From 8-meter-high gigantic bookshelves to a shrine with a powerful artistic feeling, “Tokorozawa Sakura Town”, a must-visit spot

Let us introduce Tokorozawa Sakura Town, one of the “latest sightseeing spots” that has become topic in 2020.

“Tokorozawa Sakura Town” is a cultural complex managed by KADOKAWA, an entertainment company well-known for their publications and anime. Developed as a Cool Japan base where all kinds of cultural facilities such as museums, anime-themed hotels, restaurants, bookstores, and a shrine merged together.

　Look! “Kadokawa Culture Museum”, the landmark of Tokorozawa Sakura Town. The museum, fusion of library, art gallery, and museum, was designed and supervised by the world-famous architect Kengo Kuma. About 20,000 pieces of granite, each weighing about 50 to 70 kg, were used to make the outer wall resembling a block of rocks floating on water. It is a complex building made from a combination of 61 triangles, where you can enjoy various expressions depending on the viewing angle or the degree of sunlight.

8-meter-high bookshelves the sensational Bookshelf Theater of Edit Town are a hot topic

Once in the building, headed to the 4th floor right away.

Book street is created with the image of a city of books, which leads to the Bookshelf Theater。

Edit Town on the 4^th floor consists of "Book Street", a collection of 25,000 books, and "Bookshelf Theater" where projection mapping is displayed on huge bookshelves heighted 8 meters.

Above all, the gigantic bookshelves, a lineup of about 30,000 books in a 360-degree angle is the highlight. The bookshelves consist not only of KADOKAWA publications, but also books by leading Japanese writers and researchers. A fantastic projection mapping with the concept of "play with books and interact with books" is shown every 30 minutes.

Bookshelf Theater

Bookshelf Theater　（C）Kadokawa Culture Museum　

Definitely a spot to take wonderful photos! A must-see for photography lovers.

After being immersed in the world of books, time to go out for some fresh air and towards the beautiful vermillion torii gates of the shrine next to the museum. The shrine is called “Musashino Reiwa Shrine”, also designed by Kengo Kuma, symbolizing the new Reiwa era through a fusion of art and religious belief.

“Musashino Reiwa Shrine”, a powerful artistic feeling.

The painting on the ceiling was made by artist Yoshitaka Amano

The beautiful line of two guardian dogs in the motif of Japanese wolves made by Yoshimasa Tsuchiya.

We also found a popular lucky charm, called “Shimekiri-mamori” (deadline charm) that has been trending on SNSs. It’s so Sakura Town-ish！

It seems that the official twitter account caused a sensation when tweeted "Hope all goes well and we can make it before the deadline. Wouldn’t it be good for the draft or handing the manuscript?"

In addition, there were cute original lucky charms like these.

「88-Stop Anime Pilgrimage」Original Lucky Charms

【Souvenirs】

Finally we would like to introduce some souvenirs. The "Rock Museum Shop" on the first floor of the museum also sells iconic clothes and bags. How about a souvenior for yourself or a gift for your friends

Kengo Kuma Original T-shirt (white / black) (S-XL）　3,800 Yen each (tax included)

Kengo Kuma Original Architect Bag 　4,200 Yen (tax included)

How was it? A new sightseeing spot in Saitama, Tokorozawa Sakura Town. There are still many interesting facilities such as EJ Anime Hotel, that haven’t been introduced yet! Why don’t you come visit us on a sunny day to take nice pictures?

■Kadokawa Culture Museum

［TEL］0570-017-396（Reception Time：weekdays 10:00 – 17:00）

［Address］ 3-31-3, Higashi-Tokorozawa Wada,Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

［Business Hours］

In response to the declaration of state of emergency due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the business hours have changed as follows

Sunday to Thursday 10:00 - 18:00 (last admissions 17:30)
“SACULA DINER” Only 11:00 - 20:00 (last orders 19:00）
Friday and Saturday 10:00 - 20:00（last admissions 19:30）
including ”KadoCafe", “Rock Museum Shop”, and “SACULA DINER “ (last orders 19:00）

＊Check our official website for the latest business hours.

＊The museum will close the following day if it is a national holiday.　 　

＊The opening days and hours may change, so please check our official site. Click here for more information about Kadokawa Culture Museum.

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