Kabukicho Tower is supposed to be a landmark for the neighborhood, but we sat more employees than customers on our recent weekday afternoon visit.
About two and a half years ago, the 48-floor Kabukicho Tower opened in downtown Tokyo. Located in the Kabukicho area of the Shinjuku neighborhood, not far from Shinjuku Station, the busiest rail hub in the world, the intent was clearly for the 225-meter (738-foot) tall skyscraper to become a landmark symbol of the district, with numerous dining and entertainment options inside.
Upon its opening in April of 2023, Kabukicho Tower had plenty of visitors and attention, and given its location, you might expect it to be constantly crowded. Those were the conditions we were braced for when we decided to go check on the place on a recent weekday afternoon…
…but when we got to the entrance, there was no throng of people trying to get in, just a single person taking he escalator up to the main entrance, which is situated a little above street-level.
This entrance leads into the Shinjuku Kabbuki Hall, a food court that takes inspiration from a yokocho, an old-school alleyway with casual eateries.
But when we stepped inside, the place was practically deserted.
It was so empty that, looking at these photos, you might think the restaurants aren’t open yet, but we took them right after noon, and they were open for lunch.
We wondered if there were bigger crowds of people seated further back…
…but nope. Despite having seating for 1,300 people, we saw only five groups of diners. Even though it was the lunch hour, restaurant employees far outnumbered customers.
The contrast between the bright and colorful storefronts and the emptiness of the seats was slightly unsettling, giving off vibes a little like the opening scene of Spirited Away, and we made a mental note to call our parents later and make sure they hadn’t been turned into pigs.
And yet, the food court had infinitely many times more customers than the next floor of Kabuki Tower did on this afternoon.
There’s an arcade with an attached cafe/snack bar on the third floor, and it was completely devoid of customers.
For a moment, we thought we’d spotted a group of friends standing by the window…
…but when we got closer, we found out that it was actually a set of character standees for anime franchise Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
▼ So really, they’re closer to employees than visitors.
Next, we took the elevator up to the 109 Cinemas Premium movie theater on the ninth floor. Customers were sparse here too, with only about a half-dozen moviegoers. Heading higher still, we arrived at the outdoor terrace of the Jam 17 area, on the 17th floor, where we saw some very nice views of downtown Tokyo, but not a single other visitor.
▼ Oure reporter Ahiruneko snapping a selfie, because there was no one else around to take the picture for him
So why was Kabukicho Tower so empty? Here are a couple theories. First, and most obviously, this was a weekday afternoon, when an entertainment complex would logically be at its least crowded. We’re sure the turnout is better at night and on weekends, especially for the food court, since it also serves alcoholic drinks. That said, Kabukicho Tower is still in one of the most bustling neighborhoods of the city. Between all the nearby offices that are within lunch-break distance of the building, people with a weekday day off, and the number of both domestic and foreign tourists that Shinjuku draws, we’d expected a lot more people than this.
Part of the issue could be the mix of dining and entertainment options Kabuki Tower offers. Despite its yokocho inspirations, the food court’s decor is definitely on the gaudy side, and arguably winds up looking closer to what foreign tourists envision when they think of Japan than an authentic Japanese restaurant row. While that may not be something that locals would be offended by, it’s still kind of a visual message that the food’s flavors, and prices, could be oriented towards inbound overseas tourists, so nearby office workers might think they can get something less expensive and better suited to their preferences by grabbing lunch elsewhere in the neighborhood, since there’s no shortage of restaurants in Shinjuku.
As for the arcade, it also might have a bit of an identity crisis. Some of its machines are music/rhythm games or Gundam competitive games, which are much more popular with Japanese gamers than overseas visitors. Then there are gacha capsule toy machines and crane games, which are popular with locals and tourists alike. However, since the arcade doesn’t have all that much floor space, there isn’t such an extensive selection of any one category of machines, which can make the place feel a little underwhelming for everyone. Regarding the movie theater, while foreign movies in Japan are shown with their original-language dialogue accompanied by Japanese subtitles, most tourists aren’t going to spend their time in Tokyo watching movies they could see once they get back to their home country, so the theater’s appeal is going to be more for Japanese customers.
Putting all that together, it could be that Kabukicho Tower’s food court and arcade feel a little too foreign touristy for locals, while at the same time the building doesn’t feel sufficiently unique enough for foreign tourists to draw them in large numbers.
Finally, there’s Kabukicho Tower’s location. Yes, it is in a lively part of Tokyo that has a ton of foot traffic, and is conveniently close to Shinjuku Station, one of the most useful train and subway hubs in the city. However, Kabukicho, for several decades, hasn’t had a particularly good reputation.
To many Japanese people, “Kabukicho” immediately brings up images of host/hostess clubs, shady massage parlors, and rip-off bars that may or may not be run by the yakuza. Yes, the neighborhood has been cleaned up somewhat in recent years, particularly the street that offers the view of the life-size Godzilla head coming out of a different skyscraper. However, Kabukico Tower is just about on the edge of the sanitized part of the district. Wander much past it, and things start to get seedy again, and not too far beyond it is one of Tokyo’s most well-known street prostitution gathering spots.
That cuts off a lot of potential foot traffic to Kabukicho Tower from its backside, since those are streets that some upstanding citizens don’t want to be walking through. Even when approaching the building’s front-entrance side, visitors still have to walk through the adjacent plaza, in which teenagers squatting or sprawled in states of inebriation from various substances aren’t an uncommon sight, something rare pretty much everywhere else in Tokyo. Though this is more of an issue at night than in the day, the plaza’s image likely keeps Kabukicho Tower out of the candidate list in the minds of some people looking for the good, clean fun of a food court meal or crane game session. There’s also the fact that because of how densely developed the area is, even though Kabukicho Tower is close to Shunjuku Station, to get there you first have to walk past several other shopping/dining/arcade complexes in parts of Shinjuku with nicer reputations than Kabukicho.
▼ The most common walking route from Shinjuku Station to Kabukicho Tower
We should clarify that Kabukicho Tower itself is neither dangerous nor skeezy. Taking into account the overall reputation of the Kabukuicho neighborhood, the building’s muddled mix of touristy and local-oriented attractions, and entertainment alternatives that are even more conveniently located, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the place is so empty on a weekday afternoon, and honestly, if you’re looking for a relaxing atmosphere in what’s usually one of the most crowded and hectic part of Tokyo, Kabukicho Tower just might be the afternoon oasis for you.
Related: Kabukicho Tower official website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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