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Special ward in Tokyo, Japan
Photo: Luka Peternel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
From the travel guide. Select a place for details, a map and what is nearby.
雑司が谷霊園 Zōshigaya-reien
The final resting place of Lafcadio Hearn is about the most exciting attraction in this neck of the woods.
高岩寺
This small temple in Sugamo is known for two statues: Togenuki Jizō, who heals sick children, and the boddhisattva Kannon, who will cure your pains if you wash themagical appropriate part of the statue. More morbidly, you can also pray to Kannon for a swift and painless death, so you will not be a burden to your relatives in your old age. Visitors pray Enmei Jizōson for their health too. The way to pray is unusual. People drink a small Japanese paper. A small picture of a stone statue of Enmei Jizōson is drawn on it.
妙行寺
According to legend, the grave of Lady Oiwa (Oiwa-san) in Yotsuya Kaidan, Japan's best-known ghost story and a direct inspiration for the Ring horror movies, is in this temple. In a nutshell, the beautiful Oiwa was disfigured, divorced and killed, and then comes back to haunt the people who wronged her.
本妙寺
This temple is known for a fire called Meireki-no-Taika, an inferno 400 years ago which killed over 100,000 people. It is said that this fire broke out in Honmyōji. There are also some tombs of famous people in this temple. A Japanese swordman Chiba Shūsaku and a political office leader Tōyama Kinshirō, for example.
法明寺
Famous Japanese temple built in 810. Features the statue of Kishimojin (鬼子母神像) who is a Japanese God of fertility. Visitors go to Hōmyōji to pray for their children's birth, growth and security. The Kishimojin figure typically take the form of the devil, but this statue holds a baby, and the figure is beautiful. In this temple the Oeshiki-Taisai festival (御会式大祭) is held from October 16 to October 18 every year.
Sunshine 60 was once the tallest building in Japan and it remains the most prominent building within the Sunshine City complex. The surrounding Sunshine City complex includes shops, restaurants, an aquarium, and an observatory at the top of the Sunshine 60 building.
東京芸術劇場
Offers various exhibits and concerts behind the impressive glass facade.
ショヒド・ミナール
A beautiful monument, symbolizing love to the mother language. It is based on the mother language movement, that originated in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1952, followed by the UNESCO declaration of International Mother Language Day (21 February). It was a present from Bangladesh to the Japanese people, in 2005, recognizing Tokyo Boishakhi Mela (Bangladesh New Year Festival), organized every year in mid April, by Japan Bangladesh Society.
いけふくろう
A statue of an owl (fukurō) near the east exit. Many people use this as a meeting spot.
ナンジャタウンホーム
The Namja Town has many attractions. For example there are some Japanese style haunted houses, interactive 1964 shooting games, egg-raising game (the whole process is quite similar to raising a child, where you will need to take the egg to toilets, restaurants, and hospitals, until after a certain point. Then you can take the eggs to play games. This is quite a 'couply' game to do). And there are big food shops: the gyoza stadium, the ice cream city, and the dessert empire of Tokyo. The ¥3,900 "Namja Passport" tickets (¥3,300 for under 18) admits you to 14 attractions and the food shops. Night passport, which you can get for ¥2,500 (¥2,000 for under 18), is available after 17:00. But if you want to visit the food shops only, you buy the ¥300 "Namja Entry" tickets. The attractions cost from ¥600 to ¥1000 each.
満天
There is a planetarium called Manten (meaning "full sky") in Sunshine City. This planetarium shows three types of programs and repeats them in a day. These three types of programs are called The Planetarium Program, The CG Planetarium Program, The Healing Program. The Planetarium Program shows some themes of programs with Japanese famous musicians. The CG Planetarium Program shows science programs. The Healing Program shows are more intended for relaxing to. Some aromas are changed when scenes are changed. These programs are changed regularly.
Lots of new anime/manga-related merchandise.
Good selection of anime, manga, and posters.
One of the Mandarake chain of used anime/manga goods stores, the Ikebukuro branch specializes in doujinshi, in particular doujinshi for girls.
古奈屋
The original shop of restaurant chain renowned for its curry udon noodles. The noodles are cut by hand, the special curry stock is brewed for two days, and ¥1210 will get you some mighty fine tasting udon.
ファイト餃子
Famous for deep-fried gyoza. So many people stand in a line in front of the restaurant.
蒼天
High-end yakitori. Five stick set from around ¥1,600. Do try the chicken sashimi--outside the comfort zone for many visitors, but you may be pleasantly surprised. Extensive selection of nihonshu featuring Kozaemon. Its website has some English info.
Urban Japanese keep their grocery stores beneath their department stores. If you go to the B1 and B2 levels of the massive stores flanking the Ikebukuro station, you will find endless acres of raw and prepared food. Buy a bunch and take it back to your hotel fridge.
Down Sunshine-Dori on the way to Sunshine 60, on the left, there's a Shakey's Pizza. There are lunchtime buffets with great pizza the way only Japanese like to serve it.
ギオットーネ
Excellent pasta and salads, in portions that are ample for two. The crab spaghetti is very popular. No non-smoking tables.
マレーチャン
A small Malaysian restaurant on the west side of the train/subway station that is a little hard to find. Halal food.
無敵家
Good ramen.
A halal supermarket and restaurant that sells halal food, including vegetarian curries. The store also conveniently has a bollywood-movie section.
Namja Town has some big food shops in Sunshin City– the gyoza studium, the ice cream city, and the dessert empire of Tokyo. Gyoza is a kind of Japanese food. The gyoza stadium collects gyozas of many famous gyoza restaurants in Japan. The ice cream city collects many kinds of ice creams in the world. The dessert empire of Tokyo collects some famous cakes. And it has events regularly. For example many kinds of pudding were collected before. Namja Town is exhilarating but incomprehensible if you don't speak Japanese. In the ice cream section, for example, there is a shop selling over 100 varieties of ice cream in single-serving cups, almost none of which have a single non-Japanese word on the label. Still, it's easy to try various gyoza by pointing at picture menus.
Opened in 2008, one of Tokyo's largest open-air-terrace cafes with easy-going and relaxed style located at 1st floor of "Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro" which welcomes guests from over 110 countries every year. International atmosphere with 60 beers from around the world from ¥550, monthly changing snacks and meals from ¥300 also from a wide variety of countries, and coffee for ¥180.
Various rooms are good for groups and private. All staff speak English.
貴美旅館
This friendly if very tourist-oriented minshuku (no, it's not a ryokan) is an excellent option for first time travelers to Tokyo. It is reasonably priced (¥4500) and has English speaking staff. A nice way to spend your first night on a tatami.
ホテルメトロポリタン東京池袋
A short walk away from Ikebukuro station, a decent 4-star hotel with nice, clean rooms and friendly staff who mostly speak fluent English. Limousine bus services are available to both Narita and Haneda airports.
第一イン池袋
A 1-minute walk from the station (take East Exit), right across from the back of Parco. In-room broadband internet, massage service, 24-hour convenience store, and many other amenities. TV channel list includes CNN. Some of the staff speak near-fluent English, others not so much.
The staff don't speak English very well.
アパホテル東京板橋駅前
This three-star hotel is near the Itabshi Station, 3 min to Ikebukuro and 8 min to Shinjuku.
This discount retailer's flagship store on the east side of the station, with several branches nearby.
ジュンク堂
A 9-story bookstore (top floor has English titles).
巣鴨
Popularly known as "Grandma's Harajuku" (obaachan no Harajuku), and indeed most shops in the area do seem targeted towards an older clientèle. For the (rare) tourist, however, this means a plentiful supply of tea, pottery, kitchen implements and clothes in styles that went out of fashion 50 years ago. The area is at its liveliest on the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month when a street market is held.
丸治
Probably the most famous and successful shop in Sugamo, Maruji specializes in one thing: red underwear (赤パンツ aka-pantsu). By energizing a pressure point below your navel, Maruji's crimson panties, boxers and long-johns will keep you warm and fill you with vigor — or so they say.
By train
Ikebukuro is served by the JR Yamanote, Saikyo and Shonan-Shinjuku lines.
By subway
The Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line starts here, and the Yurakucho Line for Ginza, Shin-Kiba and Wakoshi stops here.
The Toden Arakawa line (aka Sakura Tram), the last streetcar line in Tokyo, putters through Toshima starting from Waseda University (just across the ward border with Shinjuku), through Zoshigaya, Otsuka, and all the way…
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