Must-see entertainment in Tokyo

  • B-Flat

    Roppongi, Akasaka & Around

    This hip jazz club often features local and European talent, as well as healthy doses of Latin jazz. Shows start at 7.30pm and 9.15pm.

  • Suehirotei

    Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo

    This is one of the very few remaining yose (vaudeville) theatres in Tokyo. Shows feature over a dozen acts, many of which are rakugo (comedic monologue)…

  • Kingyo

    Roppongi, Akasaka & Around

    Next to a cemetery off Roppongi’s main drag, cheeky Kingyo puts on a glitzy, colourful and sexually tame cabaret of pretty boys, glammed-up nyū hāfu …

  • Jazz Spot Intro

    Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo

    This little club – which gives away a quarter of its floor space to a grand piano – is a gathering spot for local musicians who come for the nearly…

  • Meiji-za

    Tokyo

    Meiji-za got its start as an open-air kabuki theatre in the late 19th century. Today it's a modern theatre hosting comedic performances, old-school…

  • Shimbashi Embujō Theatre

    Ginza & Tsukiji

    As well as operating Tokyo's premier kabuki theatre Kabukiza, Shōchiku stages traditional theatre here. This venue dates from 1982 and is also used for…

  • Suntory Hall

    Roppongi, Akasaka & Around

    This is one of Tokyo's best venues for classical concerts, with a busy schedule of accomplished musicians. Its 2000-seat main hall has one of the largest…

  • 20000V

    Tokyo

    This Kōenji institution for punk, noise and metal boasts an ultra loud sound system. Oddly enough, it's in the basement of a large, nondescript apartment…

  • Shelter

    Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa

    This somewhat cramped and grungy basement club has been a staple of the Shimo-Kitazawa music scene for more than 25 years now. It can be an excellent…

  • Honda Theatre

    Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa

    This is the original – and the biggest – of Shimo-Kitazawa's independent shōgeki-jō (small theatres). If you have a fair helping of Japanese language,…

  • Loft

    Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo

    The chequerboard stage here has hosted the feedback and reverb of countless Tokyo indie and punk bands over the (four-plus!) decades since Loft got its…

  • Za Kōenji

    Tokyo

    This public theatre is among Tokyo's better non-commercial performance spaces, staging contemporary plays, dance (including butō), music and story-telling…

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