Monday the 16th is Marine Day, so this weekend you have one extra day of work free bliss in which to enjoy all Tokyo and surrounds have to offer. On Marine Day, it’s typical to head to the beaches around Tokyo – so if you like your beaches like you like your Yamanote Line trains during rush hour, then the thin strip of sand between land and sea is the place to be. If not, we have some ideas for you.
As this Saturday is the 14th of the month, all movie tickets at Toho Cinemas are 1,000yen. From a quick perusal of the movies, doesn’t look like there’s much on – unless you want to see yet another rehash of the Spiderman franchise. Alternatively check out our recent post on the 10am Film Festival.
On each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, you can enjoy free chamber music on the hour from 1pm to 6pm on the 2nd floor of the Galleria Shopping center in Tokyo Midtown. Well, we assume it’s chamber music – the PR just says music featuring ‘flutes, violins etc.’ – so I guess they’re not too fussed. From the photos, there appears to be a piano and cello as well.
There are also a crap-load of summer festivals running on Sunday and Monday in the Kanto area. If you want to get up insanely early on a public holiday – head to the Hamaori Festival in Chgasaki (a straight shot on the JR Tokaido Line from Tokyo Station) from 5am. The festival features shoulder borne shrines being taken into the surf – so if the surf’s up, it’s going to be quite a show. Don’t be late because it finishes at 9am! The festival takes place at Southern Beach which is a 20 minute walk from the South Exit of JR Chigasaki Station. For a considerably more controversial experience, from this Friday until Monday you can see an impressive display of 3,000 traditional lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine. They’re officially being lit up to commemorate ‘Japan’s Glorious War Dead’ so if you have a problem with that you might want to skip it.
Photo by Levi Durbridge used under a Creative Commons 2.0 Licence.
