Sunflowers and flaming mountains brighten up the week. Traditional dances still dominate the list, with both Shinjuku and Shimokitazawa taking charge. Most tickets for Summer Sonic are sold out, except for some one-day tickets, but there are plenty of other things to do this weekend if you have to give it a miss.
Take part in a traditional Japanese festival, Bon Odori, in the middle of one of the most unconventional areas of Tokyo. If you don’t know how to dance, then no worries, there will be a teacher there to instruct the crowd. On Mt.
Myojogatake, viewed from Gora Onsen in Hakone, 205 bamboo stalks will be lit one by one to reveal an enormous burning 大 ( , meaning big or great). There will also be fireworks and a Bon Odori dance event near Gora Station. Experience Thai culture without leaving Tokyo at one of Japan’s biggest Thai festivals, taking place in Yoyogi Park this August.
There will be several booths selling Thai produce, providing massages, and advertising other local services. The art collective NAKED has returned to Tokyo to put on an interactive (festival) like you’ve never seen before. Using projection mapping and AI, a large daruma doll communicates with passers-by and even becomes a DJ.
Other tech ingenuity includes photo spots with changing backgrounds and props and a yakisoba stall that lets you choose toppings by “shooting” at them. Shimokitazawa’s Ichibanchō shopping district comes to life in mid-August as the local Awa Odori festival pa.