What Is Matsuri? Japan's Culture-Experience App, Screen by Screen (2026)
Matsuri (matsuri.group) is a web and iPhone app that puts local guided tours, free meetups, a shop of Japan-made goods, a shrine check-in game and a free offline emergency page in one place. On 30 September 2026 we opened every tab in its bottom bar, plus the emergency page, and took the screenshots below. On that day the two parts a first-time visitor could actually use were the free Shinjuku language-exchange picnic and the emergency page. The guided tours have full itineraries and prices, but the one we opened had no date you could book yet.
Disclosure: MICHI and Matsuri are run by the same company, Jon&Coo. That gives us a direct business interest in Matsuri. So this guide sticks to what the live site showed on 30 September 2026, screenshots included, and says plainly what didn't work yet.
Matsuri at a glance
| Part | What it does | Cost | What we saw on 30 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experiences — guided tours | Small-group walks with an English-speaking guide (Shinjuku nightlife, food halls, Yanaka, Akihabara…) | Priced per person on each page | Listed with itinerary and price. The Golden Gai tour's calendar read "schedule being arranged" (no bookable date) |
| Experiences — meetups | Casual community events, such as a Japanese–English picnic | Free | Bookable: one slot on Sat 3 Oct, 14:00–16:30 |
| Emergency mode (SOS) | Emergency numbers, nearest evacuation sites, what to do first, point-to phrases | Free, no account | Worked. After one visit it still opened with the network cut |
| Shop | Japan-made goods, including items listed as licensed by the Japan Sumo Association | Prices in yen | Browsable. Free domestic shipping over ¥10,000 is shown |
| Shrines ("Worship Mining") | GPS check-in at shrines, rewarded with Matsuri's own token (MTC) and NFTs | Free to play | Opens. Uses your location |
The site runs in English, Japanese and Chinese. The emergency page also comes in Thai, Norwegian and Spanish. There is an iOS app too; the site says an Android app is planned for December 2026.
1. The home screen: where, when, how many
The home screen is a single search bar: where you're going, the date and the number of guests. Below it are rails for Guided Tours, Meetups and Spotlight Goods. The bottom bar never changes: Experiences, Shop, Shrines, My Page. The red SOS button at the top opens the emergency page from any screen, which is the one feature worth remembering before you land.
2. Guided tours: what a listing tells you
Each tour page carries what you need to decide: an itinerary with times, what's included and not included, what to bring, the meeting point and a price per person. For the Golden Gai night that means three bars, one drink in each, cover charges included, photo ID required, and a meeting point at Shinjuku-sanchome Station Exit E1. The English page showed $62 per person; the Japanese page showed ¥8,306.
Check the date picker, not the badge. The top of the tour page said "Available — within 3 days", but the date picker further down was empty. It carried only a Japanese note, 現在スケジュール調整中です, meaning "the schedule is being arranged". Until a time slot shows up there, you can't book the tour. (By 2 October 2026 the page had switched to "Ended" without ever showing a bookable slot.) If you want a booked, reviewed cultural experience in Tokyo today, our Tokyo cultural experiences guide compares operators you can book right now.
3. Meetups: the free Shinjuku language-exchange picnic
This was the part of Matsuri you could actually book when we checked. The meetup listed then was the Shinjuku Picnic, a Japanese–English language exchange on the lawn next to the Peace Bell in Shinjuku Chuo Park. It was set for Saturday 3 October 2026, 14:00–16:30, it was free, and you bring a snack or drink to share. The page says beginners are welcome and nobody corrects your mistakes. It had room for 30, and 2 people had signed up when we checked.
Booking works the same way on every event: pick the highlighted day in Select Date & Time, then tap Check Availability. We stopped at that step and didn't create an account, so we can't tell you what the sign-up asks for. Meetups are listed one date at a time, so check the Meetups rail on the home screen for the next one. If you're a solo traveller who wants to talk to people who live here, rather than just watch them, this is the easiest way in.
4. Emergency mode: the one to open before you need it
The emergency page needs no account and is free. In one screen it gives you:
- Tap-to-call numbers: 110 police, 119 fire and ambulance, 118 coast guard, 171 disaster message dial, and JNTO's 24-hour Japan Visitor Hotline.
- Nearest evacuation sites, drawn from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan's list of designated sites.
- What to do first in an earthquake, tsunami, typhoon or fire.
- Point-to phrases you can show to someone nearby.
Open it once while you have signal and it keeps a copy. We cut the network and reloaded it on 30 September, and it opened with a "You are offline. Showing the saved version" banner. Our full guide, what to do in an earthquake in Japan, walks through each part and pairs it with the Japan Tourism Agency's Safety tips alert app.
5. The shop: sumo goods and Japanese craft
The shop sells Japan-made goods from named sellers: totes, folding fans, T-shirts and umbrellas with Edo-era sumo prints (listed as officially licensed by the Japan Sumo Association), plus ceramics such as Bizen and Mino ware. The shop shows free domestic shipping over ¥10,000. We couldn't confirm on the shop pages whether it ships abroad, so check at checkout if you want goods sent home. If sumo is why you're looking, our sumo rules explainer makes a tournament day far more fun.
6. Shrines: "Worship Mining"
The Shrines tab is a location game. When you're close to a real shrine, you can draw a digital omikuji (fortune) and earn MTC, Matsuri's own crypto token, plus NFTs. More remote shrines give bigger rewards. Matsuri's shop lists MTC as a payment option; we make no claim about what MTC is worth, so treat it as a game reward. And remember that the shrine is a place of worship first: our shrine etiquette guide covers the bow, the purification basin and when not to take photos.
Who Matsuri is for, and who should skip it
Worth opening if you're in Tokyo and want a free, low-pressure way to meet locals (the meetups), or if you want an offline emergency page on your phone before an earthquake or typhoon. Everyone can use the emergency page.
Skip it (for now) if you need a guided tour on a fixed date this week. Check the tour's date picker first, and if it's empty, book elsewhere. Also skip it if you only want to pay by card for goods shipped abroad and can't confirm international shipping.
Sources
- Matsuri (matsuri.group), checked on 30 September 2026: home · What is Matsuri · Golden Gai tour · Shinjuku Picnic meetup · Emergency mode · Shop · Worship Mining
- Screenshots: captured by MICHI on 30 September 2026 in Chrome at phone size (390 × 844). Prices, dates and seat counts are as shown on that day and will change.
--- Update log: 2026-10-02 — first published as the hub of MICHI's Matsuri feature (screens captured 30 September; tour and meetup status re-checked 2 October).
FAQ
- What is Matsuri?
- Matsuri (matsuri.group) is a web and iPhone app run by Jon&Coo, the company that also publishes MICHI. It bundles guided tours, free meetups, a shop of Japan-made goods, a shrine check-in game and a free offline emergency page for visitors to Japan.
- Is Matsuri free to use?
- Browsing, the meetups we checked and the emergency page are free, and the emergency page needs no account. Guided tours are priced per person on each tour page, and shop goods are priced in yen.
- Can I book a guided tour on Matsuri right now?
- Only if a time slot appears in the tour's Select Date & Time box. On 30 September 2026 the Golden Gai tour we opened showed 'schedule being arranged' and no slot, while the free Shinjuku meetup had a bookable slot.
- Does Matsuri's emergency mode work without internet?
- Yes, after you open it once with signal. We reloaded it with the network cut on 30 September 2026 and it showed the saved version, including emergency numbers and phrases.
- Is Matsuri available in English?
- Yes. The site runs in English, Japanese and Chinese, and the emergency page also comes in Thai, Norwegian and Spanish.
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