinjuku's Kabukicho with a camera, join the photowalk happening on Wednesday June 24 from 8pm. (¥3,000 per person)

Post-rock quartet Cinema Staff are putting on a party that looks like a dream for fans of Japanese alternative rock, emo, math rock, indie and shoegaze. The line-up traverses nearly 20 years of underground music culture, bringing together multiple generations of artists from legendary bands of the early ’00s to newer acts defining the current scene. 

Cinema Staff, who recently wrapped up a national tour for their latest album Plastic Youth, are perhaps best known for their singles ‘Great Escape’ and ‘Name of Love’, both ending tracks for the anime series Attack on Titan. They’re joined by The Cabs, another legendary act in local heavy music circles, who reformed last year after a 12-year hiatus and dropped a new single recently, much to the delight of long-time fans. Younger bands on the bill include Texas 300, who have earned a name for themselves since the release of their debut single ‘Uma Ga Suki’ in 2022, as well as Yubiori and Anorak.

Yebisu Garden Place’s annual outdoor cinema returns this summer to the roofed Center Plaza, offering 15 free screenings on astroturf with food trucks on site. Held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until July 5, Picnic Cinema combines film, food and fitness into one ultimate urban picnic experience.

Open-air mobile theatre company Kino Iglu is organising and curating this year’s film selection, offering something for just about every kind of moviegoer. Expect everything from coming-of-age stories like 'Lady Bird' (2017) and nostalgic classics such as 'Melody' (1971), to acclaimed dramas including 'Past Lives' (2023) and 'Still Walking' (2008). There are also crowd-pleasing picks like 'The Truman Show' (1998) and 'Galaxy Quest' (1999), plus action-packed Hong Kong newcomer 'Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In' (2024). While shows start at 7.30pm, we recommend arriving early to secure a good spot to lay down your mat. Check the event website for the full list of films.

Popular restaurants from the Ebisu area – all winners of the local ‘Best Dish to Pair with Yebisu Beer’ gourmet contest – including Japanese comfort food favourite Taishu Kissa Tsubaki, will be setting up stalls at Clock Square for the ‘Foodies’ Picnic’ held alongside the outdoor cinema. Grab a bite and unwind with great food and drinks on the spacious artificial grass lawn at the central plaza. Food trucks serving smaller, easy-to-eat snacks will also be on-site.

For fitness-minded folk, morning and evening yoga sessions are also held on the aforementioned lawn. Slots are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Check the event website for details.

Hakkeijima Island near Yokohama is bringing back its music-synced pyrotechnic shows this summer, with approximately 2,500 fireworks being launched during a span of 10 minutes. Happening on select weekends and holidays from May 30 to November 22, the fireworks are viewable from the island’s free-to-enter boardwalk area or the paid Hakkeijima Sea Paradise amusement park grounds.

Utilising state-of-the-art digital controls, the fireworks are timed to blast with musical beats to the nearest tenth of a second, illuminating the night sky as if the sparks danced to the music.

Shows start from 8.30pm (8pm from October onwards) on May 30, Jun 27, Jul 18-19 & 25, Aug 1, 8, 15 & 29, Sep 19-22, Oct 10-11, Nov 21-22 and Mar 20-21, 2027.

Check the event website for the latest details.

This free, monthlong exhibition happening from June 3 to 28 features artworks created by queer artists, offering viewers a chance to peruse LGBTQ+ art and show their support by purchasing their favourite artists’ works.

Speaking of favourite artists, a tip box will be set up so that you can vote for your faves; the winning artist receives ¥100,000. To get in on the action and catch some queer culture, drop by the newly opened Queer Space Tokyo, a community space in Minato completed only in January of this year.

Adachi-ku's brilliantly named Park of Living Things brings back its lunchtime firefly-watching event, which takes place on Saturdays and Sundays in June. Observe the magical dance of these symbols of early summer up close, and be sure to take the chance to visit the park's wide range of other displays, including the large greenhouse with dozens of butterflies, a glass tunnel where kids can observe Japanese insects and a corner with tropical fish, reptiles and other animals.

The event takes place from 1pm to 4pm. A session is held every 20 minutes.

Yomiuri Land amusement park has been breeding and raising fireflies to help conserve the species since 2009. This summer, you can watch genji botaru fireflies in June and heike botaru fireflies in July illuminate the beautiful Hana Biyori garden after dark, with the display running until July 1.

Hana Biyori is open from 10am, but the fireflies viewing time is from 7.40pm until 9pm (8.30pm on weekdays). 

A Hana Biyori ticket (¥800) and a separate Hotaru Biyori ticket (¥400) are required for admission.

While Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine is worth a visit just for its impressive architecture, the beautiful grounds are also home to a regular antique market that usually takes place on the first, second, fourth and fifth Sunday of every month. However, to make sure the market is on schedule, you can check the website for the exact dates each month.

As this is an antique market, the items here are a bit less junky than some of the other flea markets in town, with plenty of gorgeous Japanese tableware, folk artworks, antique kimono and more.

In case of rain, the event is cancelled.

The late Wangari Maathai kickstarted the Mottainai movement in 2005, a year after she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize on account of her political and environmental activism. The Japan-based campaign encourages environmental conservation and sustainable use of resources through a variety of means, ranging from custom vending machines to events like this weekend flea market around Tokyo.

There's often a variety of booths propagating the Mottainai message – reduce, reuse, recycle, respect – along with flea market stalls selling clothing, tableware, DVDs, toys, books and other cheap bargains.

Depending on the weekend, the market is set up at different locations including Nakano Central Park, Komazawa Olympic Park and the Gotanda TOC building. The dates, times and venues are listed on the event website.

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.

This June, experimental art gallery Nanzuka Underground is hosting Kenny Scharf, a leading artist of the 1980s East Village Art Movement, who gained prominence alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

The exhibition centres on Scharf’s new series Shimishimikao!, inspired by the phenomenon where blobs resemble faces. It also features a diverse range of works cultivated over his 50-year career, including the Moodz series, composed of expressive circular faces, and the Dire Headlines series, which is characterised by its use of newspaper clippings of environmental destruction in the background.

Having spent his formative years in Los Angeles and New York during the 1980s, Scharf has long channelled his concerns about nuclear threats and environmental destruction into his work. In the Shimishimikao series, expressive faces proliferate like dividing cells, creating a vibrant visual rhythm. Beneath these playful, pop-infused images lies Scharf’s desire to spread positivity while confronting, rather than ignoring, the realities of the world around us.

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.

What began as a picture book has grown into a global phenomenon. After stops in Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Paris, ‘The Monsters 10th Anniversary Exhibition’ is finally coming to Tokyo, bringing with it a host of special experiences for Labubu fans.

Held at Azabudai Hills Gallery, the exhibition celebrates creator Kasing Lung’s monster universe and traces Labubu’s journey from storybook character to worldwide sensation. Highlights include the Painting and Sculpture Zone, showcasing Lung’s original paintings and 3D works, the immersive Mirror Room, and the adorable Plush House packed with Labubu plush toys.

Visitors can also experience the world premiere of ‘The Story of Puca’, which brings part of The Monsters Trilogy to life through projection mapping and 3D surround sound.

Naturally, there will be plenty of exclusive merchandise, including 10th anniversary figure sets (available via lottery), as well as tote bags, accessories and other collectibles. Round off your visit at the themed café, where you’ll find food and drinks inspired by characters including Labubu, Zimomo and Mokoko.

Enter the imaginative realm of Japanese mythology this spring at Warehouse Terrada’s digital art exhibit. The humorous yokai figures here, brought to life using cutting-edge 3D graphics and projection mapping technology, are demons, spirits and supernatural monsters from ancient folklore.

Expect to see yokai monsters from artworks such as ‘Hyakki Yagyo Emaki’ and ‘Hyakumonogatari’, as well as realistically recreated oni ogres, tengu goblins, duck-like kappa river monsters, and tsukumogami spirits that seemingly appear right in front of you. While you’re there, don’t miss the exhibit of actual ukiyo-e prints of yokai by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, or the detailed explanations of Edo-period (1603–1868) and Meiji-era (1868–1912) yokai paintings, made possible through cooperation with historians of the Nishio City Iwase Bunko antiquarian book museum and Shodoshima’s Yokai Art Museum.

Tickets are now on sale via Rakuten Travel Experiences, KKDay, Klook, Lawson Ticket and Trip.com.

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.

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.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government No 1 Building in Shinjuku serves as the backdrop for a jaw-dropping and record-breaking projection mapping show. Covering an area of a whopping 13,905sqm, the after-dark spectacle has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest permanent display of its kind in the world.

The nightly showcase features a range of visual wonders created by a mix of local and international artists. Some shows are inspired by Tokyo’s rich history, while others draw on themes like the lunar cycle. 

Currently, on weeknights, you can catch striking visuals synchronised to ‘800’ and 'Zankyosanka' by hit Japanese pop singer and lyricist Aimer as well as ‘Pac-Man eats Tokyo’, ‘Lunar Cycle’, ‘Synergy’, ‘Tokyo Resonance’ and ‘Evolution’. On weekends, you can look forward to the aforementioned ‘Zankyosanka (Aimer)’, as well as ‘Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo’ and ‘TYO337’, a display featuring motifs of traditional Japanese performing arts such as Kabuki paired with electronic beats. 

From March 20, Pokémon Trading Card Game ‘Tokyo Luminous Night’, a brand-new projection-mapping show featuring Pokémon cards on a massive scale, has been running on weekends and holidays from 6.30pm, 7.30pm and 9pm. Be sure to check the event website for more details.

Shows take place every night at fifteen-minute intervals from 6pm (Mar from 6.30pm, 7pm from Apr, 7.30pm from May to Aug) to 9.45pm. For more details and to check the full programme of daily projection mapping shows, visit here.

Step into a world of vibrant chrysanthemums this spring at this free collaborative exhibition between teamLab and Galaxy. Now in its fifth year, the interactive, immersive space at Galaxy Harajuku uses cutting-edge projection mapping to depict flowers caught in an endless cycle of birth and death. Reach out to touch them and they’ll wither; stand still beside them and they’ll bloom more quickly.

Look down and you’ll see flowing currents of gold beneath your feet – traces shaped by your very presence. The movements of others create their own currents, which intertwine and form swirling vortices. The result is a constantly shifting environment where no two moments are ever the same. The Galaxy store also invites visitors to capture these fleeting scenes using the foldable smartphones available at the venue.

This expansive exhibition is the largest in the Doraemon franchise’s 56-year history, bringing together manga panels, animation, sculptures, limited-edition merch and a themed food menu all starring the world’s favourite blue robot cat and his friends. It launched in Hong Kong in July 2024, attracting over five million visitors during its month-long run. Since then, it has continued to captivate fans across Asia, making its way through several cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Bangkok, and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

The exhibition space contains over 100 distinct Doraemon figures, each with its own expression and costume. In addition to showcasing the content from the previous cities, the Tokyo exhibition also features Japan-exclusive works. Here you can see Doraemon transformed into a shiba inu, a sumo wrestler and a few other forms inspired by Japanese culture, as well as view two original animations not seen elsewhere.

‘100% Doraemon & Friends’ runs until September 30 and is open from 10am to 6pm daily (last entry 5.30pm). Tickets start from ¥2,400 for adults, ¥1,800 for primary and secondary school students and ¥1,600 for children four years old and below – purchase yours here. As an added bonus, upon arrival exhibition visitors receive one of nine Doraemon-themed acrylic pins and one of four promotional cards (both chosen at random).

Window manufacturer YKK AP teams up with a number of prestigious Spanish institutions to highlight a small but crucial detail of Antoni Gaudí’s wide-ranging oeuvre. Zooming in on the role apertures played in the Catalan visionary’s singular architectural language, which was defined by organic forms, intricate ornament and a profound understanding of structure and light, ‘Windows on the Future’ forms part of a wider research initiative examining Gaudí’s creative methods.

Organised to mark the centenary of Gaudí’s death, the exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight shares its concept with a more extensive presentation at Barcelona’s Palau Güell, a UNESCO World Heritage site, adapting it to the design-focused environment of Gallery 3. Through models, research materials and visual documentation, visitors are invited to explore Gaudí’s enduring ideas and consider how his inventive thinking may inspire the windows, and architecture, of the future.