They say Tokyo is like a big, city-sized theme park for gamers, which is a pretty reductive way to describe a place with over 500 years of history and culture. But also, I was just there for a week and spent the entire time bouncing around different arcades and vintage game stores, eating snacks at the Pikachu Sweets Pokemon Cafe, and joining 20,000 attendees at the Monster Hunter Now Carnival to hunt Silver Rathalos across the city, so maybe it’s not an entirely inaccurate description.
Once I got a handle on the jet lag (a 16-hour time jump from Los Angeles is no joke) my first stop was to Shibuya Parco, a required pilgrimage for any nerd visiting Tokyo. This 11-story shopping mall has an entire floor dedicated to gaming and manga, with even more TCG, toy, and fandom-related stores dispersed throughout. This is where you’ll find Shibuya’s Pokemon Center and Nintendo stores, as well as the Capcom store, Koei Tecmo Spot, and Jump Shop all located on the 6th floor, also known as Cyberspace Shibuya.
I’ve been to Shibuya Parco before and was looking forward to checking out some new merch at the Pokemon Center, but the main reason I beelined to this mall was to see the Kingdom Hearts Halloween Town pop-up: a limited-time shop featuring exclusive collectibles, plushies, apparel, and more, all based on Kingdom Hearts’ Nightmare Before Christmas world.
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The modestly-sized pop-up was surprisingly packed with Kingdom Hearts goods, and unsurprisingly packed with Kingdom Hearts fans. The only thing stopping me from grabbing a basket and loading it full of every single thing in the store, Supermarket Sweep-style, was the enormous crowd clogging up the aisles, forcing me to slow down and think through my purchases. My bank account is grateful.
Only the Halloween town merch was exclusive to the shop, which included plushies and acrylic character stands of Sora, Donald, and Goofy in their Halloween costumes, as well as two tote bags, two shirts, and a set of hair clips. The recently released Sora and Roxas skateboards were also available in large supply.
The rest of the store was filled with other Japan-exclusive Kingdom Hearts merch. One shelf featured a variety of CDs and Vinyl records from practically every game, while another was filled with stationary and personal planners. There was a perfume line featuring different scents for each of the Guardians of Light, minus Mickey. Lea was sold out and Roxas had very low supply, but it seemed like no one wanted to smell like Terra.
One of my favorite items was the Classic Kingdom change purses, each one featuring a different one of Kingdom Hearts 3’s Game & Watch-inspired mini-games. I also loved the Munny Pouch, which looks like it came right out of the game, and the music boxes. I got one that plays the Traverse Town theme, but I wish I had gotten the Kairi one too.
The pop-up shop was only in Shibuya Parco from October 2-14, but Kingdom Hearts was ever-present during my visit. Most of the gaming stores throughout Shibuya and Akihabara, the gaming Holy Land of Tokyo, featured a section dedicated to Kingdom Hearts. At Tokyo Disneyland, where cosplay rules are relaxed around Halloween time, I saw at least a dozen Soras, Kairis, Xions, and Roxases. Even just riding the train, I saw tons of people with Kingdom Hearts backpacks, t-shirts, and purse charms.
One of my favorite things about Tokyo is how much fandom is just part of everyday life. Back in the States, I’d need to go to Comic-Con or a gaming expo to see Kingdom Hearts fans, but it’s a common occurrence here. This Kingdom Hearts pop-up was just down the street from an Akira exhibit and pop-up shop, an Eeveelution takeover at a popular downtown cafe The Strings Omotesando, and a Hello Kitty pop-up cafe celebrating her 50th anniversary – and that’s all just within a few blocks in Shibuya. There’s a lot more to Tokyo than gaming, but there sure is a lot of gaming in Tokyo.
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