Tokyo Events

Tokyo’s year is organised around seasonal observance as much as around festivals.

Hanami — late March to early April

Cherry blossom viewing is less a festival than a national preoccupation. The advance of the blossom front north across Japan is forecast and reported daily on the news, and the week the trees open in Tokyo the parks fill with people who have sent a junior colleague ahead at dawn to hold a patch of ground with a blue plastic sheet. Ueno Park, the Meguro river, Shinjuku Gyoen, Chidorigafuchi by the palace moat and Yoyogi are the classic spots, and they are crowded, loud and cheerful in a way the city is not for the rest of the year. The whole thing lasts about ten days and the falling petals are considered the best part — the transience is the point.

Sanja Matsuri — third weekend of May, Asakusa

Tokyo’s largest traditional festival: a hundred portable shrines carried at speed through the streets around Senso-ji by shouting teams, over three days, with around a million people watching.

Sumida river fireworks — late July

Some twenty thousand fireworks over the river, watched by a million people in summer kimono.

New Year — 1 to 3 January

The most important holiday of the year and one visitors often miss the significance of: the city empties, most shops close, and families visit a shrine for hatsumode, the first prayer of the year. Meiji Jingu receives around three million people over the three days.

Sumo tournaments — January, May and September

Fifteen days each at the Ryogoku arena; tickets are worth the effort.