20 Things To Do in Tokyo This Week: April 24–30

1.
Tokyo Weekender Magazine Party: Celebrating the Mar-Apr 2023 Issue

Kicking off Golden Week, it’s TW’s own event where creatives can meet each other in Tokyo to the mellow sound of music at a stylish Miyashita Park venue. DJs Yota Kakuda (Yota Kakuda Design) and Shima Shun (Essence Acid) will be spinning vinyl all night. If you love neo soul, future funk and acid jazz, you won’t want to miss this. Futurist artist Simon Kalajdjiev will have a glitch art pop-up exhibit too.

At this event, you can taste the original TW cocktail, get a chance to win an annual subscription to TW delivered to your door (only for those residing in Japan), engage in a collaborative creative project (it will be a surprise) and more.

Of course, you can also grab a free copy of TW, as most of the distribution spots in Tokyo are running out. Our latest issue is filled with inspiring people and stories, including our cover star Alisa Urahama, who appears in Alice in Borderland, avant-garde dancer Aoi Yamada, artist Daisuke Tajima, architect Teppei Fujiwara, MMA fighter Itsuki Hirata and more.

Event attendees can also enter Or’s all-night hip-hop party that follows the TW party for free.

Community Events

2.
Omotenashi Selection Pop-up Store

Check out Omotenashi Selection’s pop-up event at Eslite Spectrum Nihonbashi in April. This year, 46 awardees from all over Japan are selling their high-quality products. This includes tasty dishes and fine crafts, many of which you can usually only find outside of Tokyo. This is a great opportunity to find interesting items made in Japan.

3.
Omotenashi Selection Awardees at Shishokuya

Shishokuya is a new specialty shop where you can sample food and drink items from all over Japan for free before purchasing. It’s a rare experience and it can be exciting to get to know the unique products by actually tasting them.

You’ll find five Omotenashi Selection awardees in April and more to come in May and June.

4.
Higashi-Nagasaki Flea Market at I AM Gallery

To celebrate popular coffee shop Mia Mia‘s third anniversary, its sister space I AM is hosting its inaugural Higashi-Nagasaki Flea Market every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as public holidays during April and May. Twenty-five creative friends of Mia Mia are setting up shop. Expect to find rare records, antiques, contemporary ceramics, zines, photos taken by a famous musician, stones turned into incense holders and more.

5.
JAXA Pop-up in the B8ta Store

Experience-based store B8ta in Yurakucho and a total of seven companies are holding a space event with JAXA, Japan’s space agency, in April. It features a large collection of products that are either inspired by space or products created using JAXA’s patents, technology and copyright.

To name a few examples, there’s a space shampoo sheet for easy scalp cleaning, Hidamari space dry wear made with structural knitted fabric, 4D T-shirts, as well as Shiseido fibona and TechDoctor beauty products. There’s also a robot cushion for breathing, in addition to a transformable lunar robot developed by JAXA, Takara Tomy, Sony Group and Doshisha University, plus more products.

6.
Hikaru Utada Immersive Audiovisual Experience at Sony Store Ginza

Hikaru Utada fans can enjoy an immersive audiovisual experience at selected Sony Stores across Japan. From April 22 at the Ginza Store, fans can watch and listen to recordings of Utada’s recent live concerts “First Love – Live 2023” and “Rule (Kimini Muchuu) – Live 2023” on a screen surrounded by 13 speakers. The experience is also being offered at special headphone booths at selected Sony stores across the country.

Experiences are free of charge and must be booked in advance.

Live Events

MPLUSPLUS Performance Image

7.
Hibiya Festival 2023 presented by Nespresso

8.
MTM Live Music: Robert Taira Wilson New Single Release Show

9.
Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría: In a New Light

For the first time in five years, Cirque du Soleil is back in Tokyo. A reimagined version of the classic Alegría show is running until June. Marvel at the incredible and jaw-dropping stunts performed by acrobats, aerialists and fire dancers to the music of live vocalists.

Art Exhibitions

©Kasing Lung | Photo by Tomohiko Tagawa

10.
Kasing Lung: “Cloud” Exhibition

Kasing Lung started out as an illustrator for children’s picture books, later gaining tremendous popularity with the release of his collectible figures. He also creates drawings and paintings. He has increasingly been showing his works at art fairs and exhibitions in recent years.

The exhibition at Hidari Zingaro is designed as an opportunity for the artist to present the drawings he has been producing over many years. This time, 40 drawings from 2021 and 2022, one painting from 2023 and special edition stools are on display.

11.
Ryutaro Takahashi Contemporary Japanese Art Collection Exhibition

WHAT Museum is a contemporary art collector’s museum operated by Terrada Warehouse. For its reopening, it is showing Ryutaro Takahashi’s Contemporary Japanese Art Collection Exhibition from April 28. The collection was established in 1997 by psychiatrist Ryutaro Takahashi, one of Japan’s foremost art collectors. It currently consists of more than 3,000 works of art, which offer a comprehensive view of the diversity of the Japanese contemporary art scene.

The exhibition features approximately 40 works by 30 artists.

12.
Loud Moon – Ewelina Skowronska Solo Exhibition

An active participant in the Tokyo art scene, this internationally renowned Polish artist explores various forms of art, from printmaking to ceramics. This spring, she has a new exhibition titled “Loud Moon” which presents a selection of paintings, ceramic sculptures and objects that explore the physical and spiritual connections between the body, the self and nature. Skowronska investigates ideas of transformation, while rejecting binary divisions of the perception of the world. Organic shapes and forms used by the artist create a sense of rhythm and harmony.

13.
You Can Be Anything – The Barbie Exhibition

Barbie, the world’s most famous fashion doll, is celebrating her 65th anniversary in 2024. In this exhibition, Barbie is the symbol of potential, of all the things one can be, as the doll has had many professions and expressions through the years. Since debuting in 1959, Barbie has mirrored the changing environment surrounding women. There are women who have become presidents. There is a man working as a childcare worker. In this exhibition, children can imagine the future without restrictions. Adults can also look at the world in a new light, without being bound by social expectations.

14.
Five Lives – Group Photography Exhibition by the Cinqi5m Collective

Cinqi5m is a group of five photographers: Marcellus Nealy, Olivier Enoutor-K, Michael Harris, Mance Thompson and P-Jay Wyche. This is their second exhibition out of five planned events. “Five Lives” is a photographic exhibition that gives us a glimpse into the world of Cinqi5m’s five members. Inside their creations, you can explore the cool, sensual, abstract, musical and sometimes emotional aspects of the human experience. Because each vision is unique, moving about the gallery may feel like traveling between worlds.

15.
Accidentally Wes Anderson Exhibition

The “Accidentally Wes Anderson” (AWA) exhibition, held in Seoul in 2022, is being held in Japan this year.

It features more than 300 photographs with a world view that resembles a scene from one of Wes Anderson’s films and is designed to simulate the journey of people visiting secret places around the world. Experience the fascination of travel that has eluded many for some time through this exhibition, which weaves together the world of AWA travelers’ works with pop pastel colors, symmetrical compositions and sometimes accidental placement.

16.
Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2021-2023 Exhibition

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) are holding the “Waiting for the Wind: Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2021-2023 Exhibition” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

This award was established in 2018 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and TOKAS to encourage mid-career artists to make new breakthroughs in their art. The winners of TCAA 2021-2023, Lieko Shiga and Kota Takeuchi, are exhibiting their works. Shiga is presenting a large installation that reinterprets a colossal wave of restoration projects in diverse fields, which began after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, in terms of the basic human activity of walking. Takeuchi is presenting new work based on his historical research into balloon bombs (a weapon used during World War II) as well as his existing work which connects past events, artists and viewers.

17.
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams Exhibition

Following its success at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and after having traveled the world from London to New York, the exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” is on show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. It celebrates 75 years of Dior couture.

Seasonal Events

18.
Kameido Tenjin Shrine Wisteria Festival

Known for its gorgeous wisteria flower trellises, Kameido Tenjin Shrine is one of the best places in Tokyo to feel the timeless beauty of these blossoms. This shrine was visited by the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune for wisteria blossom viewing. It’s also the subject of many ukiyo-e woodblock prints and other works of art.

19.
Mediterranean Beer Terrace at Pullman Tokyo Tamachi

Open-air beer terraces are a hallmark of Tokyo’s sweltering summer. Pullman Tokyo Tamachi has themed its beer terrace this year around Mediterranean cuisines. Alongside beer, it offers sparkling wine, whiskey, plum wine, lemon sour and soft drinks. You can enjoy Greek souvlaki-inspired quesadillas, sausages, grilled vegetables and more. Unlike evening-only spots, this beer terrace is open both for lunch and dinner and pets are allowed too.

20.
Kochi Fair at Daikanyama Tsutaya Books

During this Kochi Fair event, the entire Daikanyama Tsutaya store is being filled with flowers straight from Kochi Prefecture, including lilies, gloriosas and lisianthuses, to name but a few. Visitors to the bookstore can receive a free Blue Star flower, a special product of Kochi that is said to bring happiness. The winner must post a picture of the fair on Instagram or Twitter with the designated hashtags.