{"id":1990,"date":"2025-09-07T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T03:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1990"},"modified":"2025-09-07T20:00:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T03:00:46","slug":"why-is-this-entertainment-complex-skyscraper-in-tokyo-almost-deserted-in-the-afternoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1990","title":{"rendered":"Why is this entertainment complex skyscraper in Tokyo almost deserted in the afternoon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kabukicho Tower is supposed to be a landmark for the neighborhood, but we sat more employees than customers on our recent weekday afternoon visit<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

About two and a half years ago, the 48-floor Kabukicho Tower<\/strong> opened in downtown Tokyo. Located in the Kabukicho<\/strong> area of the Shinjuku<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2026but 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<\/strong>, which is situated a little above street-level.<\/p>\n

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This entrance leads into the Shinjuku Kabbuki Hall<\/strong>, a food court<\/strong> that takes inspiration from a yokocho, an old-school alleyway with casual eateries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But when we stepped inside, the place was practically deserted<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was so empty that, looking at these photos, you might think the restaurants aren\u2019t open yet, but we took them right after noon, and they were open for lunch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We wondered if there were bigger crowds of people seated further back\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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\u2026but 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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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<\/em>, and we made a mental note to call our parents later and make sure they hadn\u2019t been turned into pigs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And yet, the food court had infinitely many times more customers than the next floor of Kabuki Tower did on this afternoon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s an arcade with an attached cafe\/snack bar<\/strong> on the third floor, and it was completely devoid of customers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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For a moment, we thought we\u2019d spotted a group of friends standing by the window\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2026but when we got closer, we found out that it was actually a set of character standees for anime franchise Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u25bc So really, they\u2019re closer to employees than visitors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Next, we took the elevator up to the 109 Cinemas Premium movie theater<\/strong> on the ninth floor. Customers were sparse here too, with only about a half-dozen moviegoers.\u00a0Heading higher still, we arrived at the outdoor terrace of the Jam 17<\/strong> area, on the 17th floor, where we saw some very nice views of downtown Tokyo, but not a single other visitor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u25bc Oure reporter Ahiruneko snapping a selfie, because there was no one else around to take the picture for him<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So why was Kabukicho Tower so empty?<\/strong> 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\u2019re sure the turnout is better at night and on weekends, especially for the food court, since it also serves alcoholic drinks.\u00a0That 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\u2019d expected a lot more people than this.<\/p>\n

Part of the issue could be the mix of dining and entertainment options Kabuki Tower offers<\/strong>. Despite its yokocho inspirations, the food court\u2019s 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\u2019s still kind of a visual message that the food\u2019s 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\u2019s no shortage of restaurants in Shinjuku.<\/p>\n

As for the arcade, it also might have a bit of an identity crisis<\/strong>. Some of its machines are music\/rhythm games or Gundam<\/em> 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\u2019t have all that much floor space, there isn\u2019t 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\u2019t going to spend their time in Tokyo watching movies they could see once they get back to their home country, so the theater\u2019s appeal is going to be more for Japanese customers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Putting all that together, it could be that Kabukicho Tower\u2019s food court and arcade feel a little too foreign touristy for locals, while at the same time the building doesn\u2019t feel sufficiently unique enough for foreign tourists to draw them in large numbers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s Kabukicho Tower\u2019s location<\/strong>. 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\u2019t had a particularly good reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To many Japanese people, \u201cKabukicho\u201d 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<\/a>. 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\u2019s most well-known street prostitution gathering spots.<\/p>\n

That cuts off a lot of potential foot traffic to Kabukicho Tower from its backside, since those are streets that some upstanding citizens don\u2019t want to be walking through.\u00a0Even when approaching the building\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u25bc The most common walking route from Shinjuku Station to Kabukicho Tower<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

We should clarify that Kabukicho Tower itself is neither dangerous nor skeezy. Taking into account the overall reputation of the Kabukuicho neighborhood, the building\u2019s muddled mix of touristy and local-oriented attractions, and entertainment alternatives that are even more conveniently located, maybe we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that the place is so empty on a weekday afternoon, and honestly, if you\u2019re looking for a relaxing atmosphere in what\u2019s usually one of the most crowded and hectic part of Tokyo, Kabukicho Tower just might be the afternoon oasis for you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Related: Kabukicho Tower official website<\/a><\/em>
\nPhotos \u00a9SoraNews24<\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}