J-World Tokyo

This article is based on a visit made on Tuesday, 15 November 2016.

Edit 3 October 2019: J-World Tokyo has been permanently shut down.  It has now been replaced by Mazaria, a virtual-reality indoor theme park.  Many of its activities are transplanted from VR Zone Shinjuku, which has, itself, also closed for good.  More information on Mazaria: (English) (Japanese)

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I showed you around the Ikebukuro district in northwestern Tokyo.  I ended that article on a preview of J-World Tokyo, the first indoor theme park based on the manga comics of Shonen Jump magazine, so that's where we shall pick up from.

 Of the many series Shonen Jump has published over the years, the main focus of J-World is on its "big three": Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto.  You might see some of their main characters chatting it up in the lobby. such as the cast of One Piece here (from left to right: Sanji, Nami, Luffy, Usopp, and Brooks).  I didn't, however, see that many guests in the park.  It was a weekday evening, so entry was discounted and I'm sure the kids were out of school, but for some reason they weren't coming here...  Ah well, I'll still take that over too many people at Tokyo DisneySea.

The first of three worlds I discovered was the One Piece world.  One Piece (ワンピース, Wan Pīsu) is the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who has the power to stretch his limbs like rubber, and puts together a crew of pirates to fund a treasure called the "One Piece".  Its volumes have sold 350 million copies worldwide, making it the world's best-selling manga series.

Entrance to the Dragon Ball world.  Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru) is the story of Goku, a martial-arts trainee caught in a quest to collect seven Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon when assembled.  At first, it was inspired by the classical Chinese tale Journey to the West, but before long grew into its own idiom.  It's the oldest of the big three, first published in 1984, but you could say it's the most popular, especially in North America.

One of the attractions here has guests "collecting" the Dragon Balls by completing mini-games.  When you queue up for these attractions, you will be let in three or four at a time, and must wait for the previous party to finish before being let in.  Many of them require instructions given in Japanese, but the attendants will lend you guide books with translations in English, Chinese, or Korean.

Entrance to the Naruto world.  Naruto (ナルト) is the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a ninja trainee imbued with the power of a demon-fox spirit.  The main attraction here is a sort of puzzle-maze, similar to the one I did in the Dragon Ball world.  What was unique about this one was that since it relies on instructions and clues spoken in Japanese, we were given earphones that repeated the instructions in our desired languages.

The food court sells various dishes inspired by various Jump characters.  You can even see them on the banners above, chowing down on their own favourite foods!

There's also a re-creation of the Ichiraku Ramen shop from Naruto.  Ramen is, by far, the title character's favourite food.

Apart from the big three, J-World also has a rotating repertoire of smaller exhibits and games based on their other series.  Here's a scene based on Gintama (銀魂), a screwball action-comedy where aliens came to Japan during the Edo period and brought a whole bunch of anachronisms with them.  For example, the storefront on the right, whose name is obscured by the light in this picture, reads "O-Edo Mart".  The name and colour scheme are a play on the Family Mart convenience stores.

This corner is dedicated to Haikyuu!! (ハイキュー!!, Haikyū!!),  a comic/show about a high school volleyball team...

...and this one for Kuroko's Basketball (黒子のバスケ, Kuroko no Basuke), about a high school basketball team.  Sports series seem to be doing well these days, because they manage to attract both male and female fans, the latter by the presence of all those pretty athletic boys...

...I'm sorry, where was I?  Oh yeah, signing off.  But before I say good night, time to go Super Saiyan!  Okay, I didn't get that far, but you might accomplish something to that effect.  Just last week, they launched a new service where you can rent costumes and cosplay as your favourite Jump characters!  Plans start at ¥3,500 for 90 minutes.  More information: (Japanese)

Welp, nighty-night for now.  I'll be back tomorrow with another installment of Know Your Trains, and then it's time to strike out for the Fuji Five Lakes.  All that next time on Sekai Ichi!

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J-World Tokyo has been permanently shut down.

Hours: Open 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM. Admission ends 1 hour before closing time.  No regular closing days.

Costs: ¥800; attractions cost an additional ¥400-800 each. A Passport allowing use of unlimited attractions for the day costs ¥2,600 (¥1,800 after 5:00 PM).

Address: Sunshine 60 3F, 3-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 〒170-0013

Access: 10 minutes on foot from the East exit of Ikebukuro Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Saikyo (JA), Shonan-Shinjuku (JS), Tokyo Metro Marunouchi (M), Yurakucho (Y), Fukutoshin (F), Tobu Tojo (TJ), and Seibu Ikebukuro (SI) lines).

From Shinjuku Station, take the Saikyo line to Ikebukuro (JA12, 5 minutes, ¥160).  The Yamanote line is slower (JY13, 9 minutes), but more frequent.  From Tokyo Station, take the Marunouchi subway line (M25, 16 minutes, ¥200).

Directions: From Sunshine 60's underground entrance in front of Tokyu Hands (see the previous article for more info), continue down the main walkway.  After you pass the Fountain Plaza, go up the escalators until you reach the third floor.  J-World Tokyo will be directly behind you.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Ikebukuro and Sunshine 60

This article is based on a visit made on Tuesday, 15 November 2016.

Edit 3 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

After a day spent exploring some of Kamakura's shrines and temples, I made my way back to Tokyo for a night on the town.  My evening's activities were centred around Ikebukuro (池袋, lit. 'pond bag'), a district on the northwestern corner of the Yamanote loop line.

This is the eastern plaza in front of Ikebukuro Station, taken at night when I returned from the evening's activities.  Ikebukuro is the second-busiest railway station in the world, behind the nearby Shinjuku, and four companies operate lines here: JR East, Tokyo Metro, Tobu, and Seibu.  A little Fun Fact for you: the names "Tobu" (東武) and "Seibu" (西武) stand for east and west Musashi (武蔵), the old province that used to cover modern-day Tokyo.  Ironically, however, Tobu's terminal and department store stand on the western side of the station, and vice-versa for Seibu.

This owl statue inside the station, near the east exit, is a popular landmark for meeting friends,  similar to the Hachiko statue outside Shibuya Station.  Its name is "Ikefukuro-zo" (いけふくろう像, Ikefukurō-zō, lit. 'pond owl statue'), which is similar to "Ikebukuro", but ending with a long "o".

I got lost a couple of times along the way, but I eventually found the right roads to lead me to where I was headed.  Sunshine 60 Street, which leads to the complex of the same name, was even blocked off as a pedestrian zone when I arrived.

A Sega arcade was all lit up when I was making my way back out.  Ikebukuro is kind of like Shinjuku on a smaller scale; it has a similar array of shopping, dining, and entertainment options.  Just off to the north of Sunshine City, there is also an otaku-centric shopping area.  It's not as big as, say, Akihabara, but it does focus on a female clientele, hence its name: Otome Road (乙女ロード, Otome Rōdo), "otome" meaning "maiden".  This means there is a greater emphasis on stuff like cosplay parts, "print club" photo booths, dojinshi fan-comics with popular bishonen characters in... ahem, guy-on-guy situations, and "butler cafes", which are like maid cafes but with male waiters.

But, as for me, I had my dinner at a good old-fashioned maid cafe.  Maidreamin', one of the more popular cosplay-cafe chains, has a branch on Sunshine 60 Street.  My waitress called me a fuzzy bear (chicks dig the beard, lol) and even gave me a pair of furry ears to match.  While you are not allowed to take your own pictures of the staff in these kinds of establishments, you can pay a nominal fee to have them take a picture with you, and give you a copy of your own.  Which I did.

The Sunshine 60 building.
By Morio [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

After that bit of nosh, my next destination was Sunshine City.  Sunshine City is a shopping mall at the base of the Sunshine 60 skyscraper (pictured above).  The tower was completed in 1978 and stands just shy of 240 metres (786 feet).  At the time, it was the tallest building in Asia, a record lost seven years later to the 63 Building in Seoul.  There is an observation deck on the top floor, which was recently re-opened after renovations and now includes some VR-style attractions.  There is also an aquarium and a planetarium at Sunshine City, along with other attractions which I will describe below.

I found a Pokémon Store in Sunshine City. with a huge assortment of merchandise from the Nintendo game franchise.  The shop is watched over by wicked-awesome statues of some of the more advanced-form Pokémon, such as Mega Lucario and Mega Mewtwo Y.

ALL PIKACHU EVERYTHING.  It's a small Pokéworld after all.

Pika-daruma.  And the shrink-wrapped things on the left are kadomatsu (門松, lit. 'gate pine'), a traditional New Year's decoration.  But with Pokémon.

Plushies of Pokémon taken over by Ditto.  Ditto, called "Metamon" (メタモン) in Japanese, is a blobby Pokémon that takes the form of other Pokémon to use their abilities.  In the anime show, Ditto's "victims" have their face replaced with tiny beady eyes and a long, thin mouth.  The Ditto-fied Pokémon for sale here are Raichu (the evolved form of Pikachu), Vulpix, Espeon, and Umbreon.

And then there's this thing.  I don't know what it is, but it's a play on the Japanese box-art of Super Mario Bros.... but with Pokémon!

Moving on, Namja Town (ナンジャタウン, Nanja Taun) is an indoor theme park on the second floor of Sunshine City.  It has a few rides and games, and two unique food areas: one specialising in gyoza, Chinese-style dumplings, and another for desserts.  I did not actually go to Namja Town, but instead headed one floor up to its sister park...

...J-World Tokyo, devoted to the manga and anime characters made famous from Shonen Jump magazine!  But, that story will have to wait for another day.  See you next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Access: 10 minutes on foot from the East exit of Ikebukuro Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Saikyo (JA), Shonan-Shinjuku (JS), Tokyo Metro Marunouchi (M), Yurakucho (Y), Fukutoshin (F), Tobu Tojo (TJ), and Seibu Ikebukuro (SI) lines), or 3 minutes on foot from Higashi-Ikebukuro Station (Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line).

From Shinjuku Station, take the Saikyo line to Ikebukuro (5 minutes, ¥160).  The Yamanote line is slower (9 minutes) but more frequent.  From Tokyo Station, take the Marunouchi subway line (16 minutes, ¥200).

Maidreamin Ikebukuro

Hours: Open from 1:00 PM (11:00 AM on weekends) to 11:00 PM (5:00 AM on Friday, 5:00 PM on Saturday).

Address: Asahi Kaikan Building 4F/5F, 1-12-11 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒170-0013

Directions: From the East exit of Ikebukuro Station, make your way across the plaza and onto the wide boulevard.  At the next traffic light, bear right onto "Sunshine 60 Street".  Go up the stairs or elevator in the building just before the KFC, on first block on the right.  The entrance is on the 5th floor.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Sunshine City

Hours: Open 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM, individual store hours may vary.

Address: 3-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒170-0013

Directions: From the East exit of Ikebukuro Station, make your way across the plaza and onto the wide boulevard.  At the next traffic light, bear right onto "Sunshine 60 Street".  Continue until you reach the Tokyu Hands store on your right; an underground passage to Sunshine City starts here.

From Higashi-Ikebukuro Station, there is a direct underground passage connecting the station and Sunshine City.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo

Hours: Open from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  No regular closing days.

Address: Sunshine City 2F, 3-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒170-0013

Directions: Facing Namja Town (see below), turn right and right again.  The store will be on your right side.

Website: (Japanese)

Namco Namjatown

Hours: Open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  Admission ends 1 hour before closing time.  No regular closing days.

Costs: ¥500; attractions cost an additional ¥600-800 each. A Passport allowing use of unlimited attractions for the day costs ¥3,500 (¥1,800 after 5:00 PM).

Address: Sunshine City 2F, 3-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒170-0013

Directions: From the underground entrance in front of Tokyu Hands (see the previous article for more info), continue down the main walkway.  After you pass the Fountain Plaza, go up the escalators until you reach the second floor.  Namja Town will be in front of you.

Website: (English) (Japanese)