Anata No Warehouse – Kowloon’s walled city rebuilt in Tokyo

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Anata No Warehouse guest blog post written by Melanie Keyzor

UPDATE: Anata No Warehouse is permanently closed

Visiting Tokyo, you’ll notice the sheer amount of arcades very quickly – they are literally everywhere. We love gaming so we did a lot of research before arriving in Japan and discovered there is a dystopian amusement arcade called Anata No Warehouse in Kawasaki (a half an hour train journey away from Shinjuku) and one of the coolest places in Tokyo.

Anata No Warehouse - Kowloon's Walled City rebuilt in Kawasaki, Tokyo, Japan | Blog post

Built in 2009, Anata No Warehouse is a five storey arcade designed to look like the former Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, and is one of the coolest things to do in Tokyo – definitely one to tick off your Japan bucket list.

Kowloon’s Walled City was a densely-populated and seedy slum neighbourhood famous for its high crime rate. The narrow streets were filled with neon lights and inspired many dystopian films such as Blade Runner and Ghost in the Machine. The area was demolished by the government in 1994 after 40 years despite huge protests from its residents.

How to get to Anata No Warehouse

Anata no Warehouse (meaning “Your Warehouse”) is located 5-10 minutes away from the east exit of JR Kawasaki Station. Once you start walking towards the arcade, you will notice it very quickly as it completely stands out amongst the other modern tower block buildings (the external facade is rusted metal and looks very dilapidated).

Entry was free at the time we visited (in October 2018) but only open to visitors aged 18 and over. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am – 11:45pm; weekends 7am – 11:45pm (darts and the internet cafe area are open 24 hours a day).

Entry was free at the time we visited (in October 2018) and only open to visitors aged 18 and over. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am – 11:45pm; weekends 7am – 11:45pm (darts and the internet cafe area is open 24 hours).

Inside Anata No Warehouse

Once you’re inside, you are treated to some very well-designed, dimly-lit corridors and vaults as you make your way to the main foyer. The overall set design is really where the arcade stands out among others. We spent a good amount of time looking at all the perfectly recreated details in the decor and signage.

Only the 1st and 2nd floors maintain the rundown street theme while the rest of the floors are packed with classic arcade games, claw machines, pool tables and more. Each floor is dedicated to a different set of activities – for example, the 4th floor houses billiards and darts (as well as a replica Trevi Fountain!) while the fifth floor is Greek-themed and home to a 24 hour internet cafe.

While we were visiting, there seemed to be a scavenger hunt you could do throughout the arcade where clues were revealed in certain locations but this appeared to all be in Japanese so unfortunately we couldn’t really part take with our fairly basic language skills!

Ultimately, if you really enjoy gaming and love impressive set design, you should definitely make some time to come and visit this unique arcade – it was the highlight of out visit to Tokyo. On the day, we also managed to combine our visit to the arcade with a trip to the Doraemon Museum afterwards (45 minutes away) with plenty of time to do both.