2025’s Disneyland Halloween event sees two extra-special parts: a daytime parade, "The Villains’ Halloween 'Into the Frenzy'," and a night-time fireworks show, “Night High Halloween.” That accompanies the Haunted Mansion “Holiday Nightmare” attraction, based on Tim Burton’s hit, The Nightmare Before Christmas, open until January 2026.

“The Villains’ Halloween 'Into the Frenzy'" 45-minute parade, which premiered in 2024, welcomes back the Disney Villains, including Dr. Facilier, The Evil Queen and Cruella De Vil. They’ll be joined by Mickey and his friends: favorites Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and more. “Night High Halloween” sees a 5-minute, Halloween-themed pyrotechnic display after the sun sets.

All aboard for Tokyo Disneysea’s Halloween spectacular. This year includes Mickey Mouse and friends helming a pumpkin-decked boat, a debut of Lazos de la Familia paying tribute to Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and Halloween-themed merchandise.

The Mickey Mouse trick-or-treat boat will appear at the Mediterranean Harbor to spread Halloween cheer, doling out treats to anyone who says “Trick or Treat!,” and performing a dance for 15 minutes each time. The Lost River Delta section of the park will host Lazos de la Familia for the first time, with festive dances, decorations, and mariachi music.

Sanrio Puroland, best known for its abundance of Hello Kitty, hosts its Halloween event around the theme of “magic” this year. The show will feature Hello Kitty, and Youri and Sumika as the magicians. For the Halloween Parade, Hello Kitty will be joined by characters such as MyMelody and PomPomPurin to spread Halloween cheer through the park daily.

On October 25 — the closest Saturday to Halloween — the park holds an all-night mini music festival, with 50 popular Japanese acts, such as the band Kroi and rapper Charlu. Open to adults aged 20 and over, the event, titled “Spooky Pumpkin” is the chance to get loose in costume, enjoy greetings, alcohol, and dance to your new favorite acts under the Halloween moon.

(Notes: Images are for reference only. Information is current as of August 19, and may be updated without notice.)

The legendary Akasaka Hikawa Festival is normally held over three consecutive days in the middle of September, but this year marks an extra day on the calendar. The festival, dating back to the Edo period, is known for its floats, bon odori dances and nighttime food stalls. The 2025 edition focuses on three pillars of the festival: the shrine mikoshi (shrine float), the local mikoshi, and the Akasaka Hikawa floats.

It sees a short, community–focused parade on September 15, followed by the main event from September 19–21. The latter period sees food stalls, activities and dances. September 19 is an evening program with lights and food stalls, followed by a children's procession on Saturday 20, with taiko drumming. The final day hosts the Shinkosai parade, featuring the famed Akasaka Hikawa floats, which are hundreds of years old and were recently restored to their elegant glory.

Take part in an age-old tradition and dance at one of the most famous shrines in Japan: Sensoji, where its kagura (dancing platform) will be set up in front of the Kaminari gate, aka Kaminarimon. The gate is famous for the 3.7 meter-tall lantern that hangs from the top, inscribed with the Japanese characters for “thunder.” On the lefthand side of the gate is the god of thunder, and on the right is the wind god, guarding Sensoji from terrible weather and fire.

The Kaminari Bon Odori (lit. “bon dance”), draws thousands of keen dancers, who dress up in yukata (cotton kimono) to dance around the kagura and Namiki Street. Each year, the shrine releases the dances on its website for people to practise before they arrive. Every bon dance has a completely different repertoire of songs and Sensoji is no different, with dances including a Tokyo-specific one, a Skytree one and a Taito-ku dance.

The Kita Hanabi fireworks show is back on Arakawa, the river between Kawaguchi in Saitama prefecture and Akabane in Tokyo. The latter is famed for its rowdy locals and fun drinking streets, so makes for a great place to unwind after the show.

This year, the show will feature drones, lights and music synchronized to the fireworks themselves. On fireworks duty is Marugo, who creates pyrotechnics from his factory in Yamanashi Prefecture; and Redcliff, Japan’s largest drone manufacturer, will provide 500 drones for the opening ceremony. There will be a food court open from 3 PM, serving a range of Japanese classics, such as yakisoba and chocolate banana.

One of Japan’s most famous exports is sumo, a wrestling sport that dates back over 2000 years. Originally, it was performed as a style of entertainment for the Shinto gods. Nowadays, its rikishi (wrestlers) are lauded and can win hundreds of thousands of dollars of prize money at the highest levels.

The official sumo league holds several grand tournaments each year, to decide the overall sumo ranking for the year to come. There is no atmosphere quite like the sumo ring, where its fighters play out their games of the day. It’s highly ritualistic, and each small part of the ceremony has its own specific meaning. In Tokyo, Grand Sumo tournaments are held in January, May and September each year, going on sale approximately 1.5 months in advance. Tickets may have sold out, but you can still watch it on TV, or grab tickets to watch sumo training at their official training ground (open to visitors before the tournament period), known as a “stable.”

The biggest tennis tournament in Asia sees its stars take to the courts for a week-long tournament of hitting balls toward their opponents. An ATP 500 event, the men's edition has been held since 1972 and is known as one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the region.

Last year was won by Arthur Fils from France, who beat world number 2, Ben Shelton (US), both set to play again this year, alongside heavy hitters such as world number 4, Jack Draper, and Taylor Fritz. There will be a range of cafe items and foods on offer in the food court from September 23, although those with dietary requirements should pack their own meals.

Note: The women's finals take place in Kansai next month.

Enter the world of Viennese painter, Gustav Klimt. Step into his paintings, move through his phases of works as though you’re inside his mind. Known most for his painting, The Kiss, the hugely influential artist is someone that we’ve all learnt about in school — as someone from the past, a historical figure.

This exhibition brings Klimt to life, through immersive, moving projections, haptic flooring that changes the way we sense our surroundings, and sound. A worldwide hit run by Grande Experiences, seeing “Klimt Alive” in Japan enables you to feel how the Japanese appreciate art – you’ll be in one of the calmest exhibition halls ever.

Miraikan, Japan’s futuristic museum, hosts an exhibition in collaboration with JAXA, Japan’s version of NASA, and other top space researchers. The exhibition features the first-ever to-scale model of Japan’s cutting-edge lunar rover, Artemis, which is set to land on the moon as soon as 2027.

There will be other large-scale models on display, brand new videos explaining key questions, and even the return spacecraft used by the first Japanese civilian in space. Visitors to the large exhibition center will be able to touch — a rarity in Japanese museums — real rocket parts and examine asteroid pieces brought back from space.

It’s back to wizarding school on the Hogwarts Express! For one day only —coinciding with the start of Harry Potter’s school year — fans of the wizarding world can experience the first day at Hogwarts.

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo has teamed up with Seibu Railway, to wrap a train so that it looks just like the Hogwarts Express. Guests board the train at Ikebukuro Station and ride to the Studios for their very own grand meal, which will take place in Hogwarts Grand Hall. Afterward, attendees can tour the studios. For those who miss out on the limited tickets, touring the studio — the largest indoor Harry Potter attraction in the world — will still enable you to purchase the exclusive Back to Hogwarts merchandise and menu items.

The 5th anniversary exhibit of the Small Worlds Tokyo complex is an audience-participation space adventure set in the future. Guests take a five-year space tour to the extraterrestrial paradise of planet Gliese 12b, where they interact with other attendees to unpack the tale.

Small Worlds uses the latest technology to create its small worlds in 1:80 scales, that range from anime and manga to cityscapes from decades past. Visitors get the chance to use its top-of-the-range tech to create their own small figure, to go into the exhibit for one year, for a fee. “Locus of Choice Orbit C.C” invites participants to look, touch and discuss their findings, in a story voiced by AKAB singer, Kiyono Yasuno. Other actors will be on hand to bring the story to life.

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) — one of the most exciting events in a gamers’ IRL calendar — returns for its largest edition yet. Last year welcomed six million visitors across the weekend, with 3,252 booths, while 2025 has over 4,0803 confirmed. Developers and companies such as Sony, SEGA, Square Enix, and Capcom are set to host booths and talks. They’ll be joined by a host of local (and global) indie developers, from countries including Brazil and India.

The theme for the main visual of TGS, drawn by Zashiki Warashi, is “Unlimited, Neverending Playgrounds,” and the exhibition space will be just that. With a cosplaying corner, immersive AR/VR setups and e-sports tournaments, punters will be spoilt for choice.

Chiikawa fans have until September 30 to fill up with tasty baked goods featuring Chiikawa and friends. This pop-up bakery was around for a limited time last year, too, and it was so popular that it’s back again.

Offering exclusive Chiikawa-themed bakery items, visitors have the chance to purchase products such as Chiikawa bean bread, Furuhonya cream cornets, Rakko soft French bread and even Rou bread, a special bread designed to look like a bowl of ramen, that even comes with a ramen bowl souvenir. Inside the bakery, customers will be able to see brand-new Chiikawa drawings, and buy other exclusive items, including Chiikawa bakery water bottles, mugs and bags.

Have you found any events or festivals in the Kanto region that you’d like to attend in September? While traditional summer events like fireworks festivals and Bon Odori are still being celebrated, there are also events that welcome the arrival of autumn, such as the Cosmos Festival and Oktoberfest.

Experience Japanese culture through events such as Grand Sumo tournaments, shrine festivals and fireworks. Other happenings include events at theme parks and museums.

(*Please note that the information in this article is accurate as of August 2025. For the latest details, please check the official websites.)