There is nothing better than sitting back to watch a show—be it a beautiful, traditional performance or more of a … well, robotic life-size shark fighting a caravan-sized spider to techno music. Whatever it is you’re after, Tokyo has it all. One of the most iconic Japanese events, a sumo match can be seen at a reasonable price and is an amazing experience—with a little reading you will soon be throwing your seat cushions along with the die-hard fans. If you want to see robots (and I mean the normal ones) there is a free show here and the crazy ones are less free, but booked online can be a fair bit cheaper than on the door.
Kabuki theater, dating back to the Edo period, is a brilliant way to see a popular but traditional slice of Japanese culture—as well as a rare opportunity to see Japanese people uncharacteristically heckling and acting like teenagers as they eat and drink and take selfies through the performance. Sports are a big deal, if you hadn’t noticed, and probably the closest to a show is Japanese baseball, which can be seen here. With music, food and drinking, it’s fair to say it’s more about the atmosphere than the game itself.