Namba's Plaza Puts on 5,000 Lanterns and Giant Eyes for Halloween
Free through Sunday 18 October: Akihiro Nishino's Chimney Town turns Osaka's Namba Hiroba into a lantern-and-eyeball art space, with an MR goggle add-on.
For four days this week, Namba's plaza is the one in costume. CHIMNEY TOWN HALLOWEEN 2026 in NAMBA runs from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October at Namba Hiroba, in front of Nankai Namba Station in Osaka. Entry is free.
The main piece is an immersive art space supervised by Akihiro Nishino of the comedy duo King Kong, known for the picture book and film Poupelle of Chimney Town. About 5,000 lanterns and giant eyeball objects turn the plaza into a night street you walk through rather than look at from a booth. Lanterns are lit from 16:00 to 21:00; the plaza itself is open 12:00 to 21:00.
The eyes are the project's symbol for a town waking up. Nankai and Chimney Town frame the idea around the older Japanese sense that everyday things can carry a spirit, so trains, stairs and trees get the costume instead of the crowd. A wrapped Nankai train and the big station stairs also wear the eyeball design. From 13:00 to 21:00 you can try a free MR-goggle XR experience that overlays another layer on the real plaza; you fill in a short survey, and there is no age limit.
If you are already in Osaka this weekend, go after dark for the lanterns. The last day is Sunday 18 October.
