Higashi Ikebukuro

Higashi Ikebukuro Station is located on the Yurakucho subway line in east Ikebukuro, a short distance from the main Ikebukuro Station.

Ikebukuro is located in Toshima Ward of Tokyo. It is one of the city's several downtown areas rivaling Ginza, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Asakusa. Ikebukuro is divided into the east side and the west side by the main Ikebukuro Station. The west side is a cultural and an educational area with the Rikkyo (St. Paul's) University, the Jiyu Gakuen Academy Hall, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space located on this side. It is said that the educational climate of this area is a leftover from the Taisho era (1911-1925), the period that saw the strengthening and advancement of Japan's educational system.

In contrast, the east side of Ikebukuro is the shopping and entertainment side with several large shopping stores, amusement spots, movie theaters, karaoke houses, and other large scale business names located here. Higashi (meaning ‘east') Ikebukuro Station is located in this area a short distance from the East Exit of the main Ikebukuro Station.

Some places of interest in Higashi (East) Ikebukuro are:

Sunshine City

Sunshine City is located just 3 minutes walk from Higashi Ikebukuro Station. Opened in 1978, the Sunshine City complex is the oldest of Tokyo's “city within a city”. The site was formerly occupied by the Tokyo (Sugamo) Prison, where General Tojo and many of the major war criminals from World War II were executed. Today the complex houses one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, along with hundreds of shops, a theater, a museum, an aquarium, a planetarium, an indoor theme park, exhibition halls, a culture center, restaurants and a Prince Hotel among other things.

The Sunshine City complex consists of 5 buildings – Sunshine 60, Bunka Kaikan, World Import Mart, Shopping Center "ALPA", and a hotel.

Sunshine 60 : The Sunshine 60 Building is a 60-story building at one end of Sunshine City. At its completion in 1978, Sunshine 60 was the tallest building in Japan until 1991 when the title was taken over by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Offices and shops are located on all the floors of this 240-meter-high building, topping with the Observation Deck on the 60 th floor.

The Observation Deck is located on the top floor of the Sunshine 60 Building. People are treated to a 360 degree panorama of the city from the Deck, which also boasts of an open air "sky deck". On the days when the weather is clear, you may even get to watch Mt. Fuji. The elevator that goes up to the Observation Deck is the fastest in the world and takes only thirty five seconds to complete the journey from ground level to the top.

Bunka Kaikan : Also called the Culture Center , the Bunka Kaikan Building of the Sunshine City houses the Ancient Orient Museum, the Sunshine Theater, and exhibition halls besides offices and shops.

The Ancient Orient Museum , located on the 7 th floor of the Bunka Kaikan Building, is a small private museum specializing in artifacts of the ancient Near East and Central Asia. The museum was opened in 1978 with the aim to introducing the ancient civilization of the region to the people of Tokyo. It houses several relics such as charms and accessories of the ancient orient, Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and art objects from Persia and Palmyra. Other attractions at the museum include a slide show of the actual excavations on the Euphrates River, an informative video on Palmyra, and close-up and special exhibitions of rare items. Besides the displays, the museum also conducts research activities on history, archaeology, and art history. There is also a small museum shop which sells items such as pendants and tie pins with designs from ancient Athenian coins. 

World Import Mart : The World Import Mart Building is a third building in the Sunshine City complex. Besides offices and shops, the building houses the main attractions of the Sunshine International Aquarium, the Sunshine Starlight Dome, and the Namco Namja Town.

The Sunshine International Aquarium , said to be the world's highest aquarium, is located on the 10 th floor of the World Import Mart Building. More than 20,000 fish and animals, including dolphins, octopuses, eels, piranhas, sea horses, sea otters, seals, giant crabs, and other rare and weird species of fish are housed here. There are also seal performances and penguins' pool shows on Sundays and holidays.

The Sunshine Starlight Dome , a planetarium , is also located on the 10 th floor of the World Import Mart Building. The planetarium is equipped with the digital image system SKYMAX, which gives the feeling of being right in the middle of stars. More than 400,000 fixed stars are projected onto the dome, while special programs, like a footage on the Aurora Borealis, are shown on a rotating basis.

The Namco Namja Town is an indoor theme park located on the 2 nd and 3 rd floors of the World Import Mart Building. Namja Town, owned by Namco, the creator of Pacman and many other arcade games and leisure products, is Japan's largest indoor theme park. It consists of five “towns”, including three based on food; recreations of Tokyo alleys and streets of the 1950's and 1960's; and 24 fascinating attractions and fun games. The three food-based theme parks at Namja Town are Ice Cream City (consists of ten different ice cream stores, selling countless types of ice cream), Gyoza Stadium (features many different goyoza dishes by famous restaurants from across Japan), and Chou Cream (sells a large variety of Chou Creams).

Toyota Amlux

Toyota Amlux is a 5-story Toyota showroom located across the street from the Sunshine City complex. This state-of-the-art showroom exhibits about 70 cars, including new models of car, sports cars and original concept cars. The showroom is designed in such a way that visitors can enjoy cars from many different angles.

Besides the cars, Amlux also offers other attractions such as original games, theaters, a test drive corner of the currently popular cars, and a café.

Nekobukuro

Located on the top floor of the Tokyu Hands building a short walking distance from Sunshine City, Nekobukuro is a cat amusement park/mini theme park. There are about 20 cats of different breeds at Nekubukuro who roam about freely and people can pet or play with them. The walls are fitted with shelves and boxes, and all sorts of cat furniture are placed in the rooms for the cats to jump on and take naps. There is also an overhead plank spanning two rooms for the cats to run around on and hide. While the common breeds move around and play freely, the rare ones like the Sphinx and Maine coon are kept in display areas behind glass. 

Nekobukuro attracts over 400 visitors each weekend. Weekday visitors include neighborhood office workers and shoppers from Tokyu Hands who drop in for short breaks. Most of the visitors are cat lovers who for some reason or another cannot keep cats as pets. Nekobukuro gives them an opportunity to cuddle and pet them. There's an entry fee of 600 yens.