November 2026 events in Tokyo

Continuing Tokyo’s trend of dazzling nighttime projection-mapping events, digital creative company Hitohata is bringing back its Asakusa Culture & Lights show to Sensoji Temple. This projection mapping showcase celebrates the history and culture of the iconic temple in the heart of Asakusa.

The nightly shows feature high-resolution digital animations created using cutting-edge technology and displayed at two locations within the temple grounds: the south side of Hozomon Gate facing Kaminarimon Gate, as well as Sensoji Temple's main hall. These light-ups are free to view, happening daily from October 30 to November 3 between 6pm and 9.30pm. 

Alongside the brilliant light-ups, the temple is also offering paid daytime and nighttime viewings of the Denboin Garden; the daytime session includes exclusive access to the Ema Hall, home to Edo-era votive plaques by the likes of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Hasegawa Settan and Henmi Isshin. Be sure to book tickets in advance to attend these viewings.

Neuro-tech startup VIE is bringing its masterful soundscape engineering to Tokyo National Museum for the first time with Zen Night Tokyo, an event taking place in the gardens behind the main museum building from October 14 to December 6. Held to coincide with the upcoming ‘Daitoku-ji: Japan’s Unrivalled Zen Monastery – 700th Anniversary Special Exhibition', the Japanese garden is hosting this special after-hours autumn leaves illumination spectacle designed to soothe the senses and let visitors admire the natural beauty of the grounds, which are ordinarily closed to the public.

Themed around the Buddhist concepts of rebirth and cyclical existence, this immersive journey guides visitors through different areas along the mirror-like Suigetsu pond, including an open-air teahouse zone where you can enter different realms through soundscapes tuned to distinct wavelengths, each designed to evoke a unique emotional experience. Continuing along the pond, visitors discover a path of spider lilies, flowers often associated with the arrival of autumn and the honouring of ancestral spirits. Aptly named Hyakki Yado (Night Path of One Hundred Demons), the path is lined with some 3,000 hauntingly beautiful spider lilies illuminated against the night.

Meanwhile, at the Kujokan teahouse, you can drink matcha while admiring the breathtaking illuminated rock garden. The tea experience is paired with a high-tech ‘Brainwave Zen’ meditation experience, which involves measuring brainwaves with an earphone-type monitoring device. The signals are visualised in real time through sound and projected imagery, creating an immersive meditation space. You can take home the results of your brainwave analysis and learn about your Zen meditation strengths and weaknesses. Note that the tea and ‘Brainwave Zen’ experience is a ticketed programme and requires a separate date- and time-designated reservation made online.

General tickets for Zen Night Tokyo are also available now, with early-bird discounts offered until October 13. Tickets include admission to the museum’s Daitoku-ji exhibition.

Grab your tickets now via the official website.

Find everything from furniture and old books to clothes and cameras at this massive flea market, held over four days at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa. This market features over 300 sellers from all over the country, so you’re sure to stumble across some interesting finds. You can also pick up fabrics and fun knick-knacks at the Nordic Market, backpacks and bags at the Backpack Bazaar, dry flower bouquets and succulents at the Flower Market or sit down for a cup of coffee and a tasty pastry at one of the food stalls. There’s also live music to enjoy and some workshops taking place where you can learn skills like metalworking and brooch-crafting.

Tickets are now on sale via Eplus.

Enjoy the perfectly shaped, sunset-yellow ginkgo trees that form a 300m-long boulevard between Gaienmae and Aoyama-Itchome stations. This is Tokyo’s quintessential autumn scenery, which has graced countless Instagram accounts. The best time to visit is in late November (dates unannounced for 2026), when the yellow leaves are lit up in the evening.

The light up takes place daily between 4.30pm and 7.30pm.

Komazawa Olympic Park is hosting its annual ramen festival for the last time this autumn with a dozen booths serving Japanese noodles from different prefectures throughout Japan. You can go for a simple shoyu (soy sauce) or shio (salt) ramen, or a bowl with rich tonkotsu pork broth, or one topped generously with chicken. Be warned though: some stalls are expected to have up to two hours wait time, as they are exclusive to the festival or have won the Ramen Grand Prix in recent years.

Instead of being split into multiple parts like previous versions, Tokyo Ramen Festa 2026 is a single, continuous five-day event. This year's lineup includes highlights such as Sapporo's Menya Nanabei with a premium local-chicken broth miso ramen, and Fukuoka's Honda Shoten, serving up rich, aged yobimodoshi-style tonkotsu ramen brought directly from the birthplace of tonkotsu ramen. You'll also find a rich Shinshu chicken paitan collaboration bowl between Nagano's Kimuzukashiya and Tokyo's Hongare Gyorai, and so much more. As a special addition for its final year at the park, the festival is also offering its first-ever rice dish – a ramen-broth curry called Ra-kare made with dried sardine broth soup.

Admission is free, while a bowl of noodles costs ¥1,100. Meal tickets can be purchased on-site or via Seven Ticket, which you can pick up at Seven Eleven outlets nationwide. We recommend purchasing tickets earlier rather than later, as popular bowls can sell out towards the end of the day.

Fine autumn weather deserves a toast, and the American Craft Beer Experience at the bayside Kiba Park is the perfect place to do this. Expect the latest releases from the American craft beer scene, accompanied by plenty of crowd-pleasing American pub grub and live music.

The festival will feature 30 breweries including Wormtown Brewery from Massachusetts, Wren House Brewing Company from Arizona, Reuben’s Brews from Washington, and Level Beer from Oregon. Admission to the event is free, but make sure to bring enough cash in your Paypay balance or use a credit card to enjoy the exclusive craft beers you won’t find in your local bottle shops.

Yosakoi (or as this festival spells it, 'yosacoy') Odori may not have the most alluring origin story – it was first devised in the 1950s as an effort to revive the post-war economy – yet festivals celebrating the dance demonstrate its extraordinary popularity in Japan. Expect to see around 60 teams of performers combine traditional Japanese movements with contemporary music at this two-day festival, the biggest of its kind in Tokyo. It will feature over 5,000 performers, each carrying a pair of naruko (wooden clappers) to accentuate the dance with rhythms. 

The festivities take place in two areas, but if you want to catch the free performances, make a beeline for Tokyo Station's Marunouchi side on Sunday November 8 from 9.20am to 2pm. Additional performances are held around Odaiba over the weekend, but these require a paid ticket. However, there are also designated areas where you can watch for free, such as the Odaiba Central Parade Venue behind DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. You can check the schedule here. 

The surroundings of the Hillside Terrace complex close to Daikanyama Station transform into an 'urban village' for this annual festival, which brings together the area's inhabitants, businesses, artists and embassies. Enjoy a diverse lineup of food and local products, check out the outdoor vintage market near the Danish Embassy, and experience the culture of Daikanyama together with the locals. Don't miss the artsy workshops or the indoor 'Food Forum' restaurant featuring dishes from six local restaurants and delis.

Established in 2013 to celebrate 400 years of relations between Spain and Japan, this vibrant and scrumptious food fest takes place at Yoyogi Park Events Square. Having attracted approximately 100,000 visitors last year, this popular fiesta is back with its expanded live performance lineup, highlighted by an all-day flamenco event and a Sevillanas Contest. While details of this year’s food lineup have yet to be announced, last year’s event featured 35 food and drink stalls, complemented by about 20 booths selling various Iberian goods and crafts. 

This is the time to sample a wide variety of Spanish delicacies, from the world-famous paella to tapas and more. Spanish beer is, of course, a must while watching elegant flamenco.

Get a glimpse of daily German life at the annual Deutschland Festival, held at Aoyama Park this year. Co-sponsored by the German Embassy, the event features a variety of live music performances, traditional German craft workshops, market stalls, and of course, food and drink. Try local delicacies such as German beer, wine, pretzels, sauerkraut and sausages.

For 2026, you can also look forward to thrilling cage football matches on October 31 and November 1 as part of a mini Bundesliga Cup tournament—a fast-paced version of football played with fewer players on a compact 7-by-9-metre enclosed court. Anyone can join as a player in the adult, children’s, or adolescent teams, with registrations open until October 16.

Whenever winter arrives, Tokyoites look forward to snacking on warm yakiimo (roasted sweet potato). Dedicated yakiimo trucks are a common sight on the streets during the cold season, and this year, there will also be a festival dedicated to this comforting snack at the Yakiimo Fes at Nakano's Shiki no Mori Park from October 30 to November 8.

This tummy-warming food fest will be serving up 30 kinds of sweet potato dessert from 14 vendors, including roasted sweet potato drizzled with white chocolate and dried strawberries, sweet potato parfaits, sweet potato salted butter brûlée and even a sweet potato crepe. If you're looking for something more savoury, try the sweet potato tacos, sweet potato cheese pizza or even a sweet and spicy Korean-style jjigae stew topped with cuts of roasted sweet potato. Entry is free, but don’t forget to bring your credit card or Suica, as the event is completely cashless.

Ticket bundles, including eight meal tickets worth ¥5,000, can be purchased online via KKday. The bundle also gets you two 'fast lane' tickets to purchase items with using the priority lane.

Try out some of the best soul-warming curries from Tokyo’s curry neighbourhoods of Kanda and Jimbocho this autumn. There are over 400 curry shops in the area and this long-running event brings together most of them to do battle for the Grand Prix title.

From August 1 to December 20, a stamp rally will be held in the area, where over 150 participating curry purveyors will have a stamp on hand to stamp your stamp card, which you can print yourself in A3 size. Visit ten curry restaurants to get a ‘Curry Buddy’ certificate featuring Rilakkuma, or 36 shops or more to become a ‘Kanda Curry Meister’. Check the curry restaurant map and list before making a visit. Get your ‘Curry Buddy’ reward by visiting the Chiyoda Tourism Office, or fill out the form to receive the more prestigious ‘Curry Meister’ award.

Additionally, on October 31 and November 1, there will be booths selling a range of curries from around the world at Ogawa Square for the Grand Prix finale, including Thai, Indian, Japanese and more – so come hungry.

Rikugien is one of the best gardens in Tokyo to immerse yourself in beautiful Japanese landscapes. There’s no bad time to see the garden, but we do admit it’s especially picturesque in autumn, when the leaves take on vibrant shades of red and yellow.

From November 25 to December 6, Rikugien stays open until 8.30pm for its annual light-up. The trees in the garden are bathed in golden lights so that the brilliant colours of the changing leaves stand out even more, providing stunning views.

Aside from admiring the autumn foliage, don’t forget to drop by the garden’s dozo (storehouse). Its earthen walls serve as the canvas for a beautiful daily projection show between 6pm and 8.30pm. 

We recommend purchasing illumination tickets online in advance, as they’re limited and available at a discounted price of ¥1,000. The online ticket portal will open in late October. Otherwise, tickets can be purchased at the door for ¥1,200.

The park will close temporarily at 5pm, and reopen at 6pm for the night opening.

Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens, the meticulously tended traditional Japanese garden beside Tokyo Dome City, is hosting a special night opening this autumn. The sprawling green space, which was originally constructed as a private garden for the ruling Tokugawa family in 1629, is staying open until 9pm from November 13 to 24.

Come nightfall, several areas of Koishikawa Korakuen (not to be confused with the nearby Koishikawa Botanical Gardens) will be illuminated, including the artificial, forested Horai island on the main pond and the iconic Ipponmatsu pine tree. The highlight, however, is the projection mapping show at the Karamon Gate, the former main entrance to the inner courtyard of the Tokugawa family’s residence. The gate is a meticulously reconstructed structure built using Edo-period (1603–1868) architectural techniques, and the projection mapping display will showcase ukiyo-e and doro-e artworks depicting the vibrant lives of the same period. 

While you’re there, don’t miss the new autumn-leaf-themed projection mapping show at Engetsukyo Bridge, which is said to have been designed by Ming Dynasty Confucian scholar Zhu Shunsui. At the nearby Kantokutei teahouse, nerikiri wagashi will be served with matcha during the special nighttime viewing, while the garden will also host a stamp rally and shops selling dango snacks and mini paper lanterns.

The park will close temporarily at 5pm, and reopen at 6pm for the night opening. Special nighttime viewing tickets are required to enter the park after 6pm. These can be purchased in advance via KKday, Asoview and Seven Ticket.

The Tori no Ichi festival at Hanazono Shrine is one of the biggest in the Kanto region. It’s held on two days on November 7 and 19 with some smaller 'warm-up' festivals taking place the night before the main events.

For the occasion, the grounds are decorated with 950 LED lanterns towering over the shrine buildings. On the grounds, you will find stalls selling decorative kumade bamboo rakes, plus plenty of other vendors offering food and festival knick-knacks.

The event takes place from 12 noon to 12 midnight on both days, and the smaller pre-festivals take place on the day before the main event, from 3pm until 12 midnight.

Find more Tori no Ichi celebrations here.

Tori no Ichi is said to have originated at Asakusa's Otori Shrine and the nearby Juzaisan Chokokuji temple, so you can expect a major spectacle here. This is the biggest Tori no Ichi festival in Tokyo with 800 to 900 booths selling kumade, souvenirs and plenty of food.

The event attracts 700,000 visitors every year and gets very crowded in the evening, so go during the day if you have the chance and snack on some old-school kiri-zansho candy.

The festival is held for 24 hours on November 7 and 19, starting with the first taiko drum sound at 12 midnight (the night of November 6 and 18).

Taking place at Otori Shrine inside the Okunitama shrine complex, this festival is one of the three most important Tori no Ichi festivals in Tokyo (the other two being Asakusa and Shinjuku's Hanazono). Worshippers and visitors crowd the area in Fuchu throughout the two days, shopping for kumade rakes and praying for good fortune and success for the coming year.

The event takes place from 6.30am to 10pm on November 7 and November 19.

Mt Takao is one of the most picturesque destinations in Tokyo to see autumn leaves. And one of the best ways to do that is by taking the scenic cable car ride, which brings you closer to the mountain’s Yakuoin temple. Here you can sample shojin ryori, a traditional Japanese Buddhist vegetarian meal. To secure a lunchtime seat, be sure to book a reservation for two or more people at least two days in advance via phone.

The best time to see the autumn leaves for 2026 is mid-November to early December, when the foliage around the cable car tracks turns deep orange and red.

Throughout the duration of the festival, you can also look forward to a host of free events at Kiyotaki Station, the cable car stop at the base of Mt Takao, including musical and dance performances by local university students. While details are yet to be announced for 2026, check the event's English website for the latest updates.

As is the case every year, the base of Mt Takao will be crowded in autumn, so it’s best to arrive via public transport.

This is one of the most popular spots in the whole of Tokyo for autumn leaves. Stretching for 4km from Hachioji's Oiwakecho to the foot of Mt Takao (near north exit of Takao Station), this road is flanked by over 700 ginkgo trees (known as icho in Japanese), and they look stunningly yellow around this time of year.

The autumn colours provide the perfect backdrop for a range of activities at the annual Hachioji Ginkgo Festival on November 21 and 22. There will be a marching band parade to celebrate the ginkgo boulevard's centennial anniversary on November 21 from 1pm, and a classic car parade on November 22 from 12noon to 1pm. At the main stage area, expect to also see yosakoi dance and wadaiko drum performances, a stamp rally and more on both days.

The abundance of kid-friendly attractions makes it a good option if you're looking for something to do with the family, and naturally there will be plenty of food stalls to keep everybody well sated.

The festival starts at 9am and ends at 4.30pm on Saturday and 4pm on Sunday.

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the most magnificent parks in Tokyo, and if you need another reason to visit this top attraction, this two-week-long chrysanthemum exhibition is it.

Just as cherry blossom is the representation of spring in Japan, chrysanthemum (or kiku in Japanese) is the symbol of autumn. More importantly, it is the ‘royal flower’ of Japan – the Imperial Seal of Japan is also known as the Chrysanthemum Seal. At Shinjuku Gyoen, this annual exhibition (since 1929) highlights the regal blooms under protective awnings. They are a sight to behold, and perfect for your Instagram, too.

There’s no separate ticket to see this exhibition but you do have to pay the park entrance fee of ¥500 (high school students ¥250, free for younger children).

For more information, check the official English pamphlet.

If you love Tim Burton’s magical, quirky films and artwork, you’ll want to put this exhibition on your radar. After captivating audiences in eight cities worldwide since 2022, ‘Tim Burton’s Labyrinth’ is finally coming to Tokyo for its Asian debut, marking Burton’s first exhibition in Japan in approximately a decade.

The immersive exhibition takes place at Crevia Base Tokyo in Toyosu, bringing Burton’s fantastical world to life with character displays and recreated settings from classic films including Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and more, all enhanced with 3D spatial effects.

Alongside the immersive displays, you can see more than 200 of Burton’s original sketches, many exhibited in Japan for the first time. These works offer a glimpse into the creative mind behind his iconic characters and imaginative worlds. 

Rather than following a set route, you’re free to get lost in Burton’s labyrinth, stumbling upon your favourite characters and immersive rooms that make you feel like you’ve stepped straight into one of his films.

Tokyo Node presents the largest solo exhibition to date by Japanese artist and art director Yoshirotten. Widely recognised for his ability to move seamlessly between fine art, graphic design, moving image, spatial design and commercial projects, the Tokyo-based visionary has spent more than two decades developing a distinctive visual language that bridges urban culture, technology, nature and the cosmos. From collaborations with global brands and musicians to ambitious independent art projects, his work consistently seeks to make the invisible visible.

‘Communication with the Other Side / Beyond Earth’ brings together the artist’s major ongoing series, while introducing new large-scale, site-specific installations. Across these works, Yoshirotten explores enduring themes that have shaped his practice: light, colour, natural phenomena, planetary systems and humanity’s relationship to the unknown.

A highlight of the display is a new project created in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which transforms space-related data into immersive visual experiences. Expanding upon the speculative and sci-fi-inspired worldview that has characterised Yoshirotten’s recent work, the exhibition invites visitors to contemplate perspectives that extend beyond the boundaries of everyday perception – and even beyond Earth itself.

Serving both as a retrospective of key developments in Yoshirotten’s career and as a platform for new experimentation, the exhibition marks a major milestone for one of Japan’s most influential contemporary visual creators. Through a dynamic fusion of art, technology and imagination, it offers a compelling vision of unseen worlds and the possibilities that lie beyond them.

The force behind smash-hit titles including Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen, Japanese animation studio Mappa is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, the company is hosting its largest-ever exhibition from September 16, bringing together work from 23 titles at the newly opened Yurakucho Museum.

The exhibition features original drawings, large-scale sets and video projections that immerse visitors in the worlds of Mappa shows and films such as Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Attack on Titan: Final Season, Jujutsu Kaisen and more.

At the Chainsaw Man exhibition area, you can feast your eyes on exclusive production materials, including drawings that follow the story of The Movie: Reze Arc, from Denji and Reze’s first encounter and the explosive battle between Chainsaw Man and Bomb to the conclusion of their story. Don’t miss the illuminated life-size figure of Bomb, which is being unveiled for the first time.

The Attack on Titan: Final Season zone features original drawings for key scenes, displays explaining the production process, and original hand-drawn watercolour artwork of the symbolic hill from the story’s ending.

The Jujutsu Kaisen area revisits some of the series’ most iconic battle scenes and memorable moments. Production materials are exhibited in the first half of this zone, including original drawings from Season 1 and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, while the second half features materials from Season 2, Hidden Inventory / Premature Death, Shibuya Incident and Season 3, The Culling Game Part 1.

The exhibition will be held in two parts: the first from September 16 to October 25, and the second from October 28 to December 7. Some exhibits will be changed between the two parts, giving you a reason to plan multiple visits.

Tickets are available for specific dates and time slots. You can currently purchase tickets for the first half of the exhibition via Lawson Ticket, and place applications for advance lottery tickets for the second half (from Aug 22).

South Korean digital art and design firm D’strict is joining hands with Sanrio to bring a popular interactive exhibit to Japan for the first time after a successful run in Seoul last year. Utilising the latest digital media technologies, the hotel-themed exhibition in Shinjuku’s Tokyu Kabukicho Tower takes you on a photogenic and immersive journey through 11 themed areas in the imaginary hotel, with characters such as Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin appearing in their own dreamy, fairytale-like rooms.

While the full details are still under wraps, expect to see a plentiful line-up of exclusive Sanrio merch, including Hotel Floria room key charms, hotel sticker sets and travel-themed accessories.

The exhibition space is located on the fourth floor. Tickets are now on sale via Eplus.

The erotic art of old Edo returns to modern Tokyo’s most seductive ’hood with ‘Kunisada & Kuniyoshi: Shinjuku Kabukicho Shunga Exhibition – WA’. The fourth instalment in a series of exhibitions focused on Shunga, or traditional Japanese erotica, and organised by the Kabukicho-based Smappa! Group, the display showcases original ukiyo-e prints by two of the greatest masters of the form: Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Kunisada (1786-1864) is particularly renowned for depicting kabuki actors (yakusha-e) and beautiful women (bijin-ga). What’s more, his pieces are famed for their detailed portrayals of daily life in Edo, and have proved invaluable for historians researching the folksier aspects of the late feudal period.

Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), meanwhile, was dubbed ‘Edo’s ultimate graphic designer’. He illustrated the trending topics of his day – from political scandals and sexual fashions to mythical monsters – with a wit and humour that endeared him to the capital’s masses.

Curated from the collection of Mitsuru Uragami, one of Japan’s foremost ukiyo-e authorities and Shunga connoisseurs, the exhibition extends throughout the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Stage, incorporating bijin-ga, yakusha-e, musha-e (pictures of warriors) and illustrated books in addition to the erotica. Yasutaka Hayashi from artist collective Chim↑Pom from Smappa! Group returns as art director, bringing a hefty serving of Kabukicho flair to the table.

Advance tickets are available now via TimeOutShop. For a ¥200 discount on same-day tickets, use our Time Out Coupons offer.

Every year, hordes of Tokyoites make the exodus out of town to classic autumn leaf watching spots like Kamakura, Nikko and Hakone. However, for those with no time to travel, there are plenty of gardens, parks and museums right here in the city to get your koyo fill from mid-to-late November. Here are our top picks of nightly light-ups, historic retreats and lesser-known viewing locations, all in or close to Tokyo. And for particularly energetic foliage-watchers, we recommend these scenic bike routes and these highlight hikes.