With the opening of Tokyo Skytree in 2012, the commercial shopping center Tokyo Solamachi created to provide shopping for people visiting the area.
With over 300 shops, Tokyo Skytree, an aquarium, planetarium, museum and restaurants and shopping galore, it is no doubt a major tourist destination.
For more information on Tokyo Skytree, please visit my blog post.
Tokyo Solamachi opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 8:00 p.m. (restaurants on floors 6, 7, 30 and 31 are open at 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.).
The location also offers wheelchair rentals, strollers and coin-operated lockers. And for new mothers, there is also a nursing room and for smokers, a smoking area.
For foreigners, the location offers coin lockers, ID photo booth, pay phones and also foreign currency exchange on the 1st floor in block 7.
The shopping/commercial facility is right next to Tokyo Skytree. As the first floor features the Solamachi Shotengai shopping district which offers 35 food shops, stores and cafe, floor two features the Food Marche (a kitchen that sells fresh produce and deli dishes plus limited edition sweets) and Ladies Fashion stores, floor three offers the Solamachi Tabe-Terrace (where people can enjoy a variety of food from Japanese, western and Chinese), fashion stores and goods, floor four features restaurants and Japanese souvenirs (specialty stores designed based on the theme of oodana merchant stores), floor five features the Sumida Aquarium and Japan Experience Zone. Floor six features Solamachi dining, floor seven with the Planetarium “Tenku” and more Solamachi dining, floor 8 and 10 features stores that deal with life and culture, floor nine is the postal museum and floors 30-31 featuring Solamachi dining ala Skytree View (a closeup view of Skytree and is 150m above ground and features high -quality restaurants). Click here for floor map.
Restaurants include Starbucks, McDonalds, Tully’s Coffee, Max Brenner, KFC, Cold Stone Creamery and more.
Shopping centers include Uniqlo, ZARA, Disney, diesel, Loft, Fred Perry, Onitsuka Tiger, Urban Research, Jump Shop, Medicom Toy, hello Kitty and more.
The center offers free wi-fi service in Tokyo Skytree Town.
In fact, you can access it and find the SSID: TOBU_Free_Wi-Fi. It will take you to the NTTBP page where you register, confirm via e-mail and then can access the Internet for free.
Overall, while one can easily call Tokyo Solamachi a shopping center, it’s more than that. The way they integrate so much to bring tourism, to bring families, to have shops that cater to all sort of niche, makes the shopping center worth visiting.
For my visit, I was there for several hours and I purchased gifts at the Hello Kitty Japan store (4F Block 9), as the place sells limited edition Tokyo Skytree Sanrio products. Also, for Rilakkuma fans, there is a Rilakkuma store (3F Block 3) which sells limited edition Rilakkuma Tokyo Skytree plush dolls.
But a popular area is the Donguri Kyowakoku store (2F Block 12) which sells goods from Studio Ghibli films including “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “Spirited Away” and more. And while not a LEGO product, there is a nanoblock store (4F Block 10) which sells a nanoblock Tokyo Skytree, that many collectors tend to go for.
As for restaurants, I recommend Tamahide Ichino (7F Block 11) which sells the “Iki” Oyakodon and Arizuki (31F Block 12) which sells the popular Tempura Tower Set.
It’s important to note that the Sumida Aquarium opens at 9:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. and costs Y2,050.
The Konica Minolta Planetarium opens at 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. on the weekdays and on weekends and holidays, opens at 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and costs Y1,200.
The Postal Museum Japan opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m. (last admission is at 5:00 p.m.) and cost Y300.
If you are heading to Sumida, Tokyo, I definitely recommend reserving your morning for Tokyo Skytree and then the rest of the day at Tokyo Solamachi and nearby areas. There is just so much to see at this location that it’s worth setting out a day activity and night activity at this location alone.
