Cheapo Weekend for Sep 19-21: Silver Week Edition

Nezu Shrine Festival | Photo by eerkmans used under CC

What better way to celebrate the start of Silver Week than with this long luscious list of weekend festivals:

Nerd Fest

This weekend is the weekend for the biggest, best and nerdiest fest of them all: Tokyo Game Show 2015. With over 2000 booths, there’s plenty of gaming and cosplay goodness for fans to feast their eyes on (this event is open to the public Sat 19-Sun 20). And if you’re looking for a bit of a sneak peak or can’t make it this year, here’s our media day report for what to expect at TGS 2015.

Japanese Culture Fests

Shibuya Nebuta Festival (Fri 18) – This popular Aomori-hailing fest comes to the Tokyo stage on Friday night. We made a booboo in the previous “Cheapo Weekend” and initially reported that the event was taking place last weekend—so we’d like to apologize for any inconvenience and hope you’ll get to check it out this (real) time around!

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.

Click here for details

Setagaya Hachimangu Autumn Festival (Sat 19-Sun 20) – This sweet fall festival includes a portable shrine parade with a side of sumo action.

Nezu Shrine Festival (Sat 19-Sun 20) – This Edo-aged celebration is one of Nezu Shrine’s major festival. Portable shrine processions and food stalls will be in attendance.

Daradara Festival (Until Mon 21) – This “never-ending” 11-day festival will end off with a huge procession of 20 portable shrines (yeah, those ol’ things again) on Saturday at Shiba Daijingu.

International Culture Fests

Philippine Festival 2015 (Sat 19-Sun 20) – Yoyogi Park will host this festival over the weekend with food and entertainment. Manny Pacquio will be there, so you should be too!

Belgian Beer Weekend (until Wed 23) – The name says it all really—head to Roppongi to taste 61 Belgian beers and boogie down to some live entertainment

Odds and Ends

It’s free admission day at Tokyo Nation Museum on Mon, Sep 21, 2015.
Art Aquarium in Nihonbashi will end on Wed, Sep 23, 2015.
The Ohara Naked Festival (not as sexy as it sounds) will take place on Wed 23-Thu 24. You can watch/ogle as semi-naked participants take some portable shrines to the sea for dunking.

Happy Silver Week!

Written by: Adriana Paradiso

Adriana's Tokyo favorites are: Mizumoto Park, Gokokuji Temple Tokyo