Namco Namja Town

35°43′45″N 139°43′5″E / 35.72917°N 139.71806°E / 35.72917; 139.71806

Sunshine City entrance
Sunshine City atrium

Sunshine City (サンシャインシティ, Sanshain Shiti) is a building complex located in East Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It has the 240-metre tall Sunshine 60 skyscraper at its centre.[1] Sunshine City consists of four buildings: Sunshine 60, the main and tallest building, which includes corporate offices as well as restaurants; the Prince Hotel; the World Import Mart; and the Bunka Kaikan building.[2] The complex sits on land that was once occupied by Sugamo Prison.[3]

The lower floors of the complex cater toward passerby and customers with a large shopping mall and numerous restaurants, while the higher floors tend to include corporate offices and hotel rooms. The complex, which was opened in 1978, contains numerous attractions including an observatory (observation deck) located at the top of Sunshine 60 called Sky Circus, the Ancient Orient Museum, an aquarium, a planetarium, the Prince Hotel, a Namco-run indoor amusement park, a convention centre, and a theatre.

When it was opened, Sunshine 60 office tower block was reputed to be the tallest building in Asia.[citation needed] It is an early example of a "city within a city", a self-contained area with places to live, work, and shop all within one area.[1]

Since Sunshine 60's Sky Circus observatory was opened, other observation decks have opened in Tokyo, such as at Roppongi and the Tokyo Government offices.[1]

Attractions

Ancient Orient Museum

Main article: Ancient Orient Museum

The Ancient Orient Museum (古代オリエント博物館, Kodai Oriento Hakubutsukan) is a small private museum in Sunshine City at the 7th floor of the Cultural Center (文化会館), specializing in artifacts of the ancient Near East and Central Asia. It has a collection of Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and several pieces pertaining to the art of Palmyra and Persia.

Namco Namja Town

Namco Namja Town entrance

Namco Namja Town (ナムコナンジャータウン lit. Namuko Nanjā Taun) is an indoor theme park in the second floor of the Sunshine City shopping complex.[4] The park was opened in 1996 by Namco, a Japanese company best known for producing video games, although the park itself does not completely focus on those games. Instead, it features themed dining, carnival-style games, a haunted house, and a line of character mascots exclusive to the park. Various promotions related to video games exist as well, often on a rotating basis. Namco developed two games based on the park; the first of which, Nakavu no Daiboken: My Favorite Namja Town, was released in 2000 for the PlayStation in Japan only, while a second game, simply titled Namja Town, was released for iOS in the early 2010s.

Namco also ran J-World Tokyo, a manga-themed park which opened in 2013 on the third floor immediately above Namja Town.[1] J-World Tokyo closed on February 17, 2019 due to poor attendance.[5]

Sunshine City Prince Hotel

Sunshine City Prince Hotel was opened in 1980 (renovated in 1996) by Prince Hotel on the grounds of Sunshine City. Until the restructuring of the Seibu Group in March 2006, Seibu Railway, Kokudo, and other companies owned the Prince Hotel building, but this was the only property directly owned by Prince Hotel (the former company).

In 2007 (Heisei 19), the banquet halls on the 2nd and 3rd floors were closed and the head office of Prince Hotel Co., Ltd. moved to the former site, which will be used as a research facility after the head office relocates back to Diamond Gate Ikebukuro in 2019 (Heisei 31). In 2007, Trianon, a restaurant operated by the hotel on the 59th floor of Sunshine 60, and Windsor, the main bar on the first floor of the hotel, were also closed, and a Family Mart is now located on the site of Windsor.

The hotel underwent a four-year renovation starting in 2015 (Heisei 27), and in addition to the renovation of all guest room floors, a concept floor "IKEPRI 25" will be launched on April 6, 2019 (Heisei 31) on the 25th floor, targeting subculture fans, mainly anime and manga from Japan and abroad [12].[6] In conjunction with this, on July 15, 2016 (Heisei 28), the lobby lounge on the first floor was renovated into the "Chef's Palette" cafe and dining room, and the all-day dining function was transferred from the "Bayern" buffet restaurant on the basement floor. will no longer be open for breakfast, and "Bavaria" will once again become an all-day dining restaurant.[7]

  • Exterior view of Sunshine City Prince Hotel
    Exterior view of Sunshine City Prince Hotel
  • Entrance and Exit of Sunshine City Prince Hotel
    Entrance and Exit of Sunshine City Prince Hotel


Sunshine Aquarium

Sunshine City, Tokyo
Sunshine Aquarium
Date openedOctober 1978 (1978-10)
LocationToshima, Tokyo
Land area7,765 m2 (83,580 sq ft)
No. of animals23,000
No. of species550
Volume of largest tank240,000 litres (63,000 US gal)
Total volume of tanks770,000 litres (203,000 US gal)
Annual visitors2.24 million (2018)
MembershipsJAZA[8]
Major exhibitsSunshine lagoon
Websitehttps://en.nixe.co.jp/
Main tanks ”Sunshine lagoon”

Sunshine City World Import Mart is home to Japan's first rooftop public aquarium, which opened in October 1978. It is operated by Sunshine Enterprises, Inc. Formerly known as Sunshine International Aquarium. The aquarium was closed for one year from September 1, 2010 for a full renovation, and reopened on August 4, 2011.

Sunshine Aquarium is an aquarium located on the top three floors and rooftop of the World Import Mart building in Sunshine City. It features around 80 tanks with 37,000 fish representing 750 species. The Aquarium was renovated and updated in 2011.[9][1]

Compared to a regular aquarium, it has a smaller floor area, and its location on the top floor and roof of the Sunshine Building makes it difficult to renovate on a large scale due to weight restrictions, so overall it is a small aquarium. Sunshine Coral Reef, the first permanent reproduction of a coral reef environment in Japan, Great white pelicans and Baikal seals, and the Zoo-Zoo House, which focuses on land animals. The Sunshine Lagoon is a facility where visitors can observe a variety of creatures and experience elaborate events. Visitors can feed the carnivorous fish arowana and dorado, watch sea lion show divers and zebra sharks dance, and experience backyard feeding. They also focus on breeding large fish such as shark ray and sunfish.

The site received TripAdvisor's "Certificate of Excellence" in 2015.[10]

On January 7, 2016, a female Russian sea otter, Mir, died of lymphoma, and a male otter, Royce, who had come from Adventure World to breed with Mir, was also relocated to the Toba Aquarium, bringing the curtain down on the 30-year history of the otter exhibit on February 29.[11][12]

On July 12, 2017, the outdoor area "Marine Garden" was reopened. Five new exhibits were introduced: "Penguins in the Sky," "Penguins in the Meadow," "Otters in the Water," "Sparkling Fountain," and "Sky Pass."The "Penguins in the Sky" exhibit is located on the rooftop and gives the impression of flying over the city..[13]

On July 9, 2020, the new jellyfish area "Kaigetsu Kukan" opened.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Tokyo Travel: Ikebukuro". www.japan-guide.com.
  2. ^ "Floor map". Sunshine City. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  3. ^ "Ikebukuro". Tokyo Essentials. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
  4. ^ "Search Results for "namja town" – Appetite For Japan". appetiteforjapan.com. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  5. ^ "J-World Tokyo, the Manga and Anime Theme Park, is Closing". 4 December 2018.
  6. ^ コンセプトフロア「IKEPRI 25」 2019年4月6日（土）にオープン オープニングコンテンツ 「Fate/Grand Order」のフロア詳細・販売期間が決定 - プリンスホテル 2019年2月25日（2019年3月24日閲覧）
  7. ^ "朝食会場のご案内" (PDF). サンシャインシティプリンスホテル. 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  8. ^ "List of Aquariums" (PDF). jazga.or.jp. Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Retrieved 12 June 2010.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Sunshine Aquarium".
  10. ^ "トリップアドバイザー「2015年 エクセレンス認証（Certificate of Excellence）」を受賞！". サンシャイン水族館. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  11. ^ "３０年のラッコ展示に幕 ２９日サンシャイン水族館 "草食化"と規制で国内頭数激減". 産経新聞社. 2016-02-27. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  12. ^ "サンシャイン水族館 ラッコ展示終了のお知らせ" (PDF). サンシャインシティ. 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  13. ^ "空飛ぶペンギンを見た! サンシャイン水族館に世界初の新展示エリアが登場". マイナビニュース. 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-10-02.

External links

Media related to Sunshine City, Tokyo at Wikimedia Commons