30 things to do this weekend

Friday

Shugo Tokumaru
Shugo Tokumaru's latest album, In Focus?, has barely left the Time Out office stereo since it was released last month, and we're expecting big things from the indie wunderkind's release gig at Shibuya AX tonight. Read more

Ginza Galleries Xmas Art Festa 2012
The week-long Ginza art fest – in which 26 local art galleries attempt to lure some of the Christmas shopping crowd – wraps up tomorrow, but you'll need to go this evening for the last of the reception parties. Read more

Merzbow/Melt-Banana/Ruins Alone
In what looks set to be a real face-melter, pioneering noise artist Merzbow – whose laptop sets have been known to reduce grown men to whimpering heaps – shares a stage at Bushbash with Melt-Banana and Ruins Alone. Read more

Asobinite!!!
Peroxided producer Yasutaka Nakata, the pop svengali behind Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, heads to Ageha tonight for a gig with his club-friendly Capsule project, and it's likely to get very silly indeed. In a good way. Read more

Two Door Cinema Club
Their Saturday gig at Studio Coast may have already sold out, but there are still tickets available for tonight's show by Northern Irish indie-disco champs Two Door Cinema Club. One caveat: it's down in Yokohama. Read more

Heavy Rotation
Nothing to do with AKB48 (thank heavens), this 'Heavy Rotation' is a multimedia spectacular involving reel-to-reel tape manipulators Open Reel Ensemble and a cast of drummers, dancers and visual artists. Much better. Read more

Gishi-sai
A legendary moment in samurai lore is commemorated today, as Tokyoites – including a troupe of volunteers in period garb – gather at the graves of the 47 Ronin and the master whose death they avenged. Read more

Fleelf
It's like a clash of the titans at Club Asia tonight, as techno veterans Takkyu Ishino and Ken Ishii face off against turntable pioneer DJ Krush in the main room. That's a lot of bang for your buck, if you ask us. Read more

Myka 9 & Factor
Terminally underrated West Coast rapper Myka 9 and Canadian producer Factor bring their latest album to Unit, though we suspect more people will be there to see local crew Simi Lab and DJs Kensei and Quietstorm. Read more

Bonjour Music School Vol.03
Bonjour Records takes things in a groovy direction for its latest party at Sound Museum Vision, with a live set by fashionable club jazzers Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hidefumi Ino, plus DJs including Rip Slyme's Illmari. Read more

Thunderbolt
American electro house man Starkillers and France's Don Rimini are the special guests at this month's Thunderbolt, one of the few regular Tokyo bashes devoted to the balls-to-the-wall sounds of the EDM scene. Read more

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Nearly a decade after wrapping up the Lord of the Rings saga, director Peter Jackson has returned to the Shire for another dose of dwarves, elves and Gollum. The Hobbit opens in Tokyo cinemas today. Read more