Isetan Shinjuku ties its autumn Italian food fair to 160 years of Japan-Italy ties

Isetan Shinjuku's autumn Italian food fair, Italia Ten 2026, opened on 16 September and runs through 22 September on the Main Building's sixth-floor event space, Mitsukoshi Isetan Holdings said. This year's edition is themed "Legacy," tied to UNESCO's recognition of Italian food culture as intangible cultural heritage and to the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Italy.

The fair brings together more than 40 food brands and 14 wine labels, according to the company, including a rare Japan appearance from Frangente Milano, a Michelin-recognised Milan restaurant serving a mixed pasta dish with white bean cream, mussels, squid and beef tendon for ¥2,801, limited to 50 servings a day. Other participants include Toncini, a Hokkaido maker of Roman-style pizza priced from ¥864 to ¥1,188 a slice, and Babbi's hazelnut gelato at ¥880. An MI Card member preview ran a day early, on 15 September.

Seasonal food fairs are among the most reliable traffic drivers on a Japanese department store's event floor, and an annual Italian fair returning each autumn is, on its own, unremarkable. But tying this year's edition to the 160th anniversary of Japan-Italy diplomatic relations, and pairing it with a limited-run Milan restaurant that doesn't otherwise trade in Japan, gives a recurring format a reason for a regular shopper to return rather than assume they have already seen it. For an event floor competing against restaurants that never close for a fair, that kind of scarcity is the draw, not a footnote.