The first time we went to Tokyo, we stayed in Ikebukuro and so lots of my first Tokyo memories are centred around there. We were on an organised tour so free time on our own was scarce and the only area we got to know at all well was Ikebukuro. One afternoon we had free in Tokyo we decided to go and search out the Sanrio store and Sunshine City and we emerged hours later into darkness having pretty much gone insane from kawaii overdose. Take note, Sunshine City is a bit overwhelming.

Sunshine City is a huge 60 floor skyscraper (Tokyo’s tallest at the time it was built) with an observatory on the top floor, plus an aquarium, a planetarium, an Egyptian museum, a food theme park, a hotel and, of course, a shopping mall. The observatory is reached via a special lift with glow in the dark effects and a speedometer, which is quite amusing. It was very hazy the day we went but we still got great views and were able to pick out Shinjuku and the Tokyo Dome. On a clear day you can apparently see Mt Fuji and Hawaii!

But it’s the shopping that’s the most fun part and Sunshine City is a complete maze and utterly bewildering. There are maps but they’re only in Japanese and still probably don’t stop you wandering in circles and accidentally returning into shops through a different entrance. There are 4 or 5 shops of specific interest.

First is Passport, a homewares shop that sells cheaply priced cute cups, bowls, glasses, cutlery, bento boxes, towels and everything else you might need to make your home supercute. Our main reason for visiting is cushions! On our first visit, they had bento box themed cushions including onigiri and octopus sausage shaped cushions with smiley faces. The next time they had squashy tofu cushions including special ones for Halloween – yes, tofu with a witches hat on holding a ghost!

Further in is a toy shop I can never remember the name of that sells everything Ghibli you could ever want – catbus plant pot? 4ft Jiji? Totoro acorns? It’s all here. They even have a bus stop outside with Totoro waiting for the catbus.

More toys of every persuasion can be found in the huge branch of Toys R Us – every character imaginable on everything possible from the usual plushes and stationery to furikake (rice sprinkles) and intricate boxed toys. There’s also a big gaming section where we managed to find the crazy Japan-only DS games we’d been looking for (and I only just managed not to buy what appeared to be a kind of Mamegoma virtual pet game!).

One of my special favourites is a tiny little sweet shop selling all kinds of cute and bizarre sweets in adorable packaging. There’s also a shop selling high-end Sanrio clothes and accessories and a branch of Daiso. Phew! No wonder we were so tired.

Sunshine City is definitely worth a visit as you can see a lot in one place. Just make sure to pace yourself – it’s just not possible to pop in for half an hour.

Sugarbunnies bakery set on display in Toys R Us

Bunny shaped chocolates in the cutest packaging

Enormous Jiji the cat in the Ghibli shop

The view from the observatory floor

How to get there

Sunshine City is close to the JR Ikebukuro station on the Yamanote Line and is signposted within the station so you can follow the signs and emerge across the street (or leave from the main East exit and cross the road). From there, turn the corner left up the main street that heads away from the station exit and then left again at the next turning when you see the enormous face of Hello Kitty on the Sanrio store. Sunshine City is a few minutes down this street.

Last updated: 23 April 2011

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All content in this blog post is by Marceline Smith, unless stated otherwise. Licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Posted by Marceline Smith on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 1:33 pm in Japan, Tokyo Shopping Guide.