Things to do in Tokyo today

Komazawa Olympic Park is hosting a ramen festival with over a dozen booths serving Japanese noodles from different prefectures. You can go for a simple shoyu (soy sauce) or shio (salt) ramen, or a bowl with rich tonkotsu pork broth, or one topped generously with beef. Be warned though: some stalls are expected to have up to two hours wait time, as they are exclusive to the festival or have won the Ramen Grand Prix in recent years. The event is split into three parts, each with a different set of vendors. The ramen restaurants that are participating in the first part (October 24 to 27) include Katsuryu from Ibaraki prefecture with its rich paitan (cloudy white chicken broth) ramen topped with uni, and Kaga Miso Menyūkai from Ishikawa prefecture, whose signature miso ramen is a voluminous bowl topped with seared pork belly. The second part (October 28 to 31) features Hokkaido prefecture's Tsunatori Monogatari with its slightly spicy signature miso noodles with grilled braised pork and char siu pork, and Kasaoka Ramen Ichigendo from Okayama prefecture with its rich shoyu-based broth and generous toppings of green onion and sliced roast chicken. Lastly, the third part (November 1 to 4) features Oita prefecture's Hakuryu with its rich tonkotsu (pork-based) soup, as well as Shinshu Menyukai from Nagano prefecture serving up hot and spicy tantanmen noodles. In short, you’ll find every kind of ramen that your heart desires at Tokyo Ramen Festa. Admission is free while a bowl of nood

Autumn in Tokyo comes alive with the ‘Oh! Edo Tokyo’ Festival, a vibrant celebration of the city's Edo heritage. Taking place in the historic Nihonbashi district, the festival offers a diverse range of events and activities from October through early November. Immerse yourself in the vibrant atmosphere as Tokyo pays homage to its past and rich cultural traditions. Led by world-renowned theatre director Amon Miyamoto, the festival brings to life the rich heritage of Edo, the origin of modern-day Tokyo. The event offers a line-up of engaging Japanese cultural experiences as well as guided tours with interpreters in the Nihonbashi and Ginza districts. As Shogun won multiple Emmy Awards for its faithful depiction of old Japan, the festival is also about the rediscovery of authentic Edo Japan through a mix of historical reenactments, interactive workshops and performances by renowned artists. On October 27, Edo-era firefighting demonstrations by Hikeshi firemen will be held in front of Mitsukoshi Nihombashi main store’s new wing. The show will feature performances of traditional Kiyari songs, originally sung to encourage firefighters to work together, as well as the waving of Matoi flags, a practice by Edo-era firemen to notify people of a nearby fire. While you’re there, don’t miss the exhilarating Hashigonori ladder climbing showcase, where acrobatics are performed atop a tall bamboo ladder.  Over at the iconic Kabukiza Theatre, there will be a Kabuki workshop on October 26 host

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government No. 1 Building in Shinjuku now 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 ‘Evolution’, ‘Lunar Cycle’, 'Synergy', 'Poetic Structures' and 'Golden Fortune'. Additionally, there’s a show called ‘Butai ni tatte’, which is synchronised to a song by hit Japanese pop duo Yoasobi. On weekends, you can look forward to a showcase featuring 'Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo!', the aforementioned ‘Butai ni tatte (Yoasobi)’ as well as ‘Tokyo Concerto', a display featuring Tokyo attractions alongside music. The latest addition to the mix is 'Pac-Man eats Tokyo', a fun new show featuring the iconic yellow character as it gears up to celebrate its 45th anniversary next year. Shows take place every night from 6.30pm (Oct from 6pm, Nov-Dec from 5.30pm) to 9.45pm. For more details and to check the full programme of daily projection mapping shows, visit here.

It's not difficult to guess how Enoshima's landmark tower got its name. With its white facade and cylindrical structure, the Sea Candle observation tower is a fantastic place to catch a 360-degree view of Enoshima's coast and surrounding seaside towns. This autumn, however, the towering torch won't be the island's only candle. From October 20 to November 4, roughly 10,000 wax candles will be placed along Enoshima Sunset Terrace and lit up to illuminate the promenade leading to the tower. Weather permitting, the candles will be there every evening from 5pm, though an announcement will be posted at around 12noon on the event website if the illumination has to be cancelled.

Dai Tsukemen Haku (or Big Tsukemen Expo) will be held at Okubo Park between Kabukicho and Shin-Okubo in Shinjuku. The daily changing lineup of shops – a total of 40 vendors from all over Japan – will serve their noodle creations (ramen, tsukemen and abura soba) for almost a month from October 10 to November 6. Stalls of Tokyo-based restaurants include Ore no Ikiru Michi, Menya Nakagawakai and Japanese Spice Curry Wacca, just to name a few. One bowl of noodles costs ¥1,000.

French-born artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) has long loomed large over Roppongi Hills: her outdoor sculpture of a gigantic spider, named ‘Maman’, is a local landmark. The sprawling development’s Mori Art Museum, then, is a fitting venue for this major retrospective of one of the most important artists of the past century. As explored by Bourgeois’ first large-scale Japanese solo exhibition in over 25 years, fear was an ongoing motivation over her seven-decade career. This fear, however, was not the arachnophobia that one might suppose, given the formidable ‘Maman’. Rather, Bourgeois’ work was driven in part by fear of abandonment; something rooted in her complex and sometimes traumatic childhood. Through her famed oversized sculptures, installations, drawings, paintings and other mediums, she confronted painful personal memories while simultaneously channelling them into work that expresses universal emotions and psychological states. Across three exhibition ‘chapters’ that each explore a different aspect of family relationships, highlights include the ‘Femme Maison’ series of paintings from the 1940s. These works, which decades later were championed by the feminist movement, each depict a female figure whose top half is obscured by a house which protects yet imprisons her. Bourgeois’ extensive use of the spider motif, meanwhile, is examined in depth. As hinted at by the landmark ‘Maman’ (the French equivalent of ‘mummy’), for Bourgeois the spider was symbolic of the moth

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

In teamLab's new pop-up exhibition in collaboration with the Galaxy store in Harajuku, the digital art collective's enchanted forest has been transformed into an underwater fantasy. This latest installation is also an interactive one, where visitors can use smartphones to catch, study and release the colourful sea creatures they encounter in the space. There's a great variety of marine animals to see, including fish like tuna as well as aquatic creatures that are endangered or extinct.  To catch a creature to study it, you can use the designated app on a Galaxy smartphone to scan fish swimming in the space, or throw out a 'Study Net' towards the floor if you see something interesting darting around your feet.  Each session is an hour-long, with daily exhibitions open from 11am until 7pm.  Note: an end date for this exhibition has yet to be announced.

The world-famous German beer festival returns to the open plaza in front of Meiji Memorial Hall for the first time in 19 years this September. Running for 20 days, the Jingu Gaien Oktoberfest will see live Oompah band performances and generous servings of German beer, brewed in and imported especially from Germany for the event. There are no further details at the time of writing, so check the event website for updates. Entry is ¥1,000. Food and drinks can be purchased with major credit cards and contactless payments.

This major exhibition is both a comprehensive overview of Japan’s visual creativity over the past several decades, and an illuminating ‘portrait’ of the state of the nation over the same timeline. It’s also a powerful argument for the importance of a critical and socially engaged mindset, from the perspective of the figure whose vast collection is used to assemble this show. Ryutaro Takahashi, a veteran of the student-led protests that shook 1960s Japan, has since the mid-1990s amassed what is now one of the world’s most significant collections of Japanese contemporary art. Across two floors of this expansive museum, works by some 115 key artists and art collectives trace the arc of the economically precarious ‘lost decades’ that, from the ’90s onwards and up to the present, have followed Japan’s booming postwar era. In work from key Japanese artists active over this period, the emotional and psychological impact of challenging times is explored overtly by some creators and more obliquely by others. Works from lesser-known, up-and-coming artists are highlighted alongside creations from the biggest names in Japanese contemporary art, including Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Shinro Ohtake and Yoshitomo Nara, to name but a few. Among the exhibition’s six sections, perhaps the most stirring is one titled ‘Breakdown and Rebirth’, which introduces art created in the aftermath of 2011’s Great East Japan Earthquake. Elsewhere, highlights include Makoto Aida’s breathtaking ‘A Picture