Click on Tell me more to read about the event, then use the search term plus the year to find out exact dates and times for when you’re traveling
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Plum Blossoms
Eyepopping displays of plum blossoms continue to delight through mid-March. Here’s where to see the best plum blossom groves in Tokyo
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Girls’ Day (Hina Matsuri)
From mid-February through Mar 3 (the actual holiday), sacred doll sets are displayed in households with daughters. The town of Katsuura (an overnight trip from Tokyo) displays over 40,000 of these dolls all over town in the weeks preceding Girls’ Day. Even if you’re more Goth than girly, these dolls are works of art—often made by National Living Treasures—and they’re worth marveling over.
In Tokyo, you can see these insanely expensive dolls at major department stores like Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya in Ginza and Nihonbashi, as well as at the doll stores in Asakusabashi
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Firewalking Festival at Mt. Takao
Every year on the second Sunday of March this shrine at Mt. Takao invites the public to a grand firewalking ceremony. When the enormous bonfire has dwindled to red hot coals, priests belonging to a strict ascetic order walk across them, then the public is allowed to follow (if they dare!)
Search term: firewalking takao; hiwatari matsuri takao
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Cherry Blossom Season
In Tokyo the cherry blossoms usually start to bloom around 3/24 and reach their peak around 3/30. And if you guess wrong, you still might catch one of the other cherry blossom seasons.
Here are the best places to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo, with maps showing where to find the stands of early-blooming, classic, and late-blooming trees
Here are the best places to see cherry blossoms lit up at night
Here are my favorite SECRET cherry blossom spots: all of the pink, none of the crowd
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APRIL
More Cherry Blossoms
The classic clouds of pale pink somei yoshino sakura end the first week in April, but the late-blooming varieties burst into bloom the second week, hitting their peak mid-April. Here are the best places to see late-blooming cherries in Tokyo
Free Amateur Sumo Tournament
Japan’s variation on age-group soccer: the annual amateur sumo tournament at the Yasakuni Shrine. It features bouts all day long in mid-April, with little nippers through college age battling it out for heavyweight supremacy.
Search term: sumo tournament Yasukuni
Azalea Season
You may not think azaleas are a flower extravaganza worth traveling all the way to Japan for, but after you check out the best places to see azaleas in Tokyo, you might change your mind!
Peony Season
If giant balls of riotous color aren’t your thing, how about luscious peonies as big as your head? I’m here to tell you: the best places to see peonies in Tokyo do not disappoint.
Tokyo Kimono Show
This is a wonderful event featuring three days of all the latest kimono designs and accessories from all the top designers, plus a special exhibition! Recently it’s been scheduled near the end of April, but check the event page for upcoming dates.
Search terms: tokyo kimono show
Wisteria Season
Giant wisteria are something you can only see in Japan. For hundreds of years, they’ve been cultivating single plants that are so huge and bloom with such lushness, you won’t believe your eyes. If wandering beneath under a dappled ceiling of purple blooms sounds like heaven to you, here’s where to see the best wisteria in Tokyo.
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MAY
More Wisteria
These magnificent beauties continue to bloom into the first week in May. Here’s where to see the best wisteria in Tokyo.
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Childrens’ Day
Childrens’ Day (used to be called Boys’ Day): Fish flags known as koi nobori traditionally fluttered outside the doors of every family with sons, in the hope their children would be like the carp that climbed the waterfall to become a dragon. Now they’re strung in delightfully colorful schools all over Japan in the weeks leading up to May 5th (the actual holiday). Here are the best places to see koi nobori in Tokyo.
Spring Sumo Tournament
The Tokyo spring sumo tournament runs for 14 days in May. Everyone should see it at least once!
Search term: may sumo tournament tokyo
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And here are the other places I take my friends when they come to town
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 