We're at Tokyo Station
And on the platform
I just spotted this gachapon vending machine
It's got...
7 different series of gachapon
So you press the button & you get the choice of 3 gacha
Actually I recognise that series
I've seen that one!
There's some Fuchiko there
These strange guys
Ah I recognise them from my video!
The... dango
I'm in Character Street
In Tokyo Station
If you're looking for cute things to do in Tokyo
This is something you might not have heard of
So I thought I'd bring you here with me
And show you around
And show you what there is
Now underneath Japanese stations
There's often loads of tunnels
And cafes and shops
And sometimes there's whole shopping malls
It's actually unbelievable
At the moment we're underneath Tokyo Station
There's so many shops down here
This is called Character Street
Because there's loads of shops to do with Japanese characters
Selling merchandise
And lots of cute things
Alongside Character Street
There's also Ramen Street
Which is a whole street of ramen restaurants
There's also Sweets Street
Which is a bit smaller
It's a little collection of sweet shops
That's also near the Kitkat shop
So that's worth a visit too
So today I'm going to show you around Character Street
We're going to see lots of Japanese characters
Some you might know
Some you might not
Tell me in the comments
Which are your favourite characters
I like these ones: Oshushi Dayo
And of course Gudetama
Before I carry on
If you like cute things
Have a look at my designs
On cakeswithfaces.co.uk
Including my newest one
Catsu Curry
You can pre-order it now
On t-shirts & hoodies
Now back to Character Street
At the moment it's the 10th anniversary of Character Street
If you go on their website
They've made up a song for it
There's a dance as well
It's all decorated for cherry blossom season
With the lovely pink sakura
First up we've got the Pokemon store
If you want to go to the really big one
That's in Ikebukuro
In Sunshine City
This is just a little version
I like this mural they've got
Prism Stone
Look how colourful this shop is
And the little stars hanging up, that's so cute
Just like a prism princess
What happens when you press the button?
Ii ne?!
What??
It's like your little Persona figure!
That says phrases
*Japanese*
Ah look, this is really cute!
There's a little leaf in the wall
When you look through
Hello snails!
We've got an Ultraman store
Next...
Kyurutto shop
These are really cute
Are they capybara?
I kind of recognise these ones
Capybara-san
This shop across the way
We've got Doraemon
Then here, Rilakuma
Lots of cute plushies there
Next, it wouldn't be a Japanese character street without Hello Kitty
Quite a small one
There are larger Sanrio stores elsewhere
There's a Miffy store
I used to have her books when I was little
Again, she's not Japanese either
But she does have the same kawaii style
Ah look, they're peeping round the edge
This is the TV Tokyo shop
I don't know these characters
But they do all look cute
Next we've got Studio Ghibli
Lots of Totoro stuff
I like how they've decorated this
With the trees & foliage
It's kind of natural
A woodland shop
Look there's another leaf down here
What's going to be in this one?
Ah ladybirds!
That's so cute!
Across the way, there's Snoopy Town mini
I saw a lot of Snoopy the other day in Kiddyland
The whole bottom floor is Snoopy
Next to that, there's the Moomins
Up here, there's NHK Characters
And here's one I definitely do recognise:
Domo!
Domo is the mascot of NHK
The TV company
I met him when he came over to the UK for Hyper Japan
Where he also did a DJ set
Here's some more characters I don't really know
The Bears
The Bears' School
There's a Pla Rail plastic train shop
And Lego Tomica next door
Yes
Or - am I just thinking it's Lego
Because that looks like the Lego logo?!
It says "Tomica"
I think it has got something to do with Lego
I'm not a model train expert
We've got the Jump shop
Shonen Jump
So there's a lot of One Piece & things in here
And special gachapon outside
At the moment there's a little pop-up Disney store
It's only here until the 30th May
The Little Mermaid on the outside
It looks like it's about all the characters though
It looks like quite a sophisticated Disney store
This one's not for kids!
Look, this one's got a cat-shaped doorway
Pretty cool!
Here's Crayon Shin Chan
He's so popular in Japan
I've seen his stuff around loads!
There's a Lego store
They do a monthly mini-build
There's a little frog prince this month
Sumikko Gurashi is always the cutest
Look at the characters around the shop
In the Sumikko Gurashi shop
They've got a little bakery as well
You can get a cheese pie
With the characters on
It's really cute
There's special merch
As souvenirs of your trip to Tokyo
These are for the Tokyo SkyTree
And these are for Tokyo Station
There's special Hello Kitty cookies
That say Tokyo Station Marounuchi Building
Maybe you can only get them here
Now here, right at the end of Character Street
We've got Gachapon Street!
With a load of gachapon machines
Here's all the figures
It's actually not unusual for larger stations to have whole shopping malls
And rows of restaurants
Like this
But they're not all themed like Character Street
If you want to come here
Be warned: Tokyo Station is a complete maze
You need to follow the signs to First Avenue
Here's how to find it from the Yamanote line:
*Japanese train announcement*
We're heading towards First Avenue Tokyo Station
Which from here, where we are on the Yamanote line platform
Is the Yaesu Central Exit
Here's a sign to First Avenue
Tokyo Station
Down these stairs
Here's the map of Character Street
All the shops are all together
Here's a guide on the wall
To what characters there are