One Piece is one of the longest-running, most beloved anime and manga series in Japan. It’s fans span all demographics, from kids waking up early on the weekend to watch the latest episode to office workers that have been watching since their own childhood. One Piece is an anime that has both otaku and non-otaku fans alike as it has become such a mainstream part of Japanese pop culture and its characters and motifs can be found scattered throughout everyday life across Japan.
Because of One Piece’s huge fan base, a few permanent One Piece stores have opened in Japan’s major cities. One of the newest and largest is the Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City, which we are going to explore today! Whether you’re reading this to plan your trip to Tokyo or just taking a virtual vacation, we hope you enjoy checking out the Mugiwara Store with us.
Ikebukuro Mugiwara Store Info
Location | Address 2F, 3-1-1 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo 170-0013 Nearest train line(s) “Higashi-Ikebukuro Station” - Yurakucho Line |
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Cost of Admission | N/A |
Hours of Operation | Time and days Sunday-Saturday 10:00 - 22:00 Official Website |
The Experience
The Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro is a one-stop-shop for all things One Piece. It has everything a fan could want, including t-shirts and other clothing, plushies, figures, books, housewares, and more. There’s an entire wall of clothes that includes hats, jackets, and of course, character shirts. If you’re looking for useful items for your home, there’s a selection of plates, cups, and serve ware.
The Mugiwara Store has an entire travel section where you can buy train pass holders, luggage straps, luggage tags, and even decorated suitcases. If you’re looking for something smaller like stationary, there’s plenty of notebooks, pens, pencil cases, and stickers. And of course, there’s an entire section of cute plushies of the characters! And that doesn’t even mention the keychains, badges, file folders, and snacks.
The best part about visiting the Mugiwara Store is that there is merchandise available for just about every character. One Piece has an incredible number of characters, and most shops in Japan will just carry items for the main cast. Because the Mugiwara Store is all things One Piece, though, it has lots of space to dedicate, so it has a massive variety of characters to choose from! If your favourite is a more obscure character, you’re likely to find at least one thing with them on it, if not more. And if you’re favourite character is Luffy, well, you can get just about anything with him on it!
One of the coolest items available at the Mugiwara Store are wanted posters. These mini-posters are laminated and look like they came right out of the anime and into your house. There are wanted posters for just about every character in the series, featuring their picture along with how much their reward is. They’re a great gift for One Piece fans, but no one will judge if you want to keep them for yourself, too!
In addition to shopping, the Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro has some cool photo opportunities. There are full-size statues of Luffy, Chopper, and Zorro that you can pose with. There’s also a wall of art with many character studies that you’re welcome to photograph. When taking pictures in the shop, though, remember that it’s bad etiquette in Japan to photograph other customers, so just keep that in mind when framing your shots.
The Mugiwara Store also has its own crane game with prizes that are always changing, so you can try your luck playing to win something special to take home. Oh, and don’t miss the fridge selling bottles of water that are shaped like the muscled torsos of the series’ leading male characters. That’s something you’ll likely only find in Japan.
Additional info
The Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro is a great otaku destination because of its location. It’s in Sunshine City, a huge mall that has a lot of other otaku stores inside. It’s right next to Pikachu Sweets, the Pokemon Cafe’s to-go dessert shop. It’s also just a short walk away from the Pokemon Mega-Store as well as the Pokemon GO Lab. Sunshine City also has a Disney Store, a Sanrio Store, and Kiddyland which had goods from various anime, movies, and games both Western and Japanese.
Ikebukuro itself is also one of Tokyo’s otaku neighbourhoods, so just outside there are plenty of anime shops, game centres, and themed cafes to check out and make a whole day trip for. The Mugiwara Store can just be one stop of many on an otaku shopping spree!
Final Thoughts
The Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro is a sensory overload of bright colours and fun things to discover, and is worth checking out even if you’re never seen an episode of One Piece before. If you’re a fan of the anime or manga then the Mugiwara Store is a must-see. You can easily spend an hour just browsing all of the merchandise, taking photos with the statues, and checking out the art displays! There’s something to buy for every budget, too, if you’re wanting to take something home. Definitely add the Mugiwara Store in Ikebukuro to your next Tokyo itinerary! It’s worth the stop.
Have you been to any of the One Piece stores in Japan before? How was your experience? What would you love to buy there if you could go? Drop us a question or comment below!