YAU WEEKS: Free Art Walk Across Otemachi, Marunouchi and Yurakucho

Between Tokyo Station and Yurakucho, the office district known as Daimaruyu (Otemachi, Marunouchi and Yurakucho) is hosting a season of street art. YAU WEEKS collects outdoor works, shop-window installations, an open print studio and a one-night projection event into one walkable program. It runs from October to mid-December 2026, and most of it costs nothing to see.

This guide covers what is on, when each program runs, and which ones need a reservation. As of October 15, 2026, several October programs are already open, and two of them close within the next ten days.

What YAU WEEKS is

YAU stands for Yurakucho Art Urbanism (有楽町アートアーバニズム). It is a project that treats the Daimaruyu district as a working laboratory where artists, art managers, companies and office workers meet to create, research, exhibit and perform. YAU WEEKS is its open program: instead of keeping that activity behind closed doors, it spreads it across the streets so you can find it on foot.

Expect works on building walls, art in shop windows, studios where you can watch artists and photographers at work, a screening night that uses the city as a screen, and some workshops and meetups. Programs start one after another, so the lineup changes as the weeks go by.

YAU WEEKS is also listed as a partner program of ARTE TOKYO (Tokyo International Culture and Arts Festival, 東京国際文化芸術祭), which runs from October 10 to December 31, 2026 and is organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and its festival executive committee.

Dates, venues and entry at a glance

The special page is where new program details are added during the season, including art in the area that is not run by YAU itself. Check it on the day you go.

Programs running in October

Six programs open in October. Here they are in one table, followed by details for each.

YAU WALL #02: Kenta Cobayashi, Vector Débris

The headline piece is a 15-meter work by artist Kenta Cobayashi on the outer wall of the Tokyo Sankei Building (1-1-7 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku). Titled Vector Débris, it looks at how shared ideas of beauty relate to the urban environment. Because it is on a building facade, you can see it simply by walking past. It goes up on October 14 and is scheduled to stay until the end of March 2027, so it outlasts YAU WEEKS itself.

YAU WALL is YAU’s program of treating spots around the city as exhibition walls. The first edition was Deep peeling by French artist Jean-Vincent Simonet, which turned the changing scenery of redeveloping Yurakucho into an artwork. Since August, a smaller wall called YAU WALL Ö has also been running in lounge Ö, a worker lounge on the first floor of the Shin-Kokusai Building, with the work changing every month.

Cooperation: Tokyo Sankei Building. Curation: TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH.

Atsuko Mochida at Slit Park YURAKUCHO (closes Oct 18)

Atsuko Mochida is known for large installations that insert temporary walls, stairs and other foreign objects into existing buildings, changing how a space feels. Her show here, titled かける わたす はずす (Kakeru Watasu Hazusu), grows out of the lightning rods on Marunouchi and Yurakucho buildings and the flow that runs from them down into the ground.

The background is local history: in the Meiji era, Marunouchi was lined with red-brick buildings and nicknamed Itchō London, with thousands of pine piles driven underground to support them and lightning rods on the roofs. The installation sits in Slit Park YURAKUCHO, a small space between two buildings, and asks you to notice those hidden layers of the city.

• Dates: Oct 11 (Sun) to Oct 18 (Sun), 11:00–19:00 (until 18:00 on the last day)
• Entry: free
• Organized by: Tokyo University of the Arts Curation Education Research Center and the Yurakucho Geidai Campus, a joint project of the university, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and YAU
• Special cooperation: Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Slit Park YURAKUCHO, SpAcE Inc.

It is the result of the exhibition design course (展覧会設計演習) at Yurakucho Geidai Campus.

PRINT HOUSE by TPR Vol.2 (closes Oct 23)

PRINT HOUSE sets up a print studio in the middle of the city. At YAU CENTER Zenigame, photographers and artists use laser printers to make experimental work, and the process, the prints and self-published zines are all shown on site. The space works as both a gallery and an open workshop, so what you see may change from visit to visit.

• Dates: Oct 7 (Wed) to Oct 23 (Fri), 12:00–19:00
• Closed: Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays
• Venue: YAU CENTER Zenigame
• Entry: free
• Curation: TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Participants announced so far include (names in romanized form):

Two talks are planned on Sunday, October 18:

• TPR roundtable, City and Photography (都市と写真): 13:00–14:00, with Taisuke Koyama, Shota Tsukiyama and others. Venue to be announced.
• Talk with Jeong Eun Kim (金廷恩), director of T3 PHOTO ASIA, the photo festival running around Kyobashi at the same time: 16:00–17:00.

Nora Exhibition 2.0: outdoor art you stumble upon

Nora Exhibition 2.0 (野良展示2.0) is an outdoor show by students, graduates and assistants of the Design Department at Tokyo University of the Arts. Nora means stray, and the idea fits: the works are placed by the riverside and in the streets, so you meet them on a commute or a walk rather than inside a gallery. Nine artists take part.

• Dates: Oct 14 (Wed) to Nov 14 (Sat)
• Venues: Otemachi Financial City Eco Museum (エコミュージアム) and Uchikanda Nakadori Plaza (内神田仲通り広場)
• Organized by: Tokyo University of the Arts Research Center for the Future of Art (芸術未来研究場) and YAU
• Cooperation: Otemachi pedestrian walkway management (大手町歩専道マネジメント)

During the same period, digital signage in the area shows a moving manga ad by 鉄崎凌大, extending the walk into screens. Updates are posted on Instagram @nora__exhibition.

Resonac × Yusuke Aonuma in the Otemachi Building windows

YAU Co-creation Prototyping (YAU共創プロトタイピング) is a new project that opens a company’s resources and know-how to an artist’s research. The first partner is chemical maker Resonac Corporation, and artist Yusuke Aonuma (青沼優介) presents 封止の動詞／作為の再生, a work developed by moving between research at the company and fieldwork in the Daimaruyu area. It is installed in the shop window on the second basement floor of the Otemachi Building, right in the flow of office workers.

• Dates: Oct 13 (Tue) to Nov 7 (Sat), 7:00–23:00 (follows the building’s opening hours)
• Entry: free
• Special cooperation: Resonac Corporation

A related talk with Resonac and the artist takes place on Wednesday, October 28, 19:00–20:30, at lounge Ö (1F Shin-Kokusai Building, Tokyo International Forum side, 3-4-1 Marunouchi). Sign up on the Peatix page.

BYOM! vol.2: one night, the city as a screen

BYOM! stands for Bring Your Own Media. Artists bring a USB stick with photos, videos, performance records or a digest of their activity, and screen it on projectors that YAU provides. It could be a photo slideshow, a video work or an archive of past projects. The aim is an open screening where artists and visitors can talk freely, set against the night streets of Tokyo.

• Date: Friday, October 23, 17:00–19:00
• Venue: TOKYO TORCH Park
• More details will be posted on the YAU website and social media

The photo above is from vol.1.

Programs from November to December

The second half of the season brings more open-call projects and research based at YAU CENTER Zenigame. Here is what has been announced so far.

Weathering Project

The art collective 構想計画所 (Koso Keikakusho: 小林耕二郎, 三田健志, 前野智彦) looks again at urban greening, something Mitsubishi Estate has long practiced in the area. In the windows of the underground passage in front of Tokyo Station, they place plants, the city and rocks side by side: three things that change on very different time scales, from decades of redevelopment to the almost invisible slowness of weathering stone.

The December 12 family workshop (paid, booking required)

Led by the same collective, this workshop has participants observe gardens, plants, soil and stones in the area, then imagine the creatures that might live there and turn them into a record of imaginary life.

• Who: ages 5 and up; children of elementary school age or younger must come with a guardian
• Capacity: 15 groups, first come, first served
• Fee: ¥500 per person, materials included
• Weather: held in light rain, cancelled in storms
• Bring: warm clothing such as a hat or gloves if needed, rain gear if wet, and a drink
• Booking: Peatix page

Aokid workshop and the 出垣内愛 solo show

Dancer Aokid directs and choreographs a light workshop that mixes running with dance in the middle of the office district, as part of YAU’s open-call program. You can join more than one session, but if there are many applicants, participants will be selected. How to apply will be announced on the YAU website and social media.

At CADAN Otemachi, artist 出垣内愛, who worked at YAU ARTIST STUDIO, shows new work made from objects that people working in the area no longer need, alongside pieces that use glaze to look at how materials and memories change. Research cooperation came from YAU and Mitsubishi Estate.

Tips for planning your walk

• Watch the closed days. PRINT HOUSE is shut on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, so on a weekend only Saturday works. The Slit Park installation, by contrast, is open on Sunday, October 18, its last day, but only until 18:00.
• Late-night options exist. The Otemachi Building window runs 7:00–23:00, and the wall work on the Tokyo Sankei Building is outdoors, so both fit around office hours.
• The underground gallery has a curfew. From November, the Gyoko Underground Gallery windows cannot be seen between 24:30 and 4:00 because the shutters are down.
• Book the paid and limited events early. The October 28 talk and the December 12 workshop both use Peatix, and the workshop is capped at 15 groups.
• Keep your phone charged. You will be checking the special page and maps while hopping between venues. If you have a docomo d ACCOUNT, d VALUE PASS gives free ChargeSPOT power bank rentals, which helps on a long art walk.

FAQ

Q. Is YAU WEEKS free?

Most programs are free and you can simply walk in. A few programs are paid or need advance booking, such as the workshop on December 12, which costs 500 yen per person including materials.

Q. When does YAU WEEKS run?

From October to mid-December 2026. Each program has its own dates, and the wall work by Kenta Cobayashi on the Tokyo Sankei Building is scheduled to stay up until the end of March 2027.

Q. Which programs end soonest?

The Atsuko Mochida installation at Slit Park YURAKUCHO closes on October 18, and PRINT HOUSE by TPR Vol.2 at YAU CENTER Zenigame closes on October 23. BYOM! vol.2 is a one-night event on October 23 from 17:00 to 19:00.

Q. Do I need a reservation?

Many exhibitions need no booking. The Resonac and Yusuke Aonuma talk on October 28 and the workshop on December 12 take applications on Peatix, and the Aokid workshops may select participants if there are many applicants.

Q. Where are the main bases?

YAU STUDIO in Ginza 1-chome, Chuo-ku, and YAU CENTER Zenigame in Otemachi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku. Other programs use their own venues across the area, so check the official special page before you go.

If you enjoy art events that cost little or nothing, the Musashino Art University Festival guide covers another student-driven show this autumn. For a bigger day out, see our Ghibli Park exhibition guide, and check the Asoview campaign with up to ¥3,000 off leisure tickets if you plan paid outings too.