A good VR experience requires stepping forward into a new environment just waiting to be explored. Sometimes figuratively from the comfort of your own home and headset. Sometimes quite literally.
If VR headsets have found a place in the home of millions, they have found a second home in the malls and entertainment centers of thousands of places around the world. Each promises an experience impossible from the familiar four walls of your humble abode without a significant amount of upfront cash. Even then, space and the lack of access to the bespoke experiences promised by these VR destinations means they’ll always have a home. Japan, and particularly Tokyo, is home to a great number of such hotspots, with many created exclusively for the market and therefore unavailable beyond Japanese borders.
With Japan being such a popular tourist destination, we thought it best to round up just some of the best VR attractions you can add to your Tokyo itinerary when you next take the trip.
RED TOKYO TOWER
Situated at the base of Tokyo Tower in the Hamamatsu area of Tokyo, RED Tokyo Tower is a multimedia attraction center first opened in 2022 designed as a digital amusement park perfect for whittling away the hours with either family or friends. Across all five floors are a unique range of attractions, from eSports halls decked out with top-of-the-range gaming PCs, poker halls for gambling (without real money, as that would be illegal in Japan), AR attractions and, of course, VR.
Most interestingly, many of these VR attractions are only found inside this building or within Japan. Boat Race VR, for example, is based on the sport popular in Japan involving racing speed boats. By climbing into a replica boat and putting on the VR headset, the immersive experience promises to replicate the wind rush, sprays of water and thrills of the race while racing locally and against others across the country, and is the only attraction that can be accessed without paying for full entry to the entertainment complex itself.
Once entering the building itself, the complex is dominated by AR attractions and even a chance to jump into a fighting robot suit, but a number of other VR attractions are also available for those interested. On the third floor, known as the Inspiration Zone, it’s possible to try out KAT VR’s KATWALK VR treadmill system. While not a unique experience, it’s likely that only at a space such as this would it be possible to even try a piece of kit like this considering the significant up-front price of over $1000.
Similarly, on floor 4 players can experience the VAR BOX, designed to bring the light gun game experience to VR offering four of the experiences available from the developer. These bespoke machines offer a variety of shooting experiences from zombie to sci-fi to dinosaurs. Similarly, four games from Chinese developer LEKE VR are also available, and on the fifth floor a fully-immersive Gran Turismo experience with options to play in VR or using multiple monitors in a realistic simulator make it all come together as a unique creative building built on experimenting in the realm of human interactivity through both VR and AR experiences.
As the name suggests, the space is located alongside and connected to the famous Tokyo Tower, with tickets for entry including unlimited time on all attractions available either individually or as a bundle. While these collaborations typically don’t overlap with the attractions themselves, there’s also often a selection of events themed around popular anime series and more. Recent events have included Bocchi the Rock, with a collaboration for the Gushing Over Magical Girls anime including special drinks, merchandise and more ongoing at the time of writing. Whether here for cutting-edge VR tech, interesting AR experiments or simply for the anime, its proximity to a major Tokyo landmark makes it a potentially-interesting addition to your itinerary.
TYFFONIUM
TYFFONIUM is a unique example of a Japanese VR exhibition space pushing new boundaries in the space. Founded by Japanese VR development company Tyffon with a location in Odaiba and an all-new location opening in Shinjuku on August 30th inside the South Tower of Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo, all experiences offered by the company at these locations are developed by Tyffon exclusively for the Japanese market.
Currently the group offers five experiences in total, four of which are shared across both locations and all of which are designed to be played either solo or with up to three friends. Exclusive to Odaiba is FLUCTUS: Wandering Ocean, a fantasy attraction set in the mystical depths of the ocean where you journey with the jellyfish through magical underwater environments reminiscent of Atlantis and other myths. Tarot VR: Arcana Journey brings the experience of tarot card readings to life, where each card transports you into a new magical world before the card is interpreted to bring deeper personal meaning to your life. You can even take a replica of your tarot card home with you afterward.
While both sound intriguing, it’s arguably the team’s other attractions that sound the most ambitious. Tsuburaya’s Ultraman: Kaiju Haven is a licensed experience inspired by the popular tokusatsu superhero. Rather than a flimsily-created shallow on-rails experience of becoming Ultraman, this experience keeps your feet rooted firmly on the ground, journeying through Kaiju Haven to gaze upon and encounter life-size kaiju that must be scanned to collect their data. Variety is a big promise from this attraction: with twelve kaiju and eight possible routes, you could get something new from return visits.
Corridor is one of two free-roaming VR attractions, allowing full walking and freedom of movement as you explore a creepy horror environment with little more than a candlestick to illuminate your visit, burn newspapers and venture through dangerous terrain. Perhaps more intriguing is the team’s IT-themed prequel, IT Carnival. Set before the events of IT: Chapter Two, this free-roaming attraction sends you through a creepy carnival venue featured in the film in search of a missing child where you could even come into contact with Pennywise themself. Although IT certainly has its Japanese fans, a Japan-only attraction produced in direct collaboration with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros is certainly a unique choice.
Even the theming of the venue itself retains a somewhat magical quality, like stepping into another world. Rather than simply installing a few VR sets and calling it a day a lot of effort has been put into creating an all-encompassing experience, making it one worth checking out if you can make it to one of their locations.
Universal Studios Japan
Many look at Universal Studios Japan and have one thing on their mind: Super Nintendo World. That or their regular anime 4D collaborations with franchises like One Piece. What you may not realize is that the park is a regular home for VR theme park experimentation with one-of-a-kind VR attractions just as engaging as any other ride at the park, with at least one VR-based attraction typically in service at any one time.
That ride as of the time of writing is a VR roller coaster themed around Demon Slayer titled Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba XR Ride — Race to Swordsmith Village. This is a roller-coaster attraction where riders wear VR goggles before being thrust along the coaster tracks to experience the iconic battle from the immensely popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie – Mugen Train film in the most immersive way possible. To fully get invested in the experience the entire area is decked out with a dedicated pre-ride and theming around the series.
This VR attraction is regularly cycled out with new themes, recent examples including Doraemon and Attack on Titan. Although no longer in operation, the park has experimented with free-roaming VR also with Monster Hunter World Iceborne XR Walk, which required players lug 8 kilograms of VR tech for 25 minutes in order to immerse themselves in a real battle against a Velkhana taken directly from the game. While an additional expense beyond the standard ticket price, the chance to be a true hunter was so popular the attraction has been on-and-off operation ever since it initially opened. While nothing has been announced, considering the continued popularity during its latest limited operation period that recently concluded in June, its return can’t entirely be ruled out.
VR is Just Reality in Japan
Although these are easily the largest examples of entertainment complexes with dedicated VR experiences, such uses of the technology can be found across the city and country in ways unlike those found anywhere else. Indeed, you can often stumble upon many of these experiences without even trying.
Kabukicho Tower is a recently-opened skyscraper in the heart of Shinjuku’s nightlife district featuring everything from a cinema, club/concert venue and theater to an arcade, restaurants and even an immersive XR Crystal Maze-esque puzzle space literally called The Tokyo Matrix. Inside this arcade is everything from giant crane games, an actual DJ setup, a One Piece Card Game store and… Evangelion- and Godzilla-themed VR setups. The former has been available since the building opened having previously featured in the since-shuttered VR Zone Shinjuku building and sees you take the role of one of the Children from the series to pilot an Evangelion against an Angel, with the Godzilla experience a more recent addition to the building.
First Airlines in Ikebukuro is a two hour plane-themed VR experience that simulates travel to new locations with food you can eat to truly feel like you stepped foot in your chosen destination. Keeping with the food theme, for those with a spare 40,000yen ($276) you can experience TREE by Naked, a dining experience that blends projection mapping, VR headsets and more to elevate the flavor and visual presentation of food for a dining experience like no other. Now you too can nourish the soul and drain the wallet in one fell swoop. Then you have NEUU, which offers both VR co-working spaces to take meetings in Meta Horizon Worlds and VRChat, a space to catch VR movies, and for talk events both inside and outside the world in your headset.
To say these spaces are everywhere is not an exaggeration. If you end up inside the OIOI Mens department store in Shinjuku in search of an anime store, you can find one there. Every major hub in Tokyo and nearby Yokohama has them dotted around everywhere, almost unavoidable. Of course, not all VR locations are built equal, and those mentioned here are examples of those that have taken extra effort to build something you can’t find in the comfort of your own home, even if you own your own VR headset.
Share in the comments below if you know of any other VR-based exhibits in Japan UploadVR readers should hear about.
