Things to do in Tokyo this week

One of Japan’s largest urban photography festivals has returned to Tokyo. Now in its seventh year, it runs until October 27 across multiple venues in Yaesu, Nihonbashi, Kyobashi and Ginza.

This year’s edition features prints by photographic legend Stephen Shore at Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, as well as photographs by internationally acclaimed contemporary photographers Melissa Schriek and Stephen Gill as public artworks. On weekdays, be sure to visit “Visions of Japanese Women Photographers Seen in Photobooks” from I’m So Happy You Are Here (2024), a retrospective on the history of Japanese women photographers through photo books that include works by Mayumi Suzuki, among many others.

Be sure to download the official festival map before heading out. Some exhibits are closed on weekends. More information can be found on the official website.

Enjoy the cooler autumn weather at the Tokyo Night Market near Shibuya Crossing. Here you can expect a variety of street food alongside live performances and art exhibitions, with DJs on deck to set the mood all day till 10pm.

Held at Yoyogi Park’s Keyaki events square for five consecutive nights from October 22 to October 26, the fifth iteration of this event is expected to be bigger than before. As for music, you can look forward to an impressive lineup of artists, including the dynamic sister singer and accordionist duo Chan-Po-Rantan, punk rock group Tokyo Psychopaths, lo-fi idol group 963 and many more.

Keep tabs on the event's Instagram for the latest updates.

Tokyo Night Market runs from 4pm to 10pm on Wednesday through Friday, and from 2pm to 10pm over the weekend.

The Kanda Furuhon (Used Book) Festival in Tokyo's booktown Jimbocho has been held annually since 1960, traditionally timing it to coincide with the Culture Day national holiday on November 3. In addition to offering a vast array of used books, the festival also encompasses a number of other book-related offers and events, including an outdoor book market, the sale of a number of specially selected rare books, and a charity used-book auction. Though the majority of the tomes on display are in Japanese, it's still easy to lose a few hours in idle browsing.

Partake in a new style of Bon Odori at Sumida Park’s Soyokaze Square, where the Sumi-Yume Bon Dance Festival takes place on October 25 from 2pm to 8pm. Inspired by local artisan Hokusai’s ukiyo-e prints evoking playful dances from the Edo period (1603–1868), this ultra-casual festival is open for anyone to join, regardless of age, dance skill or whether you come alone or not.

If you can’t make it on Saturday, head there on Friday evening for a free concert featuring a diverse group of musicians, including Ryuichi Sakamoto’s daughter and accomplished vocalist Miu Sakamoto, producer and singer Keiichi Sokabe and many more. Marking 80 years since the end of World War II, the concert is titled ‘Sumida Peace Concert’ and will be held to offer a prayer for future peace.

School gymnasiums, churches, office lobbies, coffee shops and shrines are all considered fair game for a spot of music during Asagaya Jazz Streets, a two-day festival in which concerts are held at dozens of locations scattered across the neighbourhood.

The event has been slowly growing in stature since starting out in 1995. As has become customary, veteran piano innovator Yosuke Yamashita hits up Shinmeiguu Shrine once again for the main event – this time with his regular quartet group. Meanwhile, concerts by the likes of the Yoshiaki Masuo Bossa Animada Trio and blues band Mitsuyoshi Azuma & The Swinging Boppers are also sure to draw big crowds.

Note that while the open-air gigs are free, you'll need a paid wristband to get into most of the participating venues, while a drink or food order is required at many of the shows held in cafés and restaurants.

Check the event website for performance schedules and ticketing information.

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 – located only a short hop away from Kamakura – 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 11 to November 3, 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 venue website if the illumination has to be cancelled.

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 23 to 26) include Katsuryu from Ibaraki prefecture with its rich paitan (cloudy white chicken broth) ramen topped with uni, and Kumamoto Ramen Kokutei from Kumamoto prefecture, whose signature tonkotsu ramen is a voluminous bowl topped with seared pork belly.

The second part (October 27 to 30) features Hokkaido prefecture's Maruesu Shokudo with its Hokkaido-style miso-based bowl made with chicken and pork broth, and Hakushin from Gifu prefecture with its umami-rich miso broth made from dried shrimp.

Lastly, the third part (October 31 to 3) features Oita prefecture's Hakuryu with its rich tonkotsu (pork-based) soup, as well as Honda Shoten from Fukuoka Prefecture, serving up authentic Kurume-style tonkotsu ramen – said to be the original birthplace of the dish.

In short, you’ll find every kind of ramen that your heart desires at Tokyo Ramen Festa. Admission is free while a bowl of noodles costs ¥1,100. Meal tickets can be purchased at Seven Eleven outlets nationwide in advance or at the venue. We highly recommend purchasing tickets earlier rather than later, as it can run out towards the end of the day.

The festival runs from 10.30am to 8.30pm, with the exception of October 23 and October 27 when it opens at noon, and November 3, when it closes at 6pm.

Now in its 41st edition, the annual Hello Halloween Pumpkin Parade will be attended by more than 1,000 children under twelve years old, who dress up to form a parade that spans the length of approximately one kilometre along the zelkova tree-lined avenue in Omotesando. 

What’s more, there’s a special Okashi Rally Map, which lists participating shops in the Omotesando and Harajuku area that are giving away free okashi (sweets) to kids. While tickets to participate in the Pumpkin Parade and Okashi Rally are now sold out, there are also booths for the little ones to partake in fun activities for free. If you’re looking for a meal, many restaurants and cafés in the area are serving special Halloween-themed menus throughout October.

Nightclub Womb is celebrating Halloween on the evening of October 25 with French and Lithuanian DJ duo Dresden, who will all be spinning tunes on the main floor for their Womb debut for an ultra rare open-to-close set. Go downstairs or upstairs to the fourth floor and you’ll get to dance to bopping music played by Kaoruko, Monashee, Nagai, Mustache X and AMA. The entrance fee is ¥4,000, but those who come in full costume —covering 70 percent or more— will receive a ¥1,000 discount at the door. Partial costumes are also welcome, with a ¥500 discount available for those purchasing tickets on-site.

Advance tickets are now on sale for ¥2,500 via Zaiko.

Cosplayers who love dressing up as their beloved anime or game characters – instead of the usual witches, mummies and creepy clowns – will love this massive Halloween party in Ikebukuro on October 25 and 26. Expect more than 20,000 cosplayers parading the streets on the eastern side of Ikebukuro, which is gaining ground as an incubator of subcultures. This year, a special night event will also be held on October 24 for those over 18 years old at Sunshine City.

While anyone is free to see the cosplayers in their creative outfits, dressing up and participating in the event requires a special ticket. Registration for the cosplay event start from ¥2,980 for a single-day ticket, while three-day passes start from ¥10,000. The special night event will set you back ¥3,480. (Prices exclusive of 10 percent handling fee)

Participants are required to change back into casual clothes in the provided changing rooms before leaving, as arriving and leaving the venue in cosplay is prohibited. 

Check the event website for more details and ticket information.

Ariake Garden is throwing a Halloween carnival on its rooftop. The three-day event will be filled with fun activities for kids, including a dinosaur pyjama sports festival for little 'uns, DIY workshops to create Halloween toys and accessories.

Kids will definitely have all the fun here, as they can play in a massive bouncy castle and join a dance group to learn an original Halloween dance in their costumes. For 2025, the mall is also hosting an adorable children's sporting festival with relay races, ball throwing and more. (Advance reservations required) Meanwhile, adults can take it easy by relaxing on the lawn while enjoying themed meals and desserts from the food trucks.

If you’re planning to do some shopping, make sure to sign up for the mall’s trick-or-treat stamp rally online to score some treats.

Tip: Head to each of the stamp booths, set up in front of the Lego store, Asobi Max gatcha store, Maruzen bookstore and Shimamura Music instrument store to claim your candy. 

Yuri Horie has always captured the Tokyo you feel more than see – the neon, the nostalgia, and the beauty and weirdness of everyday life here in Japan. Her new photobook 浪漫 (Romance) vol.3 -日常 (Everyday)- peels that world open, focusing on people chasing romance in the quiet cracks of daily life.

In earlier volumes, Yuri explored ‘romance’ as a concept; now she turns to how it survives in the mundane. She photographs decotora trucks, festival rituals, tattoos, nightlife and street fashion – not as spectacle, but as lifelines to feeling. In vol.3, she stitches these threads across landscapes and faces, turning what’s usually unseen into what stays with you.

The pop-up will showcase the new photobook, where she traces how nostalgia and rebellion still course through Japan’s streets in quiet, ordinary moments. Alongside the book release will be limited-edition goods that will allow you to take home a slice of romance. 

Tachikawa's Showa Kinen Park has the most impressive fields of cosmos flowers in Tokyo and this is the ideal time to see them all in full bloom. The hilly grasslands of the park are usually draped in colour from mid-September with various types of cosmos flowers, and the multicoloured scenery can be enjoyed well into mid-October.

There are three main gardens: The Lemon Bright field, which is covered in vivid yellow sulfur cosmos; Autumn Bouquet Garden, which has a mixture of 20 different cosmos; and the Cosmos Sensation filled with lilac blooms.

Don't miss the picturesque soap bubble event, where you can see countless small bubbles floating over the flower gardens. This special spectacle happens twice a day from 10.30am and 12noon on September 13 at the Lemon Bright field, September 28 at the Autumn Bouquet Garden, and October 4 at the Cosmos Sensation flower garden.

Entrance fees are waived on October 5 and 19, 2025.

This annual event might just be the best time to explore Tokyo’s vibrant cocktail scene. This year, Tokyo Cocktail 7Days is running from October 16 to 26 and 110 bars are set to participate. With a special cocktail passport, you can bar-hop around Tokyo’s world-renowned bars such as Bar BenFiddich and The SG Tavern, and enjoy special cocktails created by talented bartenders at a set price of ¥1,300 per drink. While this special price is limited to selected drinks that are created specifically for this occasion, you can use the ¥1,300 coupon that comes with the aforementioned passport to redeem for any drink at a participating bar.

In addition to bar-hopping, the passport also gives you access to the Village, at Ride Tennozu on October 18 and 19. This pop-up space will feature eight popular bars from around Tokyo, and the passport will get you free drink tastings at the venue. You can also attend seminars and workshops to listen to acclaimed bartenders and learn about the art of making cocktails.

Whether you are a cocktail aficionado or just starting to dip your feet into Tokyo’s bar culture, this is a good deal to help you get immersed in Tokyo’s world-class drinking scene.

Tickets can be purchased online through the event website.

Everyone loves Chiikawa right now. Get your fill of the mischievous characters created by Japanese illustrator Nagano in Shibuya, where the franchise’s official ramen shop returns for a limited time. Located on the basement floor of Shibuya Parco, it deals in ramen of the pork variety, hence the buta (pig) in the name. The ramen is served in three sizes: Chiikawa (mini), Hachiware (small) and Usagi (large). Each bowl will come with a novelty sticker, featuring either Chiikawa, Hachiware or Usagi depending on the bowl you ordered.

As for drinks, the Shisa Mandarin Soda is a must-try, named after the hard-working lion dog and ramen shop assistant in the Chiikawa universe. Each drink comes with a novelty character card, which you can draw at random from a selection of 10 characters.

Visitors who grab a bite of the ramen are also allowed exclusive access to the adjacent merch shop, complete with limited-edition goods – think T-shirts, ramen bowls, beer jugs and towels featuring the adorable Chiikawa.

The Tokyo Biennale returns with an invitation to explore the city through the theme ‘Wander for Wonder’. From October 17 to December 14, the international art festival transforms the capital into a living gallery, bringing together 38 artist groups from seven countries in a city-wide celebration of walking, discovery and creativity.

Taking place across two main venues – Ueno’s 400-year-old Kan’eiji Temple and the Etoile Kaito Living Building – alongside six exhibition areas including Ueno, Kanda, Nihonbashi and Marunouchi, the Biennale blends contemporary art with Tokyo’s deep cultural layers. Installations emerge at temples, across public spaces, in shops and vacant properties, creating a unique urban tapestry of expression and memory.

Curated to be a ‘social dive’, the Biennale encourages visitors to encounter art through movement, echoing the artistic legacies of walking-based practices by figures such as Yoko Ono and Gabriel Orozco. As people stroll through neighbourhoods and engage with their surroundings, each step becomes part of a creative process.

Tokyo Biennale 2025 looks set to be a journey of serendipitous encounters, offering a fresh lens on the city’s untold stories and its vibrant potential for connection through art.

Many of the exhibitions and events at the Tokyo Biennale are free. However, select exhibitions charge entrance fees. For those seeking a comprehensive experience, all-access passes are available for ¥3,000 per adult (or ¥2,500 if purchased in advance) and ¥1,800 for students (advance passes ¥1,500). These passes grant unlimited access to all venues during the festival period.

For a detailed program and more information, visit the Tokyo Biennale’s website.

This autumn, the National Film Archive presents the first comprehensive retrospective dedicated to one of Japan’s most inventive and genre-defying filmmakers. Yoshimitsu Morita (1950–2011) began his career in 8mm films and made a lasting mark on Japanese cinema with works like The Family Game (1983) and The Black House (1999), embracing comedy, horror, courtroom dramas, period pieces and more.

The exhibition offers an opportunity to step right into Morita’s imaginative world. Visitors can explore recreations of the iconic dining room from The Family Game and of the director’s personal study, plus a gallery of his cherished vinyl records. Posters, props, annotated scripts and idea notebooks showcase the full range of the Shonan native’s creative process, while video installations trace Morita’s career from its indie roots to commercial success.

Running alongside the exhibition, a special programme (October 14–November 23) will screen key works from Morita’s filmography, including lesser-known titles and collaborations. Deaths in Tokimeki (1984), Keiho (1999) and Kiriko no Fukei (1998; written by Morita and directed by Tomoyuki Akaishi) will be screened with English subtitles. A series of talks featuring producer Kazuko Misawa and cultural commentator Utamaru will offer further insight into Morita’s legacy. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo celebrates its 30th birthday by gathering together over 30 artists and collectives from diverse generations and geographies to reflect on how contemporary art can illuminate the hidden structures of daily life while opening new possibilities for collective imagination.

Foregrounding domestic, institutional and urban contexts from households shaped by gender norms to the contested spaces of Okinawa and Mumbai, ‘Choreographies of Everyday’ investigates how subjectivity is formed, constrained and transformed. Newly commissioned works developed through research in Tokyo will join pieces by artists including Satoru Aoyama, Jonathas de Andrade, Mako Idemitsu, Shilpa Gupta and the Rice Brewing Sisters Club. Together, these works confront systemic violence and oppression while highlighting acts of resistance, creativity and humour that endure in the everyday.

The exhibition’s title signals both mechanisms of social control and the agency to subvert or transcend them. In that spirit, the show unfolds as a dynamic platform, enriched by performances, talks and workshops throughout its duration.

In the news for his role as the designer of the Expo 2025 site, Sou Fujimoto is an architect whose work explores the relationship between nature and architecture. Born in Hokkaido, he is inspired by the natural landscapes of his childhood and seeks to integrate organic forms into the built environment through an approach he calls ‘primitive future’.

This philosophy translates into an exploration of the limits between indoors and outdoors and the natural and the artificial, creating spaces that invite a new experience of inhabiting it. Fujimoto’s residential projects in Japan, such as House N, House O and House T, as well as international projects such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, illustrate this desire to blur spatial boundaries. His work is characterised by the use of simple materials, often only one per project, implemented in innovative ways to create complex and intriguing shapes. The balance between a defined program and the freedom of appropriation by the occupants is at the heart of his approach.

Fujimoto’s first major Tokyo retrospective takes over the Mori Art Museum from July 2 to November 9. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the architect’s journey over the past quarter century, showcasing his achievements. Models, plans and documentary photographs sit alongside life-size models and installations, providing an immersive visual and spatial experience of the essence of his work. The exhibition highlights projects such as the Musashino Art University Museum & Library, the Arbre Blanc in Montpellier, France, the House of Music in Budapest, and – yes – the Expo site on Osaka’s Yumeshima.

Creator of the iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa – and more than 30,000 other works across a remarkable 90-year life – Katsushika Hokusai was known for his restless spirit (he moved 93 times) and ever-evolving identity (he used more than 30 artist names). And by the way, the ukiyo-e impresario’s prolific genius also laid the foundation for what we now recognise as manga and anime.

This autumn, ‘Hokusai’ at Creative Museum Tokyo offers an immersive journey into the artist’s seemingly boundless world. With over 300 pieces on display, including the complete Hokusai Manga (from the world-famous Uragami Collection), all three volumes of One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, and a set of 16 newly discovered hand-painted works from his final years, the show promises unprecedented depth.

And as we’ve come to expect from this venue, the artworks on display will be accompanied by some certifiably contemporary exhibits. These include animated adaptations of Hokusai prints by top Japanese animators, highlighting how the visual storytelling of Edo’s greatest artist continues to resonate. Be sure to exit through the gift shop for a look at some 150 pieces of exclusive merch, including collaborations with Peanuts, Chums and Swiss Army knife maker Victorinox.

Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa has long been recognised as one of contemporary cinema’s most uncompromising and visionary voices. Emerging in the 1980s, Costa quickly established a distinctive style defined by stark contrasts of light and shadow, rigorously composed frames, and an unflinching gaze at the margins of society.

His films, such as In Vanda’s Room (2000), which captured the daily struggles of Cape Verdean immigrants in Lisbon’s Fontainhas district, marry documentary intensity with painterly precision. Acclaimed internationally, Costa’s work has extended beyond the cinema screen to major exhibitions, including ‘Company’ (Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, 2018) and ‘The Song of Pedro Costa’ (Spain, 2022-23).

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum presents Costa’s ‘Innervisions’ until December 7. Inspired by Stevie Wonder’s 1973 album of the same name, which profoundly influenced Costa’s youth, the exhibition reflects on the interplay between individual lives and wider social realities. The show introduces characters that play vital roles in the artist’s oeuvre, alongside the environments they inhabit, situating Costa’s cinema within its broader sociohistorical context.

Complementing the exhibition, the museum will host Carte Blanche, a film series curated by Costa, together with screenings of his own seminal works. Offering rare insight into the filmmaker’s creative universe, ‘Innervisions’ invites audiences to rediscover the power of cinema as both art and social critique.

Kanagawa-born, NYC-based Aki Sasamoto’s decompartmentalised artistic practice explores performance, sculpture, dance, and any other medium conducive to the expression of her ideas. At the intersection of visual and performing arts, her work involves collaborating with musicians, choreographers, scientists and academics, and she often takes on multiple roles: performer and sculptor, but also professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Sculpture at Yale University.

In her work, Sasamoto constantly reflects on the design and configuration of sculptures and devices that she uses as scores during improvised performances within immersive installations. As she describes it, her creative process is akin to fishing: she ‘casts a net and waits for a perfect alignment of events’, letting several elements float before grasping the connections by relating them to seemingly foreign references.

On from August 23 to November 24, ‘Aki Sasamoto’s Life Laboratory’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo explores the interplay between sculptural creation and performance that has characterised the artist’s work for two decades. From landmark early works to more recent creations that emphasise kinetic elements, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Sasamoto’s journey and unique approach, where the boundaries between artistic disciplines blur in favour of captivating hybrid expression.