Tokyo Station Dining And Is There An Ichiran Here?

Tokyo Station is mile 0 for the train routes throughout Japan and has the most departures for any train station in Japan so you know it is an important hub for transportation.  Around 1.1 million people pass through the station every day to make it a really busy place, although the busiest is Shinjuku Station.

The station itself is huge and it is not just a train station.  Like most of the large train stations in Japan there is a number of malls, hotels and other amenities attached to it.  The malls are so seamlessly integrated in many places that you don't know when you have left the station and are now in a shopping/dining area.  This means there are fantastic shopping and dining venues available to you without leaving the station.  If you are staying nearby then all of this is available to you until the stores close and you can stay warm and dry if the weather is cold and rainy.

Entrance to Tokyo Station reserved for the Imperial Family.  The original station building is the west side of the station complex.

Now that I've mentioned dining at Tokyo Station, I've also been asked if there is an Ichiran Ramen here.  The answer is no, there is no Ichiran at the station, but there is one nearby at Shimbashi Station.  However, if you don't want to leave the station, there is Tokyo Ramen Street in the basement with over a half-dozen choices for first class ramen, including tsukemen at Rokurinsha.  The basement of Tokyo Station has the big First Avenue Tokyo Station shopping mall on the Yaesu B1 (east) side.  If the ramen options are not good enough, there is also an Ippudo ramen at Marunouchi Brick Square, just a 3 - 5 minute walk west of the station towards the imperial palace.

Tokyo Station offers many more dining options than ramen.  There are restaurants in Gransta, Yaesu Underground Mall, and Kitchen Street.  You can basically choose any kind of Japanese food to eat.  There are also restaurants in the connected Daimuru department store and across the street at the Kitte building.

Here are some addtional links from my blog related to Tokyo Station.
Delicious Tokyo Ramen at Ippudo, Ichiran, Chiyogami, Kamukura Shibuya, and Soranoiro Nippon
Tokyo's Ramen Streets at Tokyo Station, Shinagawa Station, and Aqua City
Day 4 - Travelogue - Nezu Shrine, Ameyoko, Ni No Kashi Candy Store, Yamashiroya Toy Store, and Ichiran Ramen in Ueno
Okashi (Sweets) Land, Character Street and Ramen Street at First Avenue, Tokyo Station
Tokyo's Underground Labyrinth 2 - Walking From Tokyo Station to Ginza
Tokyo Station - Tokyo Intro: Experience #45 of 55
Day 1 - Travelogue - The First Night In Tokyo
Ramen Street at Tokyo Station and Ichiran in Shibuya

Whenever I visit Tokyo, I always try to eat ramen as much as possible. On my last trip I revisited some favourite ramen restaurants and tried some new ones. I never manage to have as much ramen as I would like as I also want to eat other kinds of Japanese food, but its all delicious so there is no sadness to the experience! 

I was going to include a link to a virtual walk through Tokyo Station's underground malls, but Google maps doesn't map the internals of the station except in plan.  However, the "working person's mall" the Yaesu Underground Mall, one of the largest of its type in Japan, does allow you to walk through it a bit.  This mall is directly connected to Tokyo Station underground and there are restaurants and shops here that are geared primarily for locals, so you'll get a bit of an authentic experience.  Having said that, the restaurants in the station are not tourist traps as a general rule either.  See below for what the Yaesu mall looks like.

 

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