Things to do in Tokyo today

Yokohama is commemorating its port city heritage with an annual weekend festival filled with street dance parties, fireworks and family-friendly activities. All the events leading up to the fireworks display on June 2 serve to showcase and celebrate Yokohama’s 165-year-old legacy as Japan’s first port that opened to the West.  Get your yukata ready this June 1-2 weekend, as the Japan Bon Dance Association is hosting multiple Bon-odori dance gatherings on both days at Pacifico Yokohama's Plaza Hiroba. We recommend joining the locals for a spot of street dancing at 5pm on Saturday. This particular session will be playing the classic ‘YMCA’ by the Village People as the opening song. There are several Bon-odori folk dancing events throughout the weekend (Saturday at 4pm, 5pm and 7pm, Sunday at 4pm and 5pm) and they are all free. At the nearby Rinko Park, kids will have a field day with the multiple play sites and attractions including inflatable pools, trampolines and cute ponies. The main highlight of the festival is, of course, the fireworks on Sunday at 7.30pm. Be sure to not miss the impressive audiovisual spectacle combining lights, music and pyrotechnics.

With its 250 to 300 vendors, this is by far Tokyo’s biggest flea market and it takes place nearly every weekend in the parking lot of Oi Racecourse, also known as Tokyo City Keiba. With an extensive selection of goods, it’s not difficult to spend half a day here – and given the tempting prices, you definitely won’t leave empty-handed. Expect to find daily necessities, rare collector’s items, clothing, accessories, handmade goods, home decor, toys and even a small selection of antiques. And since shopping can be quite tiring, hungry bargain hunters can restore their energy levels by munching on light meals and snacks from food trucks onsite. Do note that the market will be cancelled in the case of rain.

There’s no admission fee to this craft beer festival, which brings together a large variety of ales, lagers, pilsners and more from over 35 breweries in Japan as well as abroad. When you inevitably decide you want to have a glass, you can get a beer for as low as ¥500. With over 200 craft brews to choose from, you can compare the different styles of beer and find your favourite pint. To enhance the event’s cool spring vibes, the venue will be decorated with Japanese festive lanterns. There's even covered outdoor seating so that you can enjoy your drink with peace of mind, come rain or shine. The event will be closed on May 27 and 28.

This Hawaiian event is taking over Yebisu Garden Place in Ebisu for three days of hula and Tahitian dancing, chill ukulele music and delicious island food. Look out for Hawaiian delicacies like garlic shrimp, spam musubi, loco moco and masala doughnuts. You can also browse the dozens of stalls selling Hawaiian jewellery, swimwear, cosmetics, clothing and much more.

As the weather starts to warm up, there’s no better place to enjoy an ice cold beer and Tokyo skyline views than Hilton Tokyo’s Beer Garden in the Sky. This gorgeous open-air terrace and bar is situated on the hotel's seventh floor and offers stunning views of Shinjuku along with a tempting selection of food and drinks. This season’s beer garden has taken inspiration from the summers of Ibiza and features a resort-like atmosphere where you can enjoy a selection of authentic tapas and pintxos (small snacks) along with a range of drinks from Spain. Looking to make the most of the beer garden? Opt for the free-flowing drink plan complementing the gourmet offerings which includes a selection of five draft beers, Spanish red and white wines, sparkling wine, soft drinks, tropical beverages and cocktails made with Spanish gin.  Keeping with the Ibiza theme, chef Mateu Villaret of Masia in Ginza – renowned for its Catalan cuisine – has come up with an impressive menu featuring traditional Spanish delights such as spice-infused 'Pincho de Cerdo Moruno' pork skewers, 'Pan con Tomate y Jamón’ toast with tomato and Spanish ham, and 'Bunuelo de Bacalao’ fried bread served with dried cod. In a nod to Ibiza's stylish clubbing culture, the beer garden also puts on a lineup of exciting DJ performances every Friday and Saturday night to liven up the atmosphere. To make a reservation, visit the website.

Star Island, a cutting-edge entertainment concept that reimagines the traditional fireworks display for the 21st century, returns to its native Japan for the first time in five years. An immersive multi-sensory experience, conjured up by fireworks, lasers, live performances, 3D sound and more, is set to captivate crowds at Tokyo’s Odaiba Marine Park on two weekend evenings (Saturday June 1 and Sunday June 2). Ahead of that, Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome hosts the show in May (Saturday May 11 and Sunday May 12). Since its debut in 2017, also in Odaiba, Star Island has been wowing audiences at international locations including Singapore and Saudi Arabia. A clutch of diverse Japanese talents, each of them fireworks lovers as well as leaders in their respective fields, collaborated to create a ‘Future Hanabi Entertainment’ spectacle that illuminates the after-dark sky as, from beginning through to finale, synchronised dance and other performances play out on stages below. Fireworks interact with state-of-the-art lasers to stunning effect, augmented at key points by dynamic aerial sculptures formed by drones. Tickets for these shows are now on sale, with options including group admission.

Tokyo’s popular Vietnam Festival focuses on showcasing the best of contemporary Vietnamese culture. Around 100 stalls are lined up at Yoyogi Park with ample quantities of bánh mì, phở and bánh xèo, which are best paired with Vietnamese beer and coffee. There are also plenty of colourful handicrafts, knick-knacks, apparel and condiments, too. Don’t miss the live entertainment at the main stage, ranging from traditional performing arts to pop music. This year features major Vietnamese artists Phuong Ly and rock band Buc Tuong. You can also catch performances from Japanese acts such as singer-songwriter Ai Kawashima and the band Sunplaza Nakano-kun and Pappara Kawai. The full line-up and schedule is on the website.

The Marble Lounge at the Hilton Tokyo is hosting a dessert buffet inspired by nostalgia as well as a psychedelic vision of the future. Called the ‘Sweets Time Machine’, the all-you-can-eat spread features old-school cakes, pastries and light meals that will appeal to our fond childhood memories. The lounge will be transformed in matching fashion, with bold, bright colours to create an inviting, atmospheric setting that befits the theme. You can expect 20 kinds of sweet treats made with summer fruits including melons, peaches and mangoes, among others. The buffet features classic chocolate mint cupcakes with blue frosting, chocolate-coated éclairs filled with passion fruit ganache, almond mousse with shine muscat grapes and jelly, coconut-coated cheese soufflé topped with tropical fruits, strawberry chocolate mousse with ruby grapefruit confiture, genoise cake with watermelon confiture and Campari liqueur-flavoured yoghurt mousse, and many other delectable creations. Don’t sleep on the ice cream selection either. There are five flavours to choose from, including mango and chocolate mint, plus a host of old-school sundae-inspired toppings such as gummy bears, crackle candies and fruit sauces. You’ll also get to enjoy Korean bingsu, the perfect dessert for summer. It’s not all just sweets, though. Complementing the desserts are seven savoury options to help balance out the sweetness. These light dishes are equally nostalgic, including Japanese-style napolitan spaghetti, potato s

The UNU farmers’ market is one of Tokyo’s longest running and best-attended markets. Taking place every weekend in front of the university’s Aoyama headquarters, this one always attracts a knowledgeable crowd. Organic and local fare is readily available every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm, with the farmers themselves happy to provide details about their wares. Plus, there's always a few food trucks on hand if you wish to enjoy a quick meal.

The Tokyo Contemporary Art Award, established in 2018, is a prize intended to encourage mid-career artists to make further breakthroughs in their work by providing winners with several years of continuous support. Here, the two winners of the award’s fourth edition each present shows that, despite their creative diversity, both involve visitors and their actions becoming key elements of the art. Through this, both shows lead audiences to examine their relationships: with fellow humans, animals, and society’s expectations. Saeborg, born in 1981 and based in Tokyo, creates and performs as a latex bodysuit-clad ‘imperfect cyborg, half human and half toy’ that enables the female behind this guise to transcend such characteristics as age and gender. Here Saeborg presents ‘I Was Made for Loving You’, for which a section of the venue has been transformed into a life-sized toy farm. Visitors will experience a highly immersive installation-performance that transcends the boundaries between the body and synthetic materials, and between human and animal. Michiko Tsuda (born in 1980 and working in Ishikawa prefecture) presents ‘Life is Delaying’, an installation that uses video to explore the notion of physicality. The work recreates the private world experienced by a family at home through the perspective of someone operating an old-school video camera. The piece was inspired by Tsuda’s childhood memory of a video camera appearing in her family residence. Here, fictitious documentation