Tenjin Chikagai Underground Shopping Arcade

Tenjin Chikagai (Click for larger Image)

The best thing about the Tenjin Chikagai isn’t the shopping! The best thing about the Tenjin Chikagai is the ability to avoid in climate weather by staying underground.

Have you ever really looked at a map of the Tenjin Chikagai, which is an underground shopping area underpass. If you have you will  quickly realize that there is an exit at just about all the best  areas of Tenjin. You can pretty much walk from the Nishitetsu Tenjin station to Oyafuko Dori (Street in Japanese is “Dori”), and every where in between. I believe it was my good friend Tom that showed me some of the best entrances/exits in and around Tenjin. The two seasons that really put the Tenjin Chikagai at work are the rainy  season and winter. If you are lucky enough to work in Tenjin then you know what I mean. You can pretty much go to work without an umbrella if you live close to the subway or Nishitetsu line. Just jump on the train, get off and tenjin, study the map to find the best exit, and then you are at work nice and dry.

If you don’t work but love to hang out and shop in Tenjin then the Chikagai is also your best friend, when the weather gets bad. Let’s face it Tenjin is all about shopping and the last thing you want to worry about is the weather when you have your bonus in your hand. There are shops in the Chikagai and of course exits to most of the best store in Tenjin like Tenjin Core, Mistukoshi, Solari, and Bic camera for the geeks and technology otakus out there.

The secret to mastering the Tenjin Chikagai is to think about the main places you frequent and then figure out the closest exit and try to remember that map in your head. I usually do the north, south, east, west thing. What I mean by this is I figure which 4 corners of Tenjin that I would most likely want to visit and find the corresponding exits.

  • South: Back of Nishitetsu Tenjin Station
  • North: Closest exit to Oyafuko Dori
  • Center Point: Tenjin Core
  • East:  Closest to my Bank
  • West: Closest To the Akasaka Side of Tenjin

Tenjin Chikagai Map