Festivals and Shows in Tokyo, Japan

The Tokyo International Anime Fair is also known as the Tokyo International Animation Fair and was founded in 2002. The fair is normally hosted at the Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo Bay as it is a convention and exhibition center.

The fair stretches over 4 days with the first 2 days open only to industry members and the press with the last two days, falling on a weekend, is open to the public.

The Tokyo Game Show was founded in 1996 was held bi-annually, one in spring and the other show in autumn at the Tokyo Big Sight. The show later became an annual show and is only held in autumn.

The show is a Game Expo / Convention is now held in Makuhari Messe. The show only host various international video game developers to show of their upcoming video games and hardware. Although the show is focused on the Japanese market, the last two days of the show is open to the public, which can be experienced by national and international visitors.

The Sanja Matsuri is a religious celebrations and is one of the three Shinto festivals in Tokyo honoring Hinokuma Hamanari, Hinokuma Takenari and Hajino Nakatomo, who founded and established the Sens%u014D-ji, a Buddhist temple housing the Kannon statue and one of the oldest temples in Japan.

The festival is held annually on the third friday of May and is accompanied by traditional music and dancing stretching over a three day period. The festival attracts about 1,5 to 2 million locals an tourist to Tokyo.

The Sanno Matsuri is one of the largest festival in Japan and is famous as a festival permitting the Shogun to enter the grounds of the Edo Castle during the Edo period (1603 - 1867).

People, about 300, are dressed in traditional costumes and process through the heart of Tokyo. The participants carries portable shrines (mikoshi) through during the parade.

The first Tokyo Motor Show was held in 1954 and is annually held in Makuhari Messe. The festival features cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles with more concept cars than actual production vehicles and there is seen as the one of the motorshow's big five.