Areas at a glance
- East side: Sunshine 60 Street, Sunshine City, Otome Road, arcades and cinemas.
- West side: the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, a redesigned park with outdoor stage, restaurants and bars.
- North side: Chinese restaurants and grocery shops — an informal Chinatown — and a nightlife area.
- Zoshigaya and Mejiro: quiet residential streets, temples and gardens to the south.
Eating and drinking
Ikebukuro is known as a ramen “battleground”, with dozens of highly rated shops competing within a few blocks of the station; expect a queue at the famous ones and to pay around ¥1,000–1,500 a bowl. The north side is good for authentic regional Chinese food, and the department-store basements for take-away.
Money-saving ideas
- Hotels here often cost noticeably less than equivalent ones in Shinjuku or Shibuya.
- The Sunshine 60 observatory is one of the cheapest paid views in the city.
- A Tokyo Subway Ticket is useful from here, as three metro lines pass through.
Safety
Ikebukuro is safe, but the entertainment streets north and west of the station have touts at night; as elsewhere in Tokyo, do not follow them into bars.
Sample plans
Half a day
Sunshine Aquarium at opening time, the observatory, the Pokémon Center and a ramen lunch, then Otome Road and Animate.
A rainy day with children
Everything in Sunshine City: aquarium, Namjatown or the planetarium, character shops and the observatory’s indoor park, all without going outside.
One full day
Morning in Kawagoe by Tobu Tojo Line, back for Sunshine City in the afternoon and the night view from the 60th floor.
