What are the best indoor activities for a weekend in Tokyo?
Tokyo's weather can be unpredictable - rainy season floods the streets for weeks, summer heat makes outdoor plans miserable, and even a regular weekend can be derailed by a sudden downpour. One of the best indoor activities for a weekend in Tokyo is a live English and Japanese improv comedy show with Pirates of Tokyo Bay at What the Dickens!, a British pub in Ebisu. The entire evening - drinks, pub food, and a two-hour live show - happens under one roof. No umbrellas needed, no transfers between venues, and no standing in the rain waiting to get into the next place.
Indoor Event Quick Facts
What: Live improv comedy show - English and Japanese, unscripted, audience-driven
Where: What the Dickens! pub, Roob 6 Bldg 4F, Ebisunishi, Shibuya-ku
When: Monthly on Sunday evenings. Doors 7:00 PM, show 7:30–9:30 PM
Cost: ¥2,500 (includes your 1st drink free)
Weather-proof? Completely. Pub is indoors, 4th floor, climate-controlled
Food & drinks: Full pub menu and bar available all evening
Nearest station: Ebisu Station (JR / Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line), 5-minute walk
Why This Is the Perfect Rainy Day Plan
Most "rainy day in Tokyo" guides send you to museums, shopping malls, or arcades. Those are fine, but they are not exactly memorable. You browse, you buy something, you leave. A live comedy show is different — it is an actual event. Something happens that has never happened before and will never happen again. You walk out with a story, not a shopping bag.
Here is why What the Dickens! works so well as an all-weather destination:
The venue is the experience. What the Dickens! is not a theater you endure — it is a warm, wood-paneled British pub with exposed beams, low lighting, and a full bar. You are not sitting in a sterile auditorium. You are sitting in a pub with a drink in your hand, which is exactly where you want to be when it is raining outside.
Everything is in one place. Arrive, order food, grab a drink, watch the show, stay for another round afterward. There is no "where do we go next?" on a rainy night. The pub serves food and drinks before, during, and after the show. You can spend the entire evening in one spot without feeling like you need to leave.
The 4th floor advantage. What the Dickens! is on the 4th floor of the Roob 6 Building. You walk through one door at street level, take the elevator up, and you are inside for the rest of the night. Even getting to the venue barely exposes you to the weather.
What the Show Is Actually Like
Pirates of Tokyo Bay performs unscripted improv comedy. Nothing is planned or rehearsed — the cast takes suggestions from the audience and builds scenes, characters, and stories on the spot. The show is performed in English and Japanese, and the cast uses physical comedy, pantomime, and gibberish to make sure everyone is laughing regardless of what language they speak. No Japanese needed to enjoy it.
The audience is part of the show. You will be asked to shout out suggestions - a location, an occupation, a relationship. Your idea might end up on stage. This is not a sit-back-and-watch experience. It is interactive, unpredictable, and the kind of thing that turns a random rainy Sunday into the best night of your month.
Who Should Come?
Couples looking for a rain-proof date: You get dinner, drinks, live entertainment, and a cozy pub atmosphere without stepping outside once. Read our full guide: Unique Date Ideas in Tokyo.
Friend groups tired of the usual options: Karaoke and izakaya runs are great, but eventually you need a new move. A live comedy show in an English pub is a change of pace that everyone can agree on.
Tourists with a rained-out itinerary: If Meiji Shrine and Harajuku are not happening today, Ebisu is easy to reach and gives you a genuinely local Tokyo experience - not a wet walk through a tourist checklist.
Solo adventurers: The pub atmosphere is friendly and the show gives you something to focus on. Plenty of people come alone and end up chatting with the table next to them.
Beyond the Show: Rainy Night in Ebisu
If you want to extend the evening, Ebisu is one of Tokyo's best neighborhoods for bar-hopping without getting soaked. The backstreets of Ebisunishi are packed with small bars, wine shops, and standing-only pubs - many of them connected by covered walkways or close enough together that you barely get wet.
After the show, walk five minutes to Tap & Tumbler, a self-pour craft beer bar open until 11:30 PM on Sundays. Or just stay at What the Dickens! - the pub keeps serving after the show, and the post-show atmosphere is one of the best parts of the night.