Must see entertainment in Tokyo

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If you’re in town when a tournament is on, don't miss the chance to catch the big boys of Japanese wrestling in action at the country's largest sumo…

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The flamboyant facade of this venerable theatre is fitting for the extravagant dramatic flourishes that are integral to the traditional performing art of…

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Japan's most important theatre for traditional performing arts stages kabuki, gagaku (music of the imperial court), kyōmai (Kyoto-style traditional dance)…

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This is Tokyo's best jazz spot: intimate, unpretentious and with an always solid line-up of influential, avant-garde, crossover and up-and-coming…

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This subterranean club stages live music and DJ-hosted events (sometimes staggered on the same night). The solid line-up includes Japanese indie bands,…

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Tokyo Dome (aka ‘The Big Egg’) is home to the Yomiuri Giants. Love ’em or hate ’em, they're the most consistently successful team in Japanese baseball…

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We love Three's mission to make live music more accessible in Tokyo: it hosts 10 free events a month (otherwise they average around ¥2000). The line-up is…

This is Tokyo’s premier public performing-arts centre, with state-of-the-art stages for drama, opera and dance. The plays are in Japanese and the operas…

The Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Ballet both make regular appearances at this Ueno-kōen landmark, designed by Maekawa Kunio, an…

This Kabukichō spectacle has hit it big with its vision of 'wacky Japan': bikini-clad women ride around on giant robots against a backdrop of animated…

This chic lounge stages short acts (40 minutes) of traditional Japanese performing arts, including nō, kagura (sacred dance) and Kyo-mai (Kyoto-style…

Sumo wrestlers live and practice in a heya (somewhat weirdly translated as 'stable'). Only some allow visitors to watch keiko (practice) and then…

Jingū Baseball Stadium, built in 1926, is home to the Yakult Swallows, Tokyo’s number-two team (but number-one when it comes to fan loyalty; Swallows fans…

Named for the infamous 1960s London spot, Kōenji's UFO Club is committed to keeping the spirit of the era alive: the small basement space, with red-and…

The girl group Kamen Joshi – singing and dancing young women wearing cute outfits and full-face hockey masks – is all the rage at this live-music show in…

If you love camp, this is for you. The all-female Takarazuka revue, going back to 1914, stages highly stylised musicals in Japanese (English synopses are…

The 14,000-plus-seat Budōkan was originally built for the judo competition of the 1964 Olympics (budō means 'martial arts') and will be pressed into…

Oiwake is one of Tokyo's few remaining minyō izakaya, pubs where traditional folk music is performed. It's a small, cosy place, where the waitstaff and…

One of Tokyo's nicest and biggest cinemas (it has nine screens, some with 3D and 4D capability), Toho's Roppongi Hills theatre screens all the latest…

Not as red-hot as they once were, this J-pop phenomenon girl group of 60 rotating members continues to perform in shifts at its very own workhouse…er…