The temperature may have dipped noticeably as the year draws to a close. But, don’t worry - with all the fantastic exhibitions, festivals and events to check out in Tokyo, it’ll be easy to keep your spirits high this December. Don’t forget to narrow down a shrine to visit for hatsumode on 31 December - the first prayer of the year will help set the tone for the coming year!
Ginkgo trees along Icho Namiki-dori Avenue © nakashi
Early November-25 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Roppongi Hills Christmas 2025
Location: Keyakizaka Hill, Roppongi
Time: 5:00pm-11:00pm
Admission: Free
Here in Tokyo, Christmas decorations go up and all you hear in shops is Christmas music the moment Halloween is over — never mind that November has barely begun. It’s around this time that various parts of Tokyo start dressing up their neighbourhoods with thousands of LED lights for witner illuminations. Around 800,000 LED lights, to be exact. One of the most popular must be the brilliant blue-and-white illuminations at Keyakizaka Street in Roppongi. Maybe it’s the colour scheme, but it does make the atmosphere that much more wintry and festive. Consider visiting in tandem with the Roppongi Christmas Market, which takes place on 2-25 December 2025.
Fairytale lighting at the Marunouchi Illuminations © othree
14 November 2025-16 February 2026 (To be confirmed)
Event: Marunouchi Illumination
Location: Marunouchi Illumination
Time: 5:30pm-11:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (Japanese)
Clocking in at 24 consecutive years, the annual Marunouchi Illuminations is one of the longest-running Tokyo light-ups of its kind. Naturally, it’s a favourite with many Tokyo residents. Walking down the champagne-coloured, fairy light-strewn, gently glittering Naka-dori never fails to induce starry-eyed Christmassy feelings in us. Sometimes literally. Naka-dori stretches for around 500 meters, from near Tokyo Station to the vicinity of the Peninsula Hotel.
Mid-November To Early December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival 2025
Location: Icho Namiki-dori & Meiji Jingu Gaien
Time: 10:00am-5:30pm
Admission: Free
Website: TBC
Any ‘festival’ is really just an excuse to eat and drink under some pretty leaves. As the tall Ginkgo trees along this avenue turn golden yellow, so too do the 40-odd food and drink stalls begin popping up around the nearby softball stadium. Make sure you check out all the regional food they’re selling, too. Even if you’re not hungry, the view of the trees is a feast for the eyes.
Maple leaves lit up © Hajime Nagahata
Late November To Early December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Rikugien Autumn Leaves Light-up
Location: Rikugien, Komagome
Time: 9:00am-8:30pm (last park entry 8.00pm)
Admission: ¥1100
Website: Official website (English)
Rikugien’s annual light-up returns! This traditional Japanese landscape garden has some gorgeous fall foliage as beautiful in the day as it is at night. In autumn, they extend opening hours to 8:30pm, to coincide with the evening illuminations. Be aware that you might have to contend with the post-work crowds here. But it is also one of the few places in Tokyo to see the autumn colours at night, so it’s worth a visit. Snuggle up to a special someone at the cozy teahouses in the garden and enjoy the lights.
5-7 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Tokyo Comic Con 2025
Location: Makuhari Messe
Admission: ¥4400 (Concessions available)
Website: Official website
Comic Con is a big event, and it just gets more and more massive every year. As usual, there are cosplayers, celebrity meet-and-greets (a separate and hefty price tag), a cosplay contest, stage events, exhibits, thousands of booths hawking merchandise of all sorts, and a food court. There’ll also be thousands of event-goers, so steel yourself for the crowds before diving in. On the bright side, children of elementary school age or younger get to attend for free.
5-7 December 2025
Event: Heiwajima Antique Fair
Location: Heiwajima Ryutsu Center Building
Time: 10:00am-5:00pm (until 4:00pm on the last day)
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (English)
This is, apparently, one of the largest and oldest antique fairs in Japan. It also attracts several hundred antiques dealers from all over the nation, so this bazaar is really less about sifting through the junk for deals, and more about quality antique pieces. Serious shoppers and lovers of all things old should go. You’re likely to score the best deals on the final day of this three-day event.
The Heiwajima Antique Fair is held 4 times a year in March, May, September, and December. In the event you miss this month’s fair, you can plan ahead for another one in the coming months.
7 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Hanazono Shrine Antique Market
Location: Hanazono Shrine
Time: 6:30am-4:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (Japanese)
Here’s another fun reason to visit Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku: there’s a small but regular antique fair happening there almost every Sunday. The Hanazono Shrine Blue Sky Antique Fair - which is the full name in Japanese, roughly translated - is not exactly endless sprawl and shopping, since there are only 25-30 stalls maximum at any given time. Smaller items are the focus here, rather than large furniture or statement pieces.
The market runs from sunrise to sunset, though visiting in the morning is best since many stalls tend to close around 3:00pm. (Come around then for the best bargains.) Check the calendar above before you go. If it rains, expect it not to run.
7 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Oedo Antique Market
Location: Tokyo International Forum
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (English)
Billed as the largest outdoor antique market in Japan, the event attracts shoppers from all walks of life. There is quite literally everything and anything old here: Taisho-period glassware, ceramics, rusty coins, gorgeous jewelry, secondhand kimono ranging from dirt cheap to a few hundred dollars… Whether you’re looking for a cheap bargain or a rare gem from the 1880s, you’re sure to find something for your budget. Haggling is best very early in the morning or towards the end of the day, though you can spend the whole day browsing.
The market is closed in case of rain, but this market is held twice or thrice a month. So, if that happens, you can try your luck again on 14 or 21 December.
11-14 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Bungu Joshi Haku 2025
Location: TBC
Time: 10:00am-5:00pm
Admission: From ¥950
Website: Official website (Japanese)
Stationery nerds, assemble! It may be the ‘Girls Stationery Fair,’ but don’t let the gendered assumptions stop you from heading here. Running for four days, this fabulous festival showcases writing supplies of all kinds and prices, including paper, notebooks, brushes, pens, and more. There’ll be several hundred vendors here, so if you need to track down specific goods, check the website before you go.
A stall display at Setagaya Boroichi © Hetarllen Mumriken
15-16 December 2025
Event: Setagaya Boroichi
Location: Boroichi-dori, Setagaya
Time: 9:00am-8:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (Japanese)
Running annually for more than 430 years now, the Boroichi is Tokyo’s largest and oldest flea market. It’s huge: you’ll find around 700 stalls crammed into a narrow strip of road, selling anything from secondhand kimono to antique ceramics to woodblock prints. You’ll probably find everything you’re looking for, and even more that you’re not. Don’t worry about the cold, since you’ll be jostling along with 200,000 other market-goers - it adds to the spirit of the event. Just eat some of the market’s famous daikan mochi rice cakes and you’ll be good to go.
Boroichi runs twice a year, once in December and once in January. So if you can’t make it this year, head over for the first one of 2026 next month.
28 December 2025
Event: Nogi Shrine Antique Market
Location: Nogi Shrine
Time: 9:00am until it gets dark
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (Japanese)
This small-scale, local, and charming antique market takes place along the shrine’s main approach every 4th Sunday. Visit to chat and haggle with sellers over items of all kinds: from secondhand clothing to kokeshi dolls to wooden furniture to stamps from several decades ago, you might find anything and everything here. If it rains, though, consider the event cancelled.
28-29 December 2025 (To be confirmed)
Event: Winter Comiket
Location: Tokyo Big Sight
Time: 10:00am-4:00pm
Admission: ¥500 per day
Website: Official website (Japanese)
Comic Market, or Comiket as it’s better known, is held twice a year and is one of Japan’s biggest comic events. The focus here is on dojinshi, or fan-drawn, independently-published manga. Genres and styles vary widely, as does the quality of the goods on sale. Of course, the event also attracts plenty of cosplayers, photographers, and people looking for market merchandise. If you’re looking to cosplay, you’ll need to pay a nominal ¥1000 fee to attend in costume.
Unlike shops like Mandarake, Comiket is not really for casual browsing or window shopping. The crowds numbering in the millions mean that you’ll need to know exactly which artist’s booth you’re looking for and where to find it. Bring plenty of water and enough cash for your purchases.
28-29 December 2025
Event: Oharae: Great Purification
Location: Meiji-jingu Shrine
Time: 2:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (English)
Much like spring-cleaning, humans also need to regularly clear out the cobwebs in our personal closets. One of the forms this takes in Japan is the Oharae, or the Great Purification Ceremony, an ancient ritual conducted twice annually at Shinto shrines across the nation. It takes place on 30 June (known as Nagoshi no Oharae, for the summer), and again on 31 December (when it’s known as Toshikoshi no harae, to herald the coming new year). It’s free and open to all at Meiji Jingu Shrine. Priests recite the prayers of purification, and cleanse you of your sins with a wand and pieces of white paper. The year-end ceremony is the last chance to clear our your closet for 2025 - metaphorically speaking! If you’re feeling a little sinful, or reeling from the aftereffects of Mercury retrograde, or just want to rid yourself of some bad juju, it wouldn’t hurt to take a gander at this.
Hatsumode at Meiji Jingu Shrine © Dick Thomas Johnson
31 December 2025
Event: Joyasai: Year-end Ritual
Location: Meiji-jingu Shrine
Time: 4:00pm
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (English)
This is the very last ceremony held at Meiji Jingu Shrine in the year. You won’t actually be able to see anything, but you’ll hear the big drums marking the beginning and finish of the ceremony. Plus, the shrine stays open all night for hatsumode, the first prayer of the year - a great way to begin 2026. Be warned that you’ll probably be accompanied by thousands of people to ring in the new year.
Fox masks © Ryo FUKAsawa
31 December 2025-1 January 2026
Event: Oji Fox Parade
Location: Shozoku Inari Shrine, Oji
Time: 9:30pm onwards (Parade at 12:00am)
Admission: Free
Website: Official website (Japanese)
The Oji Fox Parade has been held annually for at least a century or two - it’s old enough that it inspired an Ando Hiroshige woodblock print. For hatsumode, the first prayer of the year, local residents in Oji transform themselves into a procession of foxes and walk from Shozoku Shrine to nearby Oji Inari Shrine. Whether you’re a participant or an onlooker, it’s a charming and fun event for all. As usual, there’ll be festival food and drink to keep you warm on this winter’s night.
Tokyo Events Month By Month 2025
- Tokyo Events January 2025
- Tokyo Events February 2025
- Tokyo Events March 2025
- Tokyo Events April 2025
- Tokyo Events May 2025
- Tokyo Events June 2025
- Tokyo Events July 2025
- Tokyo Events August 2025
- Tokyo Events September 2025
- Tokyo Events October 2025
- Tokyo Events November 2025
- Tokyo Events December 2025
Tokyo Vacation Checklist
- For all the essentials in a brief overview, see my First Time In Tokyo guide
- Check Tokyo accommodation availability and pricing on Booking.com and Agoda.com - often you can book with no upfront payment and free cancellation
- Need tips on where to stay? See my one page guide Where To Stay In Tokyo
- You can buy shinkansen (bullet train) tickets online from Klook - popular routes include Tokyo to Kyoto, Tokyo to Osaka and Tokyo to Hiroshima
- You can buy an eSim to activate in Japan or buy a Japan SIM card online for collection on arrival at Tokyo Narita or Haneda airports. Or rent an unlimited data pocket wifi router
- See my comprehensive Packing List For Japan
- Compare airline flight prices and timings for the best Japan flight deals. Check my guides to arriving at Narita Airport and at Haneda Airport.
- If you're visiting more than one city, you might save money with a Japan Rail Pass – see if it's worth it for you
- World Nomads offers simple and flexible travel insurance. Buy at home or while traveling and claim online from anywhere in the world
- Do you want help planning your trip? Chris Rowthorn and his team of Japan experts at Japan Travel Consulting can help
