Tokyo Solamachi Shopping
- Published on : 06/04/2014
- by : Japan Experience
- Youtube
Tokyo Solamachi is a shopping, dining, event, and exhibition complex annexed to the Tokyo Skytree and run by the Tobu Railway Company.
Tokyo Solamachi 東京ソラマチ
Solamachi shopping complex, at base of Tokyo Skytree
Tokyo Solamachi is a shopping, dining, event, and exhibition complex annexed to the Tokyo Skytree, and run by the Tobu Railway Company.
Tokyo Solamachi is one of the biggest shopping, dining and entertainment complexes in Tokyo. Tokyo Solamachi's three multi-floor "Yards" contain over 130 fashion and accessory shops and boutiques, nearly 100 stores selling food and sweets, over 75 cafes and restaurants, and scores of service facilities ranging from ATMs to watch repair to travel agents to cold-storage rental lockers to baby-feeding rooms.
Tokyo Solamachi also includes a Japan Experience Zone, a planetarium, aquarium, postal museum and so-called "beer museum."
Many shops are highly specialized, and offer a variety of Japanese traditional and pop-culture goods of interest to those visiting Japan.
Tokyo Solamachi has an ever-changing calendar of events targeting all age groups and interests.
Tokyo Solamachi at Tokyo Sky Tree
Fashion shopping at Tokyo Solamachi
Solamachi Highlights
Solamachi has hundreds of places to visit and things to do. The following attractions are some of Solamachi's highlights.
The Sumida Aquarium is a spacious, imaginatively presented aquarium featuring the biggest indoor tank in Japan, and displays over 10,000 marine creatures. Different zones in the aquarium introduce the visitor to different aspects of life under water. Includes penguins and fur seals you can see up close.
5th and 6th floors of the West Yard. Hours 9am-9pm (last admission 8pm), 365 days a year. 2,050 yen for adults, 1,500 yen for high school age, 1,000 yen for junior high age.
The Tourist Service Center has tourist information in several languages for Solamachi and the SkyTree themselves and the surrounding area. The Center also offers a convenient pay-for baggage keep service, a post-it-home service, and even money exchange.
Block 8 on the 1st floor of the Central Yard of Solamachi. Hours: 9am-9pm (reception desk until 8pm).
The Tenku Planetarium is operated by imaging products manufacturer Konica Minolta, and screens educational and "healing" shows (evening shows that include aromatherapy) about the night skies. Free English audio guide available.
7th floor of the East Yard. 1,500 yen for the regular planetarium, 1,700 yen for the healing planetarium . Hourly shows starting at 10am, the final one starting at 9pm, ending at 10pm. Sister facility to the Manten Planetarium in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
The Postal Museum Japan in Solamachi tells the story of the postal service in Japan, so crucial to Japan's birth as a modern nation, includes lots of weird and wonderful communications-related devices from the past, and has the largest collection of stamps in Japan, both from Japan and around the world. Regularly changing feature exhibitions.
Hours: and 10 am-5:30 pm (last entry 5 pm). 9th floor of the East Yard.
The Solamachi Dining SkyTree View is two floors of sky-high restaurants on the 30th and 31st floors of the East Yard offering the best views of Tokyo you can hope for over your choice of cuisine.
Hours: mostly 11 am-11 pm (last orders 10 pm or 10:30 pm).
Solamachi Sections
The following is Solamachi in more detail. Tokyo Solamachi has over 300 stores and attractions arranged in three sections: the 5-story West Yard, the 3-story Tower Yard, and the 31-story East Yard. The Tower Yard is the central section housing the Tokyo Skytree itself, and is flanked by the East and West Yards. You can walk from Yard to Yard on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.
West Yard Highlights
Station Street (written "St. Street") (1F)
Station Street is the entrance to Solamachi from the train. Ice cream, convenience stores, waffles and pancakes, fabric accessories, lifestyle and fashion accessories, confectionery, cafes, doughnuts, ATMs.
Food Marche: almost 40 food stores and delicatessens selling snacks, confectionery, pre-cooked and pre-packed foodstuffs, with an accent on local favorites (2F)
Solamachi TabeTerrace restaurants & cafes (3F)
Restaurant & cafe floor (4F)
TV character goods (4F)
Sumida Aquarium (5F 6F): holds over 10,000 marine creatures with the largest indoor tank in Japan
Tower Yard Highlights
Tourist Service Center (1F)
SkyTree Shop (1F)
Food Marche: about 20 food stores selling snacks, confectionery, pre-cooked and pre-packed foodstuffs (2F)
Entrance to SkyTree Tower (4F)
East Yard Highlights
Solamachi Shotengai (Solamachi Shopping Street) (1F) Bakeries, boutiques, chocolate, light meals and snack foods (including traditional Japanese), novelty goods, Japanese souvenirs, interior accessories, jewelry, Japanese character goods shops, florists, confectionery, and more.
Fashion stores (2F, 3F)
Japanese souvenirs (4F)
Japan Experience Zone (5F): hands-on displays by various Japanese corporations
Solamachi Dining: about 30 establishments offering a wide variety of cuisines, 11 am-11 pm (last orders 10 pm or 10:30 pm) (6F, 7F). Includes the "World Beer Museum," (7F, restaurant/pub) 11 am-11 pm (last orders 10 pm)
"Tenku" Planetarium, 10 am-10 pm (7F)
Postal Museum Japan, 10 am-5:30 pm (last entry 5 pm) (9F): offers a collection of stamps from around the world and explores the history of Japan's postal service
Solamachi Dining SkyTree View (30F, 31F): restaurants offering a superb (free) view of Tokyo, mostly 11 am-11 pm (last orders 10 pm or 10:30 pm).
Shopping at Tokyo Solamachi
Tokyo Sky Tree souvenirs
Solamachi Hours
Solamachi opens much later than the Skytree tower itself (which opens at 8 am and closes at 10 pm).
Solamachi Hours: B3F-5F 10 am-9 pm; 6F·7F 11 am-11 pm; 30F·31F Solamachi Dining SkyTree View: 11 am-11 pm
Access - Getting to Tokyo Solamachi
From the Asakusa district of Tokyo, Solamachi and the Tokyo SkyTree are a 20 minute walk - or one train stop - away, across the Sumida River.
By train, Solamachi at Tokyo Sky Tree can be accessed from two stations:
-Tokyo Sky Tree Station Station (formerly Narihirabashi Station) on the Tobu Skytree Line. (The Tobu Skytree Line starts at the previous stop, Asakusa Station, and goes to Tobu-Dobutsu-Koen Station in Saitama, where its name then changes to the Tobu Isesaki line until the terminal Isesaki Station in Gunma Prefecture.)
-Oshiage Station on the Hanzomon Subway Line, the Asakusa Subway Line and the Keisei Oshiage Line. (The Keisei Oshiage Line is a short, six-station line connecting Oshiage Station in Sumida ward with Aoto Station in Katsushika, a little further north-east.)
From Tokyo Station ride the Marunouchi Line to Otemachi and change to the Hanzomon Line for Oshiage Station. Journey time is around 16 minutes.
Tokyo Solamachi illuminated at night
There are buses to Tokyo Sky Tree from Tokyo Station (30 minutes), Ueno Station (30 minutes), Haneda Airport (1 hour) and Tokyo Disneyland (45 minutes).
Tokyo Solamachi (tokyo-solamachi.jp - official website in Japanese, Chinese, Korean & English)
1-1-2 Oshiage, Sumida, Tokyo 131-004
Tel: 0570 550 102
Sky Tree Video
Watch a YouTube video of the SkyTree while it was still under construction.
