Explore KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street, See Tokyo Skytree, and Experience the Charm of Old Tokyo

After finishing lunch at the Edo-style restaurant Sakurada in Asakusa, our afternoon itinerary was to explore KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street and take a look at the nostalgic streets and shops around Tokyo Skytree.

We walked to Tower View Street (タワービュー通り), located near the north exit of Kinshicho Station in Sumida. Because this street offers a striking view of Tokyo Skytree rising straight up into the sky, it has become a popular hidden photo spot.

↑Along the Tobu Railway Oshiage Line

We then arrived at the KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street, a traditional downtown shopping street full of local charm. Many of the buildings here have old-fashioned hand-operated water pumps nearby. Our first stop was Kyojima Minami Park, where, besides the swings, there is also a slide about three stories high. We saw parents riding bicycles to bring their preschool children here to play after school. It is also a great place to enjoy a view of Tokyo Skytree.

There are many interesting shops to explore along KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street. We came across a tea shop, and our family bought quite a few packs of sencha to take home. Near a small park, there is also a large signboard introducing the names of the shops in the shopping street.

▲There was also an adorable shop cat at a traditional dagashi candy store on KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street.

After buying some of the household items we wanted at KIRAKIRA Tachibana Shopping Street, I walked toward Tokyo Skytree to do some more exploring. Along the way, I suddenly noticed a narrow, elongated building. Its extremely slim and flat appearance made it quite distinctive.

Before long, we arrived at the bus stop in front of Oshiage Station, right next to Tokyo Skytree. From here, we could see Tokyo Skytree East Tower and Tokyo Skytree from very close by. We also walked up to the pedestrian bridge to take a look at the Tobu Railway limited express SPACIA (Tobu 100 Series), a train we had previously taken on our trip to Nikko.

Inside Tokyo Skytree, we explored quite a few shops. There was the NHK Character Shop, featuring popular Japanese manga and anime characters such as COJI-COJI (コジコジ); the Pokémon Center Skytree Town, where we saw Rayquaza; Kirby Café THE STORE, with a large Kirby statue wearing a chef’s hat and a star-shaped badge at the entrance; and Ultraman World M78, featuring a life-size Ultraman model. There were plenty of interesting shops to browse.

After stepping outside, we visited the fourth-floor outdoor plaza, Sky Arena, where you can enjoy an impressively close view of Tokyo Skytree even on a weekday. We had not really explored the Skytree area properly on our previous visit and had only stopped by to buy something to eat. I had no idea there were so many interesting places to browse and explore here.

After leaving Tokyo Skytree, we headed back to our hotel to put down our purchases. The walkway at Kitajikken River Waterfront Park, located beneath Tokyo Skytree, appeared to be very well planned. We had not paid much attention to it before. Hopefully, next time we will have the chance to visit the 350-meter-high Tembo Deck and enjoy a panoramic view of Tokyo’s cityscape.