Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo

We came to the Sunshine City mall specifically to visit the Pokemon Center. What an incredible amount of Pokemon stuff! They have so much Pokemon stuff! Even stuff you didn’t know existed! Stuff like Pokemon Chopsticks, Pokemon lunch boxes, and more! They also have some awesome statues of Mega Charizard X and Y as well as Mega Mewtwo and Mega Lucario. The prices are pretty much what I expected, some stuff is REALLY pricey while other things are more reasonable. It was cool to wander through the store while Pokemon music from the original game boy games were playing. Pokemon recently celebrated their 20^th anniversary so they still had some anniversary items but not many.
The only gripe I had was there was some wasted space where they could add more stuff. Also if you see youtube videos of the place please note that their stock is always changing. I saw some cool pikachu backpacks in a youtube video that were not available when I was there, which sucked since I wanted to get one for my niece. Still the selection is incredible and I found alot of cool stuff I didn’t see in videos. Be careful coming here, pokemon has a way of separating you from your money. (Pokemon used nostalgia! It’s Super Effective!) We spent way more than we had told ourselves we would.

For fans of the Pokemon series the Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro stands as a magical gateway to the black and white (or Red and Blue) Game Boy fuelled adventures of our youth (there I go, showing my age). Really it’s just a shop but for those of us who grew up on the series prepare to be transported to a rainbow paradise of cuteness almost too overwhelming to be real.
Scattered throughout the Pokemon Center (which, I can’t stress enough, is really just a shop) are numerous Pokemon plushies, stationary, cell phone hangers, sweet treats and various other character goods. The prices aren’t great but some items are rare Pokemon Center exclusives and all items at completely and totally adorable.
A side note: one of my favourite things to do in Japan is shop based raffles. Generally they’re very fair (you actually have a REAL chance to win the top prize!), cheap (normally around 500 yen) and give you an opportunity to win rare, interesting and cute prizes. I was extremely fortunate with the Pokemon Center raffle in that I won both the very best prize (the rare pikachu plus another free entry) and the best prize (another rare pikachu). This is a prime example of how fair these raffles are. They are also great ways to pick up goods for a lot cheaper than it would normally cost.
Have I mentioned that this is, really, JUST A SHOP. And an expensive one at that. Like many things in Japan it’s an experience that only the fans will truly enjoy, especially enough to ignore the strain on their hip pocket it will inevitably provide.

Part of a large shopping center. Wish there were games or things to do. It’s basically a store with tons of Pokemon toys for sale. Great for little ones who still like stuffed animals.

Not a bad spot to grab some rather unique Pokemon items but not as good as their original location near Hamamatuscho. This location is a bit out of the way but has literally everything Pokemon that you never needed or always wanted lol. If Pokemon is your thing, then this place is an absolute must visit.

I thought this place would be reminiscent of a Pokemon center from the Animé or even the games. Alas, it’s only «center» in name.
Finding this place was not as easy as the picture map I found online. Totally not to scale and a further walk than I anticipated. But once inside Sunshine City… It wasn’t too hard to find– there are maps by the escalators.
As for merchandise I was hoping for more from the original 150. 70% is newer Poke’mon, 20% pikachu and 10% original 150. But the merchandise of the original Pokemon was not diverse and it was only the same 10 – 20 Poke’mon– mostly plushes. Lots and lots of plushes.
They do sell the Tomy figures for the avid Poke’mon figurine collectors. They vary in price from ¥330 for the smaller ones to ¥2,000 for the larger one/​multi.
The line queue moved quickly and I wasn’t waiting too long. The bags are super cute so I asked for extra. For the fellow tourists. Asking for multiple bags is normal because who doesn’t want multiple cute design bags? They are also great for gifting souvenirs– omiyage!
I was hoping for more out of this location because it’s biggest poke’mon center in Tokyo, but it is what it is. Since I lost interest in Poke’mon after the 1^st new batch of poke’mon I didn’t know the names of any of the newer poke’mon. But if you’re up to date on your Poke knowledge. This is your place for poke’mon merch.

The Pokemon Center is self-​explanatory. It’s all things Pokemon! I’m not a huge fan, but love Pikachu for whatever reason. Haha. I came here to grab stuff for my little brothers since they grew up loving Pokemon.
The center has everything imaginable from various dolls, toys, games, cups, etc. They have the most popular characters always stocked. If you’re looking for a particular special character that’s not too well-​known, there’s a chance that they may not have it out or in stock. It seems that they have a very high turnover of products so you’ll have to be lucky to catch what you want on a particular day.
When I went, they actually sold out of Pikachu coffee cups. So, that’s a very popular item. The staff is extremely helpful and they speak limited English. So, I was very appreciative when they attempted to help me and even checked the back for whatever I was looking for. They really went above and beyond to help me out.
This is the only one in the Tokyo area so check it out and stock up on your Pokemon gifts! You’ll find what you need here for sure!

Not surprisingly, all the people that request me to get quotes for animé stuff requested me to go here. So if you have friends that like Pokémon, maybe you should keep quiet.
The merchandise seems to rotate seasonally because I couldn’t find Dragonair here despite the friends with greater knowledge of Pokémon saying that it was available at some point. There’s a large amount of Christmas-​themed merchandise here like snow-​Pikachus at this time. The majority of the merchandise here is Pikachu. (I couldn’t find another substitute plushie.) Most plushies range in the ¥2000 range for significant characters.
The majority of the merchandise is plushies, although they also carry clothes and personal effects such as drawstring bags, pencils, mugs, and stuff like that. They also have some art books for the game and the soundtracks for the game.
There are some game machines here like Pokken Tournament and Tretta. It’s behind the store so one doesn’t need to shop and play at the same time, or one can drop gamer friends there to play a few games.
Prices here are listed without tax. Everything is taxable and it is not eligible for tax free shopping in the mall if one shows their foreign passport, which we found out the hard way. (That’s why I knocked it down a star, since it made everything more expensive.)
Some staff members speak English.
One suggestion here: Bring your 3DS. You max out really quickly on Streetpasses.

Love this place! Pokemon heaven… It’s huge and if you love Pokemon, this is a great place to visit. It is located on floor 2.

This place is a trap.
Prepare to take out your credit card because if you’re a foreigner like me, I bought a crap load of stuff because there’s so many things here.
Many plushes, many dolls, many figurines, many pokemons!
The only downside as many people have stated is that it is quite pricey. For example, Charizard plush — 2000yen, Ditto — 1800 yen, Pikachu (regular) — 1500 yen, Pikachu (chef) ~ 2000yen.
There are a lot of snacks to get too as well as key chains.
If you bring your DS you can get an exclusive pokemon.
During some events during the year (like halloween) they have exclusive plushies.

Located on the second floor of Sunshine City mall, the Pokemon center is a cluster of store, tournament center and Game Center. The store itself is a good size, with 3 feature giant statues/​props. Good photo op. They have just about everything plus this year there is a feature Pikachu for every month. Outside of the shop, turn a quick corner and there is a card game tournament section, sign up early and games go all day. The other side is the machine based games. On the outer wall there are a line of coin-​op vending machines for even more pokemon goods. This place is truly the mecca of pokemon goods. It’s a worthwhile trip, as the mall itself is a good spot to hang and get drinks/​animé goods.

Oh boy… if your kid grew up watching Pokeman and you have half a day and money to burn, consider visiting Pokeman Center. Located on the 2^th floor of the Sun City building in Ikebukuro, it is a parent’s nightmare come true. A store with every Pokeman item available, you can easily spend the whole day and excessive amount of money buying everything from Pickachu chopsticks and bowls to life sized dolls. Unfortunately, there was not a bar or pub close by, so I hung out and took a short nap (along with some other uninterested folks) on the benches around the store.
When you walk up the building go to the information counter and get a map — they have English maps. It will be useful.
IF interested, in the basement is the Pokeman Café — it gets crowded and there are limited seating so make reservations before going to the Pokeman World. The waiting list is about two hours so you can shop, eat, and then shop some more. Like Pokeman World, the entrees are all Pokeman character inspired — someone with great imagination and creativity created some interesting cuisine. Portions are a bit small, but it is geared towards the kids. Just smile, pay the prices, and enjoy the show the staff puts on for its customers… remember, it’s in Japanese, but you get the gist. Expensive, but it’s worth experiencing at least once.

A very fun store with a surprising amount of very affordable merchandise. I’m not really into Pokemon, but i was excited to shop at this store. And we happened to be there when the singer of the main theme of the newest Pokemon Movie was there to sign autographs. LONG LINES!

Meh, I got excited for this but was let down. They do accept VISA!
They had all sorts of things from hats to snacks. The majority of the items are a bit on the expensive side (SnapBack is about 5400 Yen). They have plushies but the majority of them are pikachu varieties.
There are additional fun stuff for kids but I couldn’t read the Japanese so I didn’t know what was going on. Overall it’s good photo opportunity with the statues!

The Pokemon store located on 2^nd floor of Sunshine City, next to the escalator has a large selection of Pokemon merchandise & snacks. You can get a free Pokemon character for your 3DS (including international 3DS) & 5% discount voucher if you visited during your birthday month & show your passport or other government issued ID with your date of birth.
There is also a Pokemon pop-​up café on 1^st floor near the escalator promoting the Pokemon Hoppa XY movie. If you are going to the café, be sure to get your café reservation ticket before you visit the store as the café wait time can be up to 1.5 hr. You get to eat Pokemon theme food which the kids enjoyed.
If you want to extend your Pokemon experience you can catch a Pokemon train from Ichinoseki station. Totally decked out with Pokemon character seats & a kids play area. It’s running from 6 July 2015 — 27 Sep 2015 for the summer holidays,
You can catch a bullet train from Tokyo station to Ichinoseki station. The Pokemon train leaves at 11:01am from Ichinoseki station and arrive at Kesennuma station at 12:52pm. The return train leaves from Kesennuma station at 3:12pm and arrive at Ichinoseki station at 4:49pm. If you have a Japan Rail Pass, the cost of both JR trains are covered in your rail pass but you’ll need to reserve seats for each train trip separately.
The Pokemon train makes a number of stops on the way to Kesennuma, where the kids can get off & get Pokemon stamps in a booklet they are given on the train. Before you arrive at Kesennuma you’re also be given a Kesennuma-​Pokemon map. If you get stamps from 3 of 6 Kesennuma locations, you can get a Pokemon train paper craft from the information center opposite the station. Something to pass the time while waiting for the return train trip.
Since Kesennuma is still recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, there is still a lot of construction underway. We ended up catching taxis to get around the harbour town to collect 3 stamps & claim the Pokemon train paper craft. The kids gave the Pokemon train trip a big thumbs up!

It’s the Pokemon Center in Japan. Honestly what more do you need to know? Doesn’t matter what Pokemon are being represented, you just want bragging rights saying you have been here.
In all honestly there isn’t as much merchandise as you would expect, but hey it’s the Pokemon Center and they have a giant Charizard in the front! ‘Nuff said.

Great store, cool items, easy transaction. Not as many Pokemon as I would have hoped though.

OK FINE. I like Pokemon. I somehow find myself playing a Pokemon game every few years or so. I still haven’t memorized many of the Pokemon beyond the original 151 but I do recognize a lot of them especially the ones that made it part of my 6-​man team.
I visited this store thinking it would be like a Pokemon center with Nurse Joy but alas that is not the case. There’s just a lot of Pokemon stuff here. Very few gen 1 Pokemon though so keep that in mind.
I bought a clefairy mini doll because it was super cute.

I’m not a huge Pokemon fan, but my brother and boyfriend definitely are.
When they found out I was going to Japan, they made sure I went to the Pokemon center and got them goodies.
They had so many things to buy with reasonable prices, even if you’re broke, you can never go wrong with their vending machines with cute little merchandises they have in them. My boyfriend asked me to buy him something Bulbasaur related, but they did have a lack of items with that character, which was sort of a bummer :(
The staff there were also awesome, especially since a lot of them knew English, so that was cool not having a language barrier and also extremely helpful.
Anyways, if you ever visit Tokyo, make a pit stop here, you won’t regret it!

Review #400!
Made in Japan (okay, this entry was not, but this location is and so was the merchandise I bought!)!
I choose you, Pikachu! I love this particular Pokémon character so much that I chose it for my camp name when I was a UniCamp activity specialist and ever since (and yes, also before I chose the name), anything Pokémon related I buy would be of Pikachu. Works out well that the windows of this Pokémon Center is plastered with various Pikachus — you can even see it from the Yamanote JR Line as we saw it everyday when we took the JR Line to Disneyland and did not realize the picture was from the store. And trust me, I took plenty of pictures!
This store is pretty amazing. It’s on the second floor of the mall/​plaza and it is huge. Plenty of merchandise for all your Pokémon needs for all ages. I already had limited space in my suitcase so I limited my purchases to the cute pressed coins machines where you put in like $ 2-​$ 5 and they pressed a Pokémon image onto a copper coin (it’s not really a coin at all, unlike here in the U.S., but it is coin shape and size). Of course, I bought all the Pikachu designs.
It was the second to last day before I was departing from Tokyo, so I got here after a stop at the Kit Kat Chocolatory on the other side of town with less than an hour before store closing. Would love more time to explore next time I may be back in Tokyo. They had a section roped off towards the back that looks like you can do some real-​time play with other customers and/​or store employees.
This Pokémon Center is right off the Hamamatsucho stop on the Yamanote Line. =)