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Daradara Festival

This “never-ending” 11-day traditional festival will end off with a huge procession of 20 portable shrines on Saturday (the main festival day) at Shiba Daijingu.

Downtown Drinks #30

Join the TC gang and fellow cheapos for a drink (or few) and casual mingling at Commune 2nd. This is our 30th casual meet-up and all are welcome—from readers to travelers to mysterious strangers.

Suggested Activity
Get Tickets To the Samurai Restaurant in Shinjuku (Up to 30% Off)
Experience one of the craziest, most colorful places in Tokyo — the all-new Samurai Restaurant, from the creators of the Robot Restaurant. Get your tickets and sit back for a wild show of lasers, lights, samurai, dancers and other uniquely Japanese weirdness.

Ultra Japan

Ultra Japan is the biggest EDM festival in the country with big-name headliners like Afrojack, DJ Snake, Armin van Buuren and Nicky Romero, Galantis, Axwell & Ingrosso and Carl Craig.

Fashion’s Night Out Tokyo 2018

Vogue magazine’s international fashion and shopping event is making its way back to Tokyo. Lovers of everything chic and trendy should make their way to Omotesando Hills—Tokyo’s high fashion mecca—to catch the festivities.

Motoshinmei Shrine Annual Festival

A classic Japanese shrine festival with food stalls, traditional bon dancing, a mikoshi (portable shrine) parade and taiko drumming.

Nezu Shrine Festival

An annual and traditional Japanese festival at the Kyoto-esque Nezu Shrine with yet another mikoshi parade and street food stalls.

Nakanobu Nebuta Festival

If you missed your chance to visit Aomori for its world-famous Nebuta Festival, there’s a mini-version taking place in Shinagawa that’s been running since 1989. The main parade with the iconic Nebuta floats will go from 5pm-8pm.

Setagaya Hachimangu Autumn Festival

Can’t get enough traditional shrine festivals? Head to Setagaya Hachimangu Shrine’s Autumn Festival for the usual dose of mikoshi (portable shrine) parades, but with the addition of a sumo display!

252nd Sakaki Festival

This centuries-old festival will take place around Hiyoshi Shrine and involves the parading around of a Sakaki tree (Japanese evergreen) with strips of paper tied to it. Plus music/drum performances, traditional garb and more.

Akasaka Hikawa Matsuri

A community festival featuring a procession of dashi (traditional floats) accompanied by festival food, music and dancing at Hikawa Shrine.

Red Spider Lily Festival

One of the more impressive flower festivals, the Red Spider Lily blankets the Kinchakuda fields in Hidaka, Saitama (just a short jaunt outside of Tokyo).

Suggested Activity
Sumo Morning Practice Tour at Stable in Tokyo
Try this insider’s experience at a sumo wrestler morning practice session. Enjoy exclusive access to a sumo stable, watching as these massive athletes put themselves through their daily training regimen and go head-to-head.

For more top Tokyo events happening this month, see our September recommendations.

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