The 1 million person Candle Night series of events rolls on. Last week it was Ikegami Honmonji, this week you can see lots of flickering candles and presumably lots of people looking at flickering candles at Zojoji Temple in the shadow of Tokyo Tower in Shiba Park on Friday, June 21st from 6pm. Alternatively you can see something very similar at the grass square area behind Tokyo Midtown from now until Monday, June 24th – although the theme for this event seems to be in support of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Zojoji event can be accessed from either Daimon or Shiba Koen Stations while the grass square at Midtown is a 5 minute walk from Roppongi Station.

No Japanese summer is complete without a few large scale Hula dancing contests. For an early dose of swaying hips and ukuleles you can head to Roppongi Hills this weekend for Miss Hula Hawaii in the Roppongi Hills Arena area. The event is free and runs on both Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon.

There are no major ethnic festivals scheduled for Yoyogi Park this weekend – which is probably a good idea given the inclement weather at this time of year. However, there is a free musical event on the main stage from 11am until 4pm on Saturday the 22nd. The event, Pipes of Peace 2013, is (probably to your great relief) not as the name may suggest a pan-flute music festival. It is in fact a collection of indie bands. The event PR states that the bands and performers will be emerging from their underground live houses and recording studio grottoes for a day of music in the open air – so expect some pretty pasty complexions and lots of dark sunglasses. Bands include Highbridgees, N. Brothers, Melancholica, E:DIC:K, loqto and Taro Asami
(all links in Japanese). The closest station is Meiji Jingumae and Harajuku on the Tokyo Metro and JR lines respectively.