Queen's Square Yokohama lights an 8.7 m Tunku Tunku tree on 9 November

• Lighting ceremony: Monday 9 November 2026, 18:00–19:00 (planned), on the second floor of Queen’s Mall, Pacifico Yokohama side. Tunku Tunku, special supporter Mai Hirayama of NMB48 and the Yokohama Boys and Girls Choir appear. Viewing is free; numbered tickets are planned to be handed out from 15:00 on the day. People without tickets can watch if there is space.
• The tree: The 8.7 m SYMPHONY OF GREEN & LIGHT TREE stands on the second floor of Queen’s Mall from 9 November to Friday 25 December, with a sound and light show at set times. It carries Tunku Tunku ornaments, and at its base are a globe-shaped screen where Tunku Tunku moves and a countdown to the opening.
• Decorations around the building: Flower and greenery decorations run from the B3F shuttle escalators to the outdoor Queen’s Park and the planting on the Keyaki-dori side. The organiser is the Queen’s Square Yokohama event committee.
• Expo graphics (city dressing): Announced the same day by Yokohama Minatomirai 21 and others. The glass walls on 1F and B1F carry them from 9 November to 31 March 2027. At the B3F Station Core shuttle escalators, the handrails run until 31 January and the gates until 28 March, switching from a Christmas design to another design on 26 December.

Our take

The part of this announcement that lasts longest is not the tree but the decorations along the walkways. The tree goes on 25 December, while the glass-wall graphics on 1F and B1F are planned to stay until 31 March, overlapping the first 13 days of the expo, counting from the 19 March opening day.

Queen’s Square Yokohama is directly connected to Minatomirai Station, and the B3F Station Core entrance, which gets the graphics, is where the shuttle escalators start. Anyone riding the Minatomirai Line to work or to shop will walk through these graphics every day from winter into spring, whether or not they came for the Christmas event. It adds one more place in central Yokohama, far from the Kamiseya site, where the expo’s name is in plain view.

By our count, the countdown at the base of the tree should show 130 days to go on 9 November and 84 days on 25 December. Mai Hirayama, who lights the tree, said at the half-year-to-go press event in September that she wanted to visit in August and tour the horticulture hall in a yukata.

Tips for visitors

• For the lighting ceremony on 9 November, aim to arrive by 15:00, when numbered tickets are handed out. The ceremony starts at 18:00 on a Monday.
• The tree is up from 9 November to 25 December; the glass-wall graphics are planned until 31 March. The nearest station is Minatomirai on the Minatomirai Line, directly connected to the building.
• The seasons the special supporters picked are in our September news on the press event. Places to meet Tunku Tunku are in the Tunku Tunku feature.