Tokyo events for Monday, November 11 to Sunday, November 17, 2024.
Lights are continuing to flicker on around Tokyo as the illuminations get into full swing.
Also on this week’s line-up is a festival celebrating Spain, Design Festa, the second Tori-no-ichi market of the year, and a few fireworks to top it off.
Shinagawa International Film Festival
Following the trend of outdoor cinema festivals, Shinagawa International Film Festival will show up to 27 short films at Shinagawa Intercity Central Garden for free. Along with the movies, you can enjoy the many food trucks, live performances, and illuminations that will be scattered around the festival.
Fiesta de España
This Spanish festival will feature more than 35 food and drink booths as well as lectures, entertainment, and flamenco. Talks in the past have included seminars on sherry (jerez) and a lecture on the art of Picasso and Goya. Other amusements include music and Spanish arts and crafts.
Tokyo Festival of Modular
The Tokyo Modular Festival is an event where modular synth artists, sound designers, engineers, graphic artists, and music lovers join forces. This festival explores the creative possibilities of the modern modular synthesizer, which is undergoing a resurgence in popularity across the globe.
Tokyo Great Santa Run
Tokyo’s Santa Run sees a parade of Santas make their way around Yoyogi Park and beyond for a children’s charity. There will even be a special appearance from a suitably dressed Rilakuma.
Design Festa Vol. 60: Fall Edition
Design Festa will feature live painting artists, creating artworks on huge 8m x 3.5m canvases before your very eyes over the course of the two-day event. Afterwards, check out the expanded Workshop Area, where you can create your own one-of-a-kind artwork.
| Advance sales: ¥800 | At the door: ¥1,000 | |
Hachiōji Ginkgo Festival
The ginkgo trees of Hachiōji were planted along the streets when the city expanded during the Showa period. Hachiōji will have a festival to celebrate, including parades, community walks, and stalls.
Shinjuku Tori-no-ichi Fair II
The hustle and bustle of the Tori-no-Ichi fair in Shinjuku is hard to compare. Tori-no-ichi is an annual traditional festival held at shrines and temples nationwide on three separate days (rooster days) in November to wish for good luck and prosperity in business.
Fuchu Tori-no-Ichi Fair II
This yearly tradition has been going on since the Edo period, about 300 years ago It is said to have started as the autumn harvest festival, and it gradually changed to a festival wishing for prosperous business and good luck for next year.
Asakusa Tori-no-ichi Fair II
The festivity occurs from midnight to midnight with kumade (rakes decorated with gold and silver) sold by lively vendors in the shrine and temple compound. You can make your wish for good luck while enjoying the atmosphere of Tokyo’s old downtown at this late fall/early winter event.
Ebina Citizens’ Festival
Ebina City in Kanagawa celebrates the Ebina Citizens’ Festival every year. For the 2024 iteration, things promise to be just as fun, festive, and full of fireworks. If you’re near the sports field, you can try some odd sports contraptions like the Bubble Ball, Zorb, or Air Roller. If that’s too much chaos, head to Ebina Bazaar, where you can stop at over 100 different food and drink stalls, with local merch to round out your shopping.
Tokyo Syukakusai
Get ready to experience real Japanese flavors and tour Tokyo with your taste buds. This two-day free food festival is jam-packed with authentic experiences for kids and adults to eat, make, play, learn, and shop. The event is held to promote travel around Tokyo.
Kurimoto Furusato Sweet Potato Festival
As the temperatures plunge and winter approaches, Japan’s winter comfort foods start to reappear. Chief among these winter foods is the humble sweet potato. Honoring this starchy staple, the residents of Kurimoto will pull thousands of these purple tubers and roast them straight away in one of more than 120 earth ovens.
Miyashita Christmas Park
Miyashita Park will be holding a winter illumination that stands out from the crowd. The top floor of the complex will explode with purple lights (for the illumination event DECORTÉ Purple Light-Up 2024). There will also be purple-themed food and drinks to try inside Miyashita Park.
Midtown Christmas (Winter Lights)
The Midtown illumination is incredibly popular in the days leading up to Christmas (especially the 24th) with couples bringing a compulsory bottle of champers with them. Every year, something new is added or changed to the program. In 2024, there will be a new art installation that includes falling snow and soap bubbles, along with colorful lights.
Meguro River Winter Illuminations
See the famous cherry blossom view of Meguro River in winter — well, sort of. Meguro River will shine with nearly 400,000 pink-colored LEDs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. every night. The lights will be powered by cooking oil waste from local homes and businesses.
Shinjuku Southern Terrace Illumination
Shinjuku shimmers with twinkly lights in winter. Around 170,000 LED bulbs, as well as Christmas trees, take over southern Shinjuku from November to February each year.
Marunouchi Illumination
Each year from late autumn until mid-February, the trees along the Marunouchi area’s Nakadori Avenue are strewn with around 1.2 million fairy lights to give the area an extra special winter feel. In addition to lighting up the naked branches, there are illuminated sculptures on the sidewalks, an ice-skating rink, a miniature merry-go-round (seats only), local mascot Maru-kun, a piano, and stalls selling sausages, mulled wine, and treats.
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