Diver City Tokyo Plaza (ダイバーシティ東京 プラザ) is a shopping mall famous for its life-size Gundam statue. My first visit was also because of the giant Gundam, and I rushed to Odaiba to see it for the last time before it was dismantled on March 5, 2017. My second visit to DiverCity was to see the new “Unicorn Gundam” statue exhibition on September 24, 2017! I also tried the Attack on Titan VR game. Diver City is more of an affordable mall. Although it’s not the most fun mall in Odaiba in my opinion, it’s worth visiting just for the occasional anime events!
So let’s go with Piao’er to see what’s good to explore in DiverCity!
If you like entertainment facilities, I prefer Tokyo Odaiba’s: Joypolis indoor amusement park: a fun and exciting SEGA indoor rainy day tourist spot
【Transportation】Information on Diver City Shopping Mall in Odaiba
- Address: 1-1-10 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo
- Business Hours: Shopping and Services 10:00~21:00, Food Court 10:00~22:00, Restaurants 11:00~23:00
- DiverCity Tokyo Plaza Official Website
To get to DiverCity, take the Yurikamome Line from Odaiba and get off at “Daiba Station”. It’s about a 5-minute walk from there. If you’re coming from Fuji TV, you’ll see the huge building with brands like ZARA, H&M, and Old Navy for affordable kids’ clothing, and you’ll know you’ve arrived at DiverCity!
DiverCity Tokyo Shopping Center Floor Introduction
- 2F: Food Court, Festival Plaza’s life-size unicorn Gundam statue, Hello Kitty Japan, drugstore
- 3F: H&M, HOLLISTER, GODIVA, TULLY’S COFFEE, BEAUTY & YOUTH UNITED ARROWS, MICHAEL KORS, ARMANI EXCHANGE
- 4F: Affordable fashion for trendy men, ZARA, GU, Timberland, SKECHERS, CHARLES & KEITH
- 5F: VR theater, children’s play area, UNIQLO, sock store
- 6F: WEGO, Daiso, restaurants
In addition to the Gundam statue located in the Festival Plaza outside, DiverCity in Odaiba also has over a hundred brand stores such as Uniqlo, H&M, Zara, and ARMANI JEANS that are popular among Taiwanese people. The best part is the “food street” where you can enjoy delicious food. From the brands that have settled in, it can be seen that they are all affordable brands that cater to the masses. There is also a Gundam store and a VR theater, making it a shopping mall mainly for customers under 30 years old and families.
The must-take life-size “Gundam” at DiverCity
If your goal is to see the Gundam statue when you enter DiverCity, you can find the Festival Plaza exit from the Food Court and walk out to see the real Gundam!
This is the second generation life-size Unicorn Gundam RX-0 in Odaiba, standing at 19.7 meters tall and weighing 49 tons, even bigger than the original RX-78-2!!!
The second generation of “Unicorn Gundam” is the character “Unicorn Gundam RX-0” from the anime “Mobile Suit Gundam UC”. When it is pure white, it has a horn on its head. After awakening, it will emit red light, and the horn will open and become an antenna.
Unicorn Gundam Transformation Performance
- Unicorn Gundam statue daytime performance time: 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 Unicorn Gundam transformation (about 1 minute)
- Unicorn Gundam statue nighttime performance time: 19:00~21:30 (one performance every 30 minutes, each performance lasts about 3~5 minutes)
The Unicorn Gundam only has a transformation performance during the day (awakening from pure white to red), but the real excitement is the light show transformation at night. The pure white Unicorn Gundam is lit up with various colors of lights, accompanied by music, and a detailed schedule and theme of the show can be found on the official website Gundam Show Performance Time.
Gundam Figure Evolution History
The life-size Gundam statue first appeared in Odaiba in 2009 for an exhibition that lasted 52 days before being moved back to BANDAI Shizuoka. It wasn’t until the opening of the Odaiba Gundam theme park in 2012 that the first permanent Gundam, the RX-78-2, was installed. However, the RX-78-2 was retired in March 2017, leaving fans mourning. On September 24, 2017, the Unicorn Gundam RX-0, which was introduced earlier, was installed and now stands tall at DiverCity Tokyo Plaza.
This is the first generation Gundam “RX-78-2”, it’s really huge! Huge! It’s very impressive to see the whole thing, at that time only the Gundam show with head rotation could be appreciated; but during the day there wasn’t much to see, the Gundam show still had to be seen at night with the wall image projection theme show, the old version theme was “Mobile Suit Gundam UC A Phantom World”.
“Mobile and Agile” First Generation Gundam
The first generation Gundam, which can truly “walk and move”, will soon appear in Yokohama! As part of the Gundam 40th anniversary special project “Gundam GLOBAL CHALLENGE”, a 1:1 scale, six-story high, fully functional “first generation Gundam” will be built and showcased in Yokohama Yamashita during the summer of 2020. Gundam fans who plan to visit Tokyo in 2020 should not miss the chance to see the Gundam in Yokohama!
GUNDAM Cafe
Next to the Unicorn Gundam in Odaiba, there is a “GUNDAM Cafe,” which is the second branch outside of Akihabara. However, it only offers takeout and sells some peripheral souvenirs. (The official website has announced that all GUNDAM Cafes in Japan will close on January 30, 2022. If they reopen after the pandemic, please refer to the official website for details.)
象征长廊公园 – 中央广场
If you come during cherry blossom season, don’t miss the park behind the Gundam statue. The tulips and cherry blossoms are very beautiful. If you come in the autumn, there’s also a large field of cosmos flowers!
Tokyo Gourmet Stadium – Delicious Food Street (Tokyo Food Arena)
As soon as you enter DiverCity from the Gundam robot square, you will find the “Tokyo Gourmet Stadium” with a plethora of famous food shops. What Fei-er finds coolest is that this place doesn’t feel like Tokyo at all. With a spacious seating area of up to 700 seats, you don’t have to worry about finding a seat or squeezing with others while dining. It’s a rare opportunity to enjoy a large seating dining environment in Tokyo.
▼ The restaurant highly recommended by Tokyo Gourmet Arena is “Kaneko Hannosuke”, where you can taste the Edo-style tempura from 300 years ago. The crispy ingredients and beautiful sauce are truly amazing. Although there is also a branch in Mitsui Outlet Park in Linkou, Taipei, it is still more leisurely to come to Japan because there is no need to queue!
The rainbow cotton candy “Decora Creamery” that was all the rage recently.
Carl’s Jr, which is quite famous in the United States.
The Tokyo Gourmet Arena on the second floor (2F) also has a Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore where you can shop duty-free.
【台場 Diver City 5F】hexaRide
(Translation: 【Odaiba Diver City 5F】hexaRide)- hexaRide website
- Ticket prices: 1000 yen for adults (approximately 280 New Taiwan dollars), 800 yen for ages 13-18, and 400 yen for ages 7-13.
The new entertainment facility “hexaRide” opened on the 5th floor of DiverCity Tokyo shopping center in Odaiba on November 2, 2018. At first glance, it seems to be another popular VR experience game facility, but because it is equipped with a centrifugal force and swinging motion platform that follows the screen, it is more realistic to play than static VR and does not cause severe dizziness. The storyline is based on two famous Japanese anime series, the first being Ghost in the Shell and the second being Attack on Titan: The Fall of Shiganshina District, which alternate daily.
The new theme is “Attack on Titan: The Fall of the Tower”. Fans of this anime can enjoy the intricate visuals and experience the thrill of leaping, traversing, falling, chasing, and exploding alongside the main characters. It’s very immersive and not too scary or intense. If you’re interested, come and give it a try.
【Odaiba Diver City 6F】Gourmet Restaurant
If you’re looking for good food in Odaiba and want to eat something a little better, the “Chicken Flavor Seat” on the 6th floor, which sells parent-child rice bowls and chicken soup ramen, is quite famous.
Come to the established yakiniku restaurant “Yakiniku Heijouen” founded in 1970 if you want to eat wagyu beef yakiniku.
【Odaiba Diver City 7F】Gundam Merchandise Store
Aside from taking photos of the giant Gundam in the plaza, Gundam fans should not forget to visit “THE GUNDAM BASE TOKYO,” located on the 7th floor. It is Japan’s first Gundam model complex facility, featuring a wide range of Gundam models and merchandise stores, offering over 2,000 types of Gundam products, including many limited editions. In addition, there are areas for learning and creating Gundam models, attracting Gundam fans from all over the world.
Diver City Shopping Mall
In addition to well-known brands for Taiwanese people, DiverCity in Odaiba also has some lesser-known but great Japanese brands to explore and shop. The first one is “BEAMS LIGHTS”. For grown-up girls and office ladies, it’s easy to find clothes here that are both professional and not too serious, which is known as the “good impression series” in Japan.
And the clothes at BLUE LABEL CRESTBRIDGE are more mature than BEAMS LIGHTS, but they are also very comfortable to wear and full of maturity.
Boys can also find many good styles when shopping at DiverCity. Although the unit price here may be slightly higher, the clothes really have better quality and texture than ordinary brands. Fashionable men really need to rely on their clothes!
The Japanese fashion brand “BEAUTY&YOUTH UNITED ARROWS” is extremely popular and is considered a youthful store with a college vibe.
▼ In recent years, many people have been crazy about Anello bags. In fact, they can be found in major shopping malls such as Ameyoko, Shinjuku, and even in Odaiba.
▼ The “Hello Kitty Japan” specialty store on the second floor also sells Hello Kitty-shaped figurines that are rarely seen.
▼ Next to it is the store of Gudetama.
One of my favorite things to do when I visit Japanese malls is to play the “ガラポン” (colorful ball lottery machine, also known as “ちゅうせんき”). The excitement of turning the hexagonal shape and waiting for the ball to drop out is truly different from just reaching into a lottery box!
Most people come to “Diver City Tokyo Plaza” for the same reason as me, to see the Unicorn Gundam and the light show transformation. This is because the stores in DiverCity Tokyo Plaza are more like department stores in Taiwan, mainly featuring brands such as H&M and Uniqlo that are also available in Taiwan. However, the park behind the mall is really beautiful during cherry blossom season and is perfect for a stroll. If you have more time in Odaiba, you can also visit Diver City.