Tokyo Fashion Week (Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO)

Tokyo Fashion Week, also known as Tokyo Collection and currently branded as Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, is one of the world’s leading fashion weeks. Hosted by the Japan Fashion Week Organization, it takes place twice a year, in spring and autumn.

The history of Tokyo Fashion Week can be traced back to the 1980s when Japanese designers, such as Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, began hosting fashion shows in Tokyo to present their new collections locally before showcasing them internationally. While these early shows weren’t unified into a single “fashion week” like those in London, Milan, and Paris, they helped establish Tokyo as a major center for avant-garde and street fashion.

In 2005, a group of fashion designers and textile and fashion manufacturers founded the Japan Fashion Week Organization (JFW Organization) to bolster Japan’s textile and fashion industries and enhance their competitiveness in the global market. Tokyo Fashion Week, established that same year, is the organization’s flagship event. It is backed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Apparel Industry Council.

In 2019, technology conglomerate Rakuten became the event’s title sponsor, rebranding it Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO. Previous title sponsors of Tokyo Fashion Week include Mercedes-Benz (2011–2015) and Amazon (2016–2019). Rakuten focuses on e-commerce partnerships and runs the By R initiative, which funds a prominent designer’s show each season.

Since its inception, Tokyo Fashion Week has grown to become the largest fashion event in Asia and one of the world’s leading fashion weeks. Due to its frequent mention alongside the traditional “Big Four” fashion weeks in London, Milan, New York, and Paris, Tokyo Fashion Week is sometimes considered one of the “Big Five” fashion weeks. However, some industry experts dispute this, claiming that Tokyo Fashion Week lacks the international influence of the “Big Four”.

Nevertheless, Tokyo Fashion Week’s status as the world’s leading showcase for Japanese street fashion, as well as avant-garde and experimental fashion, is undisputed. Each season, the event features approximately 50 established and emerging fashion designers from Japan and around the world, attracting around 50,000 attendees. Like most major fashion weeks, Tokyo Fashion Week is an invitation-only event for the press and buyers.

Tokyo Fashion Week is held twice a year: in early spring for the upcoming fall/winter collections and in early autumn for the following spring/summer collections. As of 2026, Tokyo Fashion Week is headquartered in the Shibuya Hikarie, an 183-meter-tall skyscraper located near the iconic Shibuya Station. Shows take place at various venues throughout central Tokyo, particularly in districts like Harajuku, which is home to Tokyo’s street fashion culture. These venues can include theaters, galleries, warehouses, and brand flagship stores. Some of the venues are quite unconventional. For instance, in 2022, Rakuten sponsored a fashion show in that took place inside a moving train.