As if three days of Star Wars Celebration Japan (SWCJ) 2025 wasn’t enough there’s also been the second seasons of both ‘Andor’ and ‘Light & Magic‘ as well as the ‘Tales of the Underworld‘ animation shorts. On top of that were the Star Wars Day events for May the 4th in Yokohama and Shibuya, and part of that included one cinema in Tokyo showing all nine of the Skywalker saga films on rotation for 12 days. It’s been one hell of a busy month for us Star Wars fans and, as tired as I am, I have absolutely loved it all.

Work, family and travel commitments meant I couldn’t see as many of those nine movies on the big screen as desired, and I didn’t want to bust a gut in going to Yokohama as I thought it’d probably be similar to what I saw there last winter or wouldn’t offer anything to do different to what was at SWCJ.

Between April 25th and May 6th Toho Cinemas Hibiya showed a different trilogy of the Star Wars films each day (prequels, originals and sequels) meaning that each was shown four times. I managed to see ‘Attack of the Clones‘ (2002), ‘Return of the Jedi‘ (1983) and ‘The Force Awakens‘ (2015) but sadly ‘Revenge of the Sith‘ (2005) eluded me and I’ve still never seen that in a cinema. Hopefully, there’ll be another chance at some point this year as that one is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Given that most of the showings I was present for were full I can imagine the cinema will do the same next year.

The pun-based ‘May the 4th be with you’ used to be something us fans generated for ourselves by watching the movies at home or whatever. Events gradually started to take place on the date itself but in recent years it has become something of a season in Japan which is conveniently timed for people living here as it’s in the middle of the annual Golden Week holiday meaning the vast majority of people (outside of the service industry) aren’t working and can partake in any activities should they wish to do so.

Shibuya Tsutaya is centrally located at Scramble Crossing and has had a temporary ‘Star Wars Galaxy in Shibuya’ exhibition (no entrance fee) for a fortnight beginning on May the 4th itself.

My expectations were admittedly quite low off the back of SWCJ (how could it compare?!!) as I spent 45 minutes cycling down to Shibuya to see what was in store. The answer was a fairly spacious but crowded ground floor featuring some large wall art.

Many of the statues on show, particularly the stormtroopers, Darth Vader, R2-D2 and BB-8, were ones I’d seen a few times before at other Tokyo-based events but despite that I still get fairly excited by the sight of them each time and inevitably took some more photos.

There were also life-size statues of Kylo Ren, Grogu, Chewbacca and C-3P0. I’m not sure if I’ve ever really seen the latter’s backside so closely so that was certainly something new and novel!

I can’t imagine wearing one myself but in recent times I’ve noticed the rise in popularity of these sukajan (Japanese souvenir jackets) with embroidered motifs. Half a dozen of them were on display.

Taking the escalator down a floor took me to the pop-up store which was basically what the whole thing was about. Not many things do business quite like the endless amount of Star Wars products and the hundred plus customers present were lapping it up. After splashing out so much cash over three days at SWCJ I really didn’t think I’d buy anything. How foolish of me!

There were t-shirts aplenty with close to 100 designs in total on offer. As someone with about 25 Star Wars t-shirts in my collection I really didn’t feel the need to add to it. Thankfully the 6500 yen ($45) cost of the ones I liked (mid-1980s cartoon Droids and Ewoks ones as well as the Japanese style art designs) was enough to put me off.

A tote bag for carrying our little dog in was a consideration too, and would’ve made me feel like the Mandalorian carrying around my little Grogu. However, I felt they were probably just a bit too small!

The promotion of Grogu as “the cutest in the galaxy” is a thing nowadays and there were a fair few products with him on them including blue macaron cookies and Mandalorian crisps.

There really is no end to the line of Star Wars products with the classic items being stationery, clothing, accessories and of course figures with the bobble-head ones proving to be popular with customers it seems.

A large Millennium Falcon cushion was cheaper than I expected but 4000 yen ($27) is still a price that can’t be justified (in my opinion!) for such an item!

There was a graffiti wall for visitors to write a message of love or whatever to the sci-fi franchise which has been around for nearly half a century now.

With all the extra Star Wars things (SWCJ, Andor etc) going on around the “May the 4th…” festivities it will be very difficult (if not imposssible!) to replicate such levels next year but I’m sure there’ll still be enough to keep fans in Japan happy.

Click here to read ‘Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 1: Ryan Gosling ‘& Sigourney Weaver Up Close, Animation & 90s Panels, Cuteness Overload, Cosplayers & Meeting A Fan Favourite’

Click here to read ‘Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 2: The Ridiculously Long Wait For Merchandise, A Trio of Entertaining Panels & Meeting Some Fan Community Favourites’

Click here to read ‘Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 3: Exploring The Galaxy Far Away For Real, Free Swag, More Cosplayers & The Vegetable God’s Given The Recognition He Deserves!’

Click here to read ‘The Countdown To Star Wars Day 2024 Has Begun With 11 Days of Festivities In Japan’s 2nd Biggest City’