Things to do in Tokyo this week

Though cherry blossom is almost coming to an end, Kamakura is gearing up for another surge in visitors this month for the annual spring festival at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. The springtime Kamakura Matsuri happens on the second and third Sundays of April: head there on April 13 to watch a parade along the avenue running up to the shrine (10am start), followed in the afternoon by a dance performance of Shizuka no Mai, a reenactment of a well-known event from 12th century Japan (from 3pm).

On April 20, make your way to either the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine or the Kamakura Daibutsuden Kotokuin grounds to enjoy an outdoor Nodate tea ceremony, taking place from 10 am to 3 pm. Known also as the Nogake or Fusube tea ceremony, this is an ancient practice usually held in spring or summer, emphasising hospitality in pleasant weather. The day also features a programme of outdoor performances, so you'll have something to watch as you sip on freshly whisked matcha.

Asakusa Yabusame is a horseback archery performance that started as a New Year’s tradition at Asakusa Shrine during the Edo period (1603-1867). The spectacular event was revived in 1983 and now takes place every spring with plenty of pomp and circumstance.

The day starts out with kusajishi archery from 11.45am at Sanyabori Park, where men wearing formal samurai court robes and traditional headgear compete in aiming at a 110cm-tall deer-shaped target from about 20 metres away. This event is free to watch and doesn't require tickets.

Tickets for the main yabusame archery event are now available to purchase online. This show, which starts at 1pm at Taito Municipal Sumida Park, features mounted archers in traditional samurai hunting costumes aiming at targets while doing their best to stay in the saddle.

Tickets for the yabusame display cost ¥3,000 per seat. Check the event website for more information.

Since starting in the US in 1970, Earth Day has spread to around 170 countries. It's celebrated every year in Tokyo with this festival at Yoyogi Park, which takes place on April 19 and 20. 

You'll find non-profit organisations and charity groups of all kinds setting up shop, as well as plenty of stalls selling eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle goods, clothes, handmade accessories and organic foods. Expect a massive gathering of eco-conscious Tokyoites, and don’t forget to bring your own shopping bag.

There will also be live performances over the weekend. You can catch sets by artists including healing artist duo Manakana, singer Tokiko Kato, jazz trio Sakata Akira SOS and many more. You can see the full list of artists on the website.

Held in Nagoya, Kyoto and Tokyo, this fully vegan festival is a welcome celebration in meat-mad Japan. The Tokyo event, which is held both in spring and autumn, is Japan's biggest plant-based festival. Expect a strong line-up of over 80 stalls at Kiba Park, selling everything vegan including veggie burgers, curries, burritos, doughnuts, ice cream, gelato and plenty more.

Every food stall will list the ingredients used (in Japanese), so you can be 100 percent sure that no animal was harmed or involved in the process of making your meal.

The iconic Tsukiji Hongwanji temple is hosting a one-day music and food fiesta organised by local volunteers. Pair delicious festival grub with smooth jazz this spring as over 20 stalls highlighting Tsukiji’s culinary traditions will set up shop next to an outdoor jazz stage. Six groups of artists will be strutting their stuff, including the Banksia Trio, saxophonist Sadao Watanabe and keyboardist Bigyuki. Be sure to check the event Instagram for more details.

Tickets are available to purchase now via Ticketpia.

For 11 months of every year, Nezu Shrine doesn't attract all that much attention from the outside world. Then spring rolls around, and its remarkable crop of azaleas burst into bloom. The shrine precincts are home to some 3,000 azalea plants – roughly 100 varieties in total, including rare breeds such as the black karafune flower – and has to find space for at least as many flower aficionados during the month-long Bunkyo Tsutsuji Matsuri. 

Another highlight of Nezu Shrine is its red torii gate tunnel, similar to the ones at Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine but in a much smaller scale.

Tokyo’s Kameido Tenjin Shrine is famous for its wisteria flowers, and with good reason – the shrine has over 50 wisteria trees, which usually reach their flowering peak between mid-April and early May. 

This annual festival features a handful of food stalls and an evening wisteria light up (times still unannounced for 2025). The purple blooms also look quite stunning during the day, when you can get a spectacular view of Tokyo Skytree in the background. The shrine is in the shitamachi (old downtown) part of Tokyo, so while you’re there, make sure to take a stroll around the area to explore the old-fashioned local shops and eateries.

To check the current flowering status, visit the shrine's Instagram.

The colourful Children’s Day koinobori carp streamers are an annual sight at Tokyo Tower, and this year you can see them at the main entrance from March 25 through Golden Week until May 6. There are 333 streamers set-up here, signifying the 333m height of the iconic tower. 

Among the 333 streamers, there's one that's not a carp – see if you can spot the sanma (pacific saury) nobori. This unique inclusion is Tokyo Tower's way of sending hope to the region affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

As this display is held right outside the tower on the ground level, you don't need a ticket to see this joyous sight.

One of Tokyo’s largest koinobori festivals takes place at the foot of Tokyo Skytree, with 1,000 carp streamers fluttering in the air. The traditional koinobori carp streamers are put up to celebrate Children’s Day, which happens every May 5 during Golden Week. 

If you visit the Postal Museum on the ninth floor, you can participate in a fun workshop to make your own koinobori from used stamps for ¥300 (¥150 for high school students and under) until May 5. Additionally, other activities will also be taking place at venues around Tokyo Skytree Town including a fake food workshop at Ganso Shokuhin, a workshop to make hand-painted carp streamers at the Tokyo Solamachi East Yard, and a carp streamer candy sculpting workshop at the Asakusa Amezaiku Ameshin store.

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 250 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 are available but require payment. Fortunately, a new pre-reservations system is available from this year, designed to minimise wait times.

Advance reservations cost ¥10,000 per boat and allow you to select your preferred date and time (change of date and time can be made until 8pm of the day before the desired date, availability permitting). 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 ¥1,600 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 29 and April 8, shorter 30-minute rides are available for ¥800 outside the event period.

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 8pm. 

The cherry blossoms will be illuminated from March 29 to April 8 2025.

Tachikawa's Showa Kinen Park isn't content with merely hyping sakura: its Flower Festival takes place over three months and celebrates the blooms of winter rapeseeds (in March), tulips (April), nemophilia (April-May), poppies and German chamomile (May), of course in addition to the cherry blossoms in March and April.

Along with flower-viewing, the park will be hosting a number of floral-themed events, and dedicated photo spots will be set up on the premises. Don't miss the chance to see a beautiful field of nemophila flowers in late April, which turn into a gorgeous sea of blue once 2 million nemophilia plants bloom at once.

If you’re craving some Taiwanese food this spring, then drop by Tokyo Skytree Town for its Taiwan Festival. Head over to the fourth floor of Sky Arena until June 1 to feast on Taiwanese food throughout the day. Several stalls are offering popular Taiwanese festival cuisine such as lu rou fan (braised pork over rice), cong you bing (scallion pancake) and da ji pai fried chicken.

You can also shop for Taiwanese goods and even enjoy massages and fortune telling. The dining area is decorated with red lanterns to give it a Taiwanese night market feel.

Flower and Light Movement is an initiative by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aimed at creating new and attractive – and eye-catchingly large – flowerbeds in city parks. The project is returning to Toneri Park in Adachi from April 11 to April 29 for a spectacular display of illuminated baby blue eyes (nemophilia). Both this vast field and the park’s around 1,000 cherry trees will be illuminated from 6pm to 8pm (until 8.30pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). With several photo spots on site, be sure to bring a camera for that perfect Instagram photo-op.

Welcome the arrival of the warmer months with spring flowers and a gorgeous panoramic view of Tokyo this spring at Shibuya Sky’s Flower View. The popular observatory is bringing back its botanical garden-themed decorations at the 46th-floor indoor Sky Gallery for a special, limited-time flowerful makeover from April 8 to May 30. 

Expect to see giant art installations inspired by spring flowers such as cherry blossoms, tulips, lilies, dandelions and roses – making for an amazing photo-op with the city skyline as the background. While you’re there, make sure to drop by the Paradise Lounge on the same floor for their special spring-inspired drink menu. There’s a sweet and aromatic lychee and grapefruit China Blue cocktail (¥1,000) and a refreshing non-alcoholic orange squash soda infused with blood orange (¥850). 

If you’re planning to visit in May, don’t miss the chance to see the free rooftop live dance and music performance on May 4 from 4pm. (Admission ticket required)

Visit the Shibuya Sky website for more information on the Flower View event.

Head up to Ibaraki's Hitachi Seaside Park from mid-April to early May and see a whopping 5.3 million 'baby blue eyes' – also known as nemophila – flowers in full bloom. The hilly grounds span 3.5 hectares and are almost completely covered with the little blue blossoms, making for a pretty spectacular sight.

The blooms are usually at their best from mid- to late April, but they are still a magnificent sight if you catch them a bit earlier or even right after peak bloom. According to this year's forecast, the flowers will be in their full glory between April 20 to 27.

Along with the flowers, the park has gone all-out with blue food and drink for you to enjoy during your visit. Sample blue ramune-soda-flavoured soft cream served with nemophila-shaped cookies, pretty blue lemonade, lattes and even a blue-tinged curry ramen. While you're at it, pick up a few souvenirs to take home with you including nemophila macarons, cookies and jewellery featuring the flower of the season. 

The park is home to various other spring flowers, too, including daffodils and tulips, which also bloom between April and May.

Celebrate Time Out Cafe & Diner’s sixteenth anniversary with electric live performances by up-and-coming local artists this spring. Too big and bouncy for only our very own venue, the party will extend to the adjacent Liquid Loft and Kata spaces too.

Expect to see a diverse range of artists from various genres, from alternative rock to electronic dance. Curated by Naoto Okutomi of the Shibuya select shop BOY and musician and filmmaker seaketa, the line-up includes Shuhei Tamaki from Mono no Aware, Nikon, Lausbub, Till Yawuh, botsu aka NGS + cwondo and many more.

Tickets are now available for purchase through the official Time Out Café & Diner website.

The folks behind Shibuya’s Tokyo Comedy Bar are taking their show on the road – well, a couple stations north on the Yamanote Line – with this new weekly stand-up comedy showcase in Shinjuku. Invading Kabukicho’s DecaBar Super every Friday and Saturday night from 8pm, Shinjuku Stage features what for this area counts as wholesome entertainment, in the form of high-energy performances in both English and Japanese. Whether you’re a local looking to tickle your funny bone or a newcomer in need of some good honest jokes in the neon-lit surroundings, this show is likely to fit the bill. Tickets are available via Tokyo Comedy Bar. 

Yebisu Brewery Tokyo is holding a collaborative art exhibit between Yebisu Beer and manga artist Hirohiko Araki, creator of the bestselling series Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Widely known for his unique artistic style and poses, Araki was invited to collaborate with Yebisu Beer to draw bijin-ga portraits inspired by advertisements produced by the brewery in the early 1900s. Bijin-ga is a term used for portraits of beautiful women in Japanese art, and the style was often applied to beer advertisements back in the day. 

The exhibit will display Araki’s two three-metre tall modern interpretations of bijin-ga, drawn in his signature vivid style: ‘Western’ and ‘Peach Patrol.’ Don’t forget to get the limited-edition Araki-designed Ebisu Beer cans and merch on your way out, as they’re being released in limited quantities.

Step into the masterful world of Japan’s most celebrated woodblock print artist this spring at ‘Hokusai: Another Story’, held at Shibuya’s Tokyu Plaza. Utilising the latest in high-definition imaging, spatial audio and Sony’s state-of-the-art sensory technology, the exhibition promises to bring Hokusai’s iconic works to life.

The main highlight of the exhibition is the vivid scenery of Hokusai's ‘Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji’, with ultra-high-definition visuals and Sony's Crystal LED displays recreating the intricate details of the work. Visualise, hear and feel the sensation of jumping on puddles or walking on dry sand, thanks in part to haptic floor technology developed by Sony PCL. Then, follow a path illuminated by bamboo lights to reach a room where you can browse master replicas of iconic ukiyo-e prints. Each replica is crafted using DTIP (3D Texture Image Processing) technology that scans every fibre of the traditional washi-paper originals to preserve the works digitally. This multisensory experience allows visitors to not only see, but truly feel, the world Hokusai depicted.

Tickets must be purchased in advance through the event website.

Pottery lovers, rejoice. 21_21 Design Sight is holding an exhibition of dozens of donburi (ramen bowls) from now until June 15. Most of them hail from the Tono region of Gifu prefecture, which accounts for a whopping 90% of Japan's ramen bowls.

The exhibition features the wares of ramen bowl collector Yasuyuki Kaga, as well as an 'Artist Ramen Bowls' exhibit: a colourful mix of 40 unique bowls designed by 40 different artists, designers, food experts and more. Each artist's bowl includes a bilingual synopsis from the creator themselves, detailling the thoughts and intentions behind their design.

Those interested in sustainability can learn more about the bowl-making process and efforts to recycle unwanted pottery into raw materials. If you're feeling artsy, hit up the 'Donburi Pride' workshop, where you can draw your own bowl design to take home or submit to the exhibition. Selected drawings will be temporarily displayed.

The exhibit is open every day except Tuesday, and runs from 10am to 7pm (entry until 6.30pm). Tickets are ¥1,600 for adults, ¥800 for university students and ¥500 for high school students. Junior high students and younger enter free of charge. You can purchase tickets here.

Japanese-American contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyama’s practice encompasses painting, sculpture and installation. Born in 1976 in Gifu, he currently lives and works in Brooklyn. His work organically merges and reimagines diverse elements, such as Asian and European cultures, ancient and modern eras, and figurative and abstract styles. His art both reflects his intercultural experiences and tirelessly questions the complex and polarised issues of our time: political cleavages, economic inequality, social conflict, the paradox of gender equality, media manipulation and the proliferation of disinformation.

Drawing on a wide range of cultural and historical influences, from Japanese art of the Edo and Meiji periods to classical Greek and Roman statuary, French Renaissance painting and contemporary post-war art, Matsuyama has over the past twenty-five years established himself as a key artist in the New York scene.

This show at the Azabudai Hills Gallery is the artist’s first major exhibition in Tokyo. Running from March 8 to May 11, ‘First Last’ presents some 40 works (15 of which have never been seen before in Japan). It showcases Matsuyama's reflections on the paradoxes of contemporary society, which seems to maintain a fragile balance through perpetual struggles, illustrating the biblical adage ‘the last will be first, and the first last’.

Spanish-born Joan Miró (1893-1983) has long been considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century; revered for his poetic transformation of nature-derived shapes such as the moon and stars into abstract symbols. In this major retrospective, the various phases of Miró's career are presented together in Japan for the first time. Overseen by the Fundació Joan Miró, based in the artist's birthplace of Barcelona, this exhibition sees masterpieces held in collections across the world brought to Tokyo, to form a comprehensive overview of an artistic practice that encompassed painting, ceramics, sculpture and more.

Post-impressionistic early works, such as the 1919 self-portrait, give way to a resolutely surrealist approach as Miró becomes involved in the artistic current then sweeping Paris, where he spent much of the 1920s and '30s. The subsequent three decades then see the artist develop and hone the singular style with which he is most associated, exemplified here by exhibition highlight 'The Morning Star' (1940) and other selections from his 'Constellations' series. Finally, the show highlights how, even in his final years, Miró continued his lifelong search for new modes of expression.

The exhibition is closed on Mondays (except April 28, May 5) as well as May 7.

Swedish-born artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a pioneer of abstract painting, whose work prefigured that of such revered figures as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky. Yet, for decades, her work was known only to a handful of people. The 21st century, however, has seen Klint receive some long overdue global recognition. A 2018 retrospective at New York's Guggenheim Museum attracted the largest visitor numbers in that venue's history, and now the prestigious National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo presents her first career overview to be held in Asia.

The exhibition centres upon selections from "The Paintings for the Temple", a series which Klint, who was involved in the then-booming spiritualist movement, produced between 1906 and 1915 after believing the project to have been 'commissioned' from another dimension during a seance. The artist perceived these works which combine abstract and figurative elements, and organic and geometric forms, to have been created 'through' her by some external spiritual force.

Advance tickets are sold until March 3. This exhibition is closed on Mondays (except March 31 and May 5) as well as May 7.