Hi all,

If I can only choose one which would you recommend? Caretta Shiodome OR Blue Cave Shibuya? Will go on 4/12.

Thanks!

I thought that Caretta Shiodome discontinued having illuminations in 2019/2020. They used to be one of the best, though.

Hi Uji,

Apparently it is on. One of the links: https://essential-japan.com/news/caretta-shiodome-winter-illumination/

So you think this is better than Blue Cave Shibuya?

Hi,

For the past couple of years there has not been a christmas light up at Caretta Shiodome ( I was at the Conrad tokyo and walked past hoping to see them but there was nothing ) but they did have it pre pandemic.
I did like the illuminations around Tokyo Dome city , Shinjuku station southern entrance, Tokyo midtown roppongi ,tokyo midtown hibiya and marunochi/kitte building by tokyo station.
Will be seeing them in a fortnight.

Hi,

Ah. Had not seen that thread showing it was open this year. Thanks ( but the link to the official website does not show anything on it). When I was there prepandemic they had occasional disney songs ( ie Be our guest). As it was beside the conrad i enjoyed it rather than heading cross town to Shibuya. I am a little surprised it is on as the shopping centre part of caretta shiodome has looked quieter in the past couple of years and have not seen this on other webpages for winter illuminations in Tokyo.
Enjoy your visit

I wouldn�ft trust that Essential Japan post dated August 2025. I suspect they were regurgitating long outdated information on what used to be an annual event. But there is no indication on the Caretta Shiodome�fs web site (English or Japanese) that they have resurrected this spectacle. Presumably it would be listed on their Events page by now if they were planning to have it again.
https://www.caretta.jp/event/index

It was certainly a very impressive illumination event, but there are others that are very nice and not as crowded as Shibuya can be (depends on when you go). I guess the crowds can be considered part of the ambience, though.

I can�ft even open the official link 🤦🏻‍�Š️

I would not trust Essential Japan.
I can't find any evidence that Caretta has restarted illuminations.

Have you considered the Xmas light event in Tokyo Midtown? If you go there you can easily also go and see the smaller but very dynamic one at six wave in Roppongi. Maybe 10 min walk.

https://sixwake.jp/sp/

Both are on this year. The one in midtown seems to be already installed (as far as I can judge passing by on the street). The one at six wave not yet, but is planned to start next week.

They are both dynamic. The blue illumination in Shibuya is longer and leads you to Yoyogi park, so feels a bit more �gnatural�h but it�fs kind of the same thing for the entire place. It isn�ft bad though.

I no longer work at Shiodome to check directly, but frankly I dont remember it as specially beautiful. I passed it daily when working in the building next to Conrad.

Thanks for the advice. I will get my hotel to contact Caretta to check 🙏

Thanks LikeBike. Will look into this too 🙏