Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station Guide + Photos 2024

Tokyo Character Street (AKA First Avenue) at Tokyo Station is a colourful, cartoon world packed full of anime stores, gachapon galore and all your favourite animated characters.

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Otaku heaven and a cute Kawaii thing to do in Tokyo, Character Street (“東京キャラクターストリート”) is located in the First Avenue section of Tokyo Station (close to Ramen Street too – how cool!). All your favourite Japanese animated characters are here from Studio Ghibli to Sumikko Gurashi.

Featuring the finest First Avenue Tokyo toy shops like Tomica to Snoopy Town, TV character stores like NHK to TV Asahi, here is our ultimate guide to visiting Tokyo Character Street at Tokyo Station First Avenue.

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Table of Contents

How to get to Tokyo Character Street

Located in JR Tokyo Station, Tokyo Character Street is easy to find and accessible past the barriers.

It is underground in the basement area (B1) of JR Tokyo Station by the North Yaesu exit gates, near the Shinkansen exits.

Just follow the signs to First Avenue and you’ll find Tokyo Character Street.

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Tokyo Character Street store list and map

Below is the Tokyo Character Street map and store directory we took on our last trip to First Avenue.

There are around 30 stores (as of 2024) plus there are frequent pop-ups so the number of cartoon character shops at Tokyo Character Street can vary.

Since we took this picture, many more new stores have opened at Tokyo Character Street including Mofusand and a new Kirby Cafe Petit – so every time you revisit, you never know what stores to expect!

Baby changing facilities can also be found here at 東京キャラクターストリートas well as parent-baby resting rooms and toilets.

You might like these Tokyo neighbourhood guides:
Akihabara
Asakusa
Ginza
Harajuku
Ikebukuro
Nakano
Odaiba
Ryogoku
Shibuya
Shimokitazawa
Shinjuku

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Where to stay in Tokyo guide

Tokyo Character Street stores and famous characters

No trip to Tokyo is complete without a few hours spent in Tokyo Character Street, browsing and buying awesome anime gifts, Manga merchandise, cartoon collectibles or hugely popular toys like LEGO and Tomica toy cars and trains.

Given how many stores and incredible collectibles there are here, we’d recommend allowing at least 2 to 3 hours to visit all the stores.

Make sure you have plenty of suitcase space – heck, maybe even buy a second suitcase especially for all the character toys – we saw lots of cute bags here like Miffy backpacks or Snoopy sacks.

Some of our favourite shops at Tokyo Character Street / 東京キャラクターストリートinclude:

Tomica Tony Toys

You’ll often see Tomica toy cars and trains in big toy stores Hakuhinkan Toy Park in Ginza, Japan’s biggest toy store, but here in the Tomica Tokyo Character Street store, this is a dedicated store chock full of collectible cars, tiny trains plus lots of character cars like Disney Tomica or Studio Ghibli.

As well as looking at the train sets, there is even a Tomica repair shop where staff are on hand to help you fix your broken Tomica toys – cool!

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Donguri Republic

‘Spirited Away’ by all things Studio Ghibli? Take the Cat Bus to First Avenue and visit the Tokyo Station Donguri Republic, selling all things My Neighbor Totoro or pick some Princess Mononoke presents.

There is something to suit all budgets here from Studio Ghibli pin badges and magnets through to much more expensive limited editions items and merchandise.

Alas Donguri Republic Tokyo Station doesn’t offer a delivery service (maybe Kiki can lend a hand…)

Check out our guide to the best Studio Ghibli things to do in Tokyo or read more in our guide to Studio Ghibli Donguri Republic stores >

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Pokémon store in Tokyo Station

Whilst not a full-on Pokémon Center (so it doesn’t include say a trading card gaming area or a Pokedex etc), this is a great store to stock up on Pokémon plushies or Pikachu presents – but remember, you gotta catch ‘em all…

Pokemon store in Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station

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Rilakkuma store

Is there any Japanese cartoon character more beloved than the Rilakkuma series? We couldn’t ‘bear’ to visit Tokyo Character Street without dropping into the Rilakkuma store.

Be sure to check out the exclusive Rilakkuma Tokyo merchandise including a cute Rilakkuma cuddly toy where he is climbing up the nearby Tokyo Skytree – adorable!

Miffy Style

A joyful Japanese Miffy Style store (there are several in Japan but this is one of the most popular), this marvellous Miffy shop at Tokyo Character Street has Japan exclusive merchandise – so go down the ‘rabbit hole’ and spend some of your Yen here.

Miffy store in Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station

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Snoopy Town

Yes, beagles are allowed in JR Tokyo Station – even if your budget is ‘Peanuts’, there are lots of Snoopy gifts to discover in Snoopy Town.

We particularly liked the exclusive Tokyo Station Snoopy and Woodstock plushies (although they may have sold out since this picture was taken).

snoopy town store in Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station

Other popular stores and cafes Tokyo Character Street stores as of April 2024 include:

Ultraman

Disney Avenue

Moomin Shop Mini Tokyo Station

Kirby Cafe Petit

Prism Stone 東京キャラクターストリート

prism stone store in Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station

Kamen Rider

LEGO Store Tokyo Station

TBS Store

Koupenchan Hanamaru Station

Crayon Shin Chan

K-spot by Kiddy Land

Sumikko Gurashi shop

TV Asahi store

Nittereya Tokyoekiten

TV TOKYO shop

The Bear’s School Jackie’s Marché

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Other things to do near Tokyo Character Street / First Avenue

Beneath JR Tokyo Station and along First Avenue, two other cool things to do near Tokyo Character Street include:

Tokyo Gashapon Street

You are never far from a gachapon machine in Tokyo, whether it be in a 7-Eleven or Daily Yamazaki store or a gaming arcade or dedicated shop.

JR Tokyo Station goes one step ahead and has a whole Tokyo Gashapon Street, lined with a gamut of gachapon machines and shops.

Popular with otaku (オタク – Japanese pop culture) and Tokyo tourists, gashapon machines in Japan are vending machines that dispense capsule toys in a small plastic case – the choice here is EPIC!

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Calbee+ Tokyo Station

A popular Japanese potato chip company (or crisps for our UK readers), Calbee+ at Tokyo Station is a store dedicated to their snack range, with dozens of flavours and chips to try.