Over at Tokyo Big Sight there is a Hawaiian festival that costs 1,000 yen to get through the door just so you can spend more of your money. Get your Pacific island fix at the free Okinawa Festival in Yoyogi Park instead.  The festival runs over both days of the weekend from 11am until 9pm.  More details here.

If you yearn for the days when fireflies played along the banks of the Sumida River, then you are either approaching your 110th birthday or you were hallucinating.  Hallucinate no more! It’s time to imagine as thousands of firefly like(?) LED filled ping pong balls are floated down the river as part of the first anniversary of the Tokyo Sky Tree.  The floaty LEDS will be released at around 6:45 on both evenings.

With all the concrete, it’s easy to forget that Tokyo is a city with a harbour.  The Tokyo Port Festival is your chance to reconnect with the water. There will be lots of family oriented activities including a firefighting display on Sunday.  To get to the event venue in Harumi, you can take free shuttle ferries from either the Hinode Pier near Hamamatsucho station or from Toyosu. More details here.

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