Before you get your pervy hopes up, the Ohara Naked Festival (Ohara hadaka matsuri) would be more aptly named the Ohara “semi naked” Festival. The dancers costumes are actually quite modest with only (male) chests, shoulders and buttocks bared. Ohara is in Chiba on the east coast of the Boso Peninsula so it’s quite a haul from Tokyo. If you have a car, quickest access is via the Aqualine tunnel under Tokyo Bay. The festival runs on Sunday the 22nd and Monday the 23rd. More details here.

Yoyogi Hachiman Shrine is having their annual festival on the 22nd and the 23rd also. There will reportedly be 100 “yatai” (open air festival food stalls) in operation – so you can absolutely stuff yourself with favourites like yakisoba, takoyaki and chocolate banana on a stick.  The evening of the 22nd will feature more entertainment.  Yoyogi Hachimangu is located a stone’s throw from Yoyogi Koen near Yoyogi Hachiman Station on the Odakyu Line. For more information, including a difficult to decipher map of the mikoshi parade route, check the official site (link in Japanese.)

Tokyo Midtown must have figured decorating the grass square out the back with candles or lights is a sure fire way to attract the crowds. And so we have “Washi Candle Garden – Tohoku 2013”. The 3,000 candles will be housed in lanterns made of washi (traditional Japanese paper) and decorated with messages for the people of Tohoku still recovering from the events of March 2011.  The display will run from 5pm to 9pm from Friday, September 20th until Monday, September 23rd.  The closest stations are Roppongi on the Hibiya and Oedo Lines and Nogizaka on the Chiyoda Line. For more info, check theMidtown official site (site in Japanese – Midtown gave up updating their English info years ago).