MangoVine - Mashedup Theme Park at Namco’s Sunshine Namjatown at Ikebukuro

19 May, 2009
Tuesday

Namjatown is an amusement theme park, owned by the arcade game company Namco and located in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City.

It's too small to include the scale of rides like roller coasters, but does includes forteen attractions and three food areas made up of the Gyoza Stadium, Ice Cream City and the Tokyo Dessert Republic. There's also the Healing forest which features a number of therapy salon booths.

It's a strange mixture since, split over two floors, half of what you can do at Namjatown is eat! However, Linh and I visited since the idea appeals to us nonetheless.

The Cost of Namjatown

There were two prices for the entry ticket. An admission which was just 300 JPY (£2) or a Passport which included all the attractions, costing 3,900 JPY (£26). The attractions seemed to consist of mini activity rides of various themes as well as a treasure hunt which encourages visitors to go searching throughout Namjatown for stamps to record in their passports with. However, most of these required Japanese literacy, so thankfully with the price in mind, we chose the cheaper admission.

Namjatown Decor

The decor of Namjatown was all entertainment as it featured cute characters in colourful surroundings.

The Japanese attention to detail was there, but having been to the Sanrio Puroland earlier in the month, Namjatown seemed just a little more worn out and simply not up to the same level as Puroland. Have a look at the video below to get an idea of Namjatown:

This was possibly because the Sanrio concept is much more well-rounded and famous whereas Namjatown just seems to mix a little too many elements together in the mix. With a cheaper admission price, we couldn't complain though.

If anything, Namjatown was a little more gritty. Decor such as depicted in the following photos seemed to create a darker scenario.

Perhaps even photo opportunities given by props like this below, to poke your face through can be considered a little creepier than normal.

Having said that, the darker sensibilities would most likely appeal to visiting children too, and if not, there are far cuter photo stands like the following scene.

Entertainment and Games at Namjatown

Of all the mini activities to do at Namjatown, most were gathered in the shadows of the dimly lit Ghost 13th Street, which presented all kinds of interactive panels and models that threw out scares to victims and passerbys.

There were also plenty of crane game machines.

As well as digital booths that offered your fortune.

Retro Sweet Shop

One of the highlights for me was a retro sweet shop.

We found it lurking at one end of the Gyoza Stadium - a place that we did stop by at to refuel with a portion of the dumplings each.

Dessert at Ice Cream City

For dessert, we only took a wander through the Tokyo Dessert Republic before browsing the Cup Ice Museum at the opposite end of Namjatown (flavours such as shark and grilled eggplant as well as vanilla!) and then settling at Ice Cream City.

More photos of Namjatown on Flickr

This entry posted in : Attractions. Entertainment. Japan.

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Mashedup Theme Park at Namco’s Sunshine Namjatown at Ikebukuro

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