{Japan: Eat} Gyoza Stadium @ Namco Namja Town ’08
In a Nutshell:
- Where: Namco Namja Town, Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Tokyo
- When: May, 2008
- *Notes: Website, Map and short description at Bento.com, Namco Namja Town has been renovated since my visit and while Gyoza Stadium is still there, Ice Cream City has been replaced with Dessert Yokocho, 500 JPY entry fee
Full Report:
It recently came to my attention that Namco Namja Town had undergone a complete overhaul and unveiled a new and improved version of itself this last summer. I don’t know the specifics of their renovations, but I’ve heard that Gyoza Stadium has been cleaned up a bit and Dessert Yokocho stands in place of Ice Cream City. While I doubt I’ll be going back there on my upcoming Japan trip, I do have good memories of our visit there in 2008.
M, my brother, and I went to Namco Namja Town for the sole purpose of checking out Gyoza Stadium, a food theme park dedicated to the popular Japanese dumpling. Entry to Namco Namjatown was pretty cheap (300 JPY) but all attractions/rides inside required an additional fee.
Gyoza Stadium was not exactly what we expected. The whole set-up was somewhat messy and unorganized, with a bunch of booths all crammed together. Still, we had heard that 11 of the best gyoza restaurants in the country were represented there so we were excited to sample the food.
As we weren’t given any kind of guide explaining which booth was selling what, we were initially unsure of which booth to buy from. Then my brother noticed that all the booths featured a large framed picture of a person who we assumed was the chef/creator of that booth’s gyozas. In a method that’s similar to choosing a book by its cover, we began buying gyozas from booths whose pictures we took a liking to!
We bought gyozas from a total of 4 booths and took our food over to the eating area. Everything turned out to be pretty good, although M and my brother probably enjoyed the gyozas more than I did. (If I’m going to be eating dumplings, I prefer dim sum.) After finishing our lunch, we headed over to Ice Cream City for dessert. I was immediately drawn to a stall where a man was using a long stick to stir the ice cream. I’m not sure if this was all a gimmick to get customers because the ice cream tasted pretty ordinary. But I did appreciate the show and the man was extremely friendly. I hope he has been re-employed at Dessert Yokocho since Ice Cream City is no more!
I love the food culture of Japan and gyoza is a BIG weakness. It was unfortunate that I could not partake in ALL of the delicious offerings around me this past trip, I was diagnosed with non-Celiac gluten intolerance which limited what I could have. Boo!!!!! 😦 I wonder if there ever will be a gluten-free version of gyoza? ❤
I had never heard of non-Celiac gluten intolerance before. How were you diagnosed for it? I’m sorry that you weren’t able to eat all that you wanted on your last trip. Yes, hopefully they will make a gluten-free version of gyoza someday!
Seriously? A gyoza stadium? I absolutely love gyoza!!! i’m definitely putting this in my bucket list! Thanks for sharing!
When you go, the Gyoza Stadium should be nicer than what’s shown in my blog since it’s been remodeled. And even though Ice Cream City is no more, Dessert Yokocho looked so cute in pictures. I can’t wait until you guys go to Japan because I’m already looking forward to your restaurant reviews!
I’ve always wanted to visit Namja Town! The food itself is pretty attractive to me 😛
Hopefully you will get to go there someday soon. If you like gyozas then you will definitely be in food heaven. Even though Ice Cream City is gone I think Dessert Yokocho looks a lot cuter from what I’ve seen in photos…..a lot of the desserts are decorated to look like animals!
Eating culture in Japan is so fascinating! So they don’t serve anything other than Gyoza?
It’s been so long since I went to Gyoza Stadium that I can’t remember if they served anything other than gyoza. But I’m guessing that was it. Each stall had a variety of difference types and I think one we got was quite spicy and I wasn’t able to eat more than a piece. Oh, yes, they also sold rice. My brother doesn’t consider a meal to be complete unless there’s rice!
I’ve always wanted to go, but have never gotten round to it. I really must!
Thanks so much for commenting and sorry for this very late reply. Just got back from a month long trip to Japan and am only now catching up on all my WordPress correspondence. Yes, Namco Namja Town was lots of fun when I went, I’m sure you’ll have a great time when you go, especially if you’re a gyoza lover. I would have liked to see the updated version of it on this last Japan trip but I ran out of time. Maybe on the next trip!
Oh my God, I’ve been there (and in ’08, too)! Gyoza Stadium had the best gyoza I have ever eaten in my life. Namja Town was cute and fun, but neither myself or my travel companion could read Kanji, so we missed out on a vast majority of it.
Namco Namja Town was fun even I though I was in the same boat as you: “What the heck does all this Kanji say?” So aside from eating gyoza and getting some ice cream there wasn’t much else to do. Funny how you were there in the same year. We went in May ’08, it was such a great trip.
So was I, how very odd of a coincidence. That was my first trip to Japan, and in fact my first time out of the country (not counting Canada, hah!). We also made it to Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka and Oita in that trip.
We were there at the very end of May, how about you? It was a really short trip, only a week and we were only in Tokyo. I’ve spent time in Kobe, Kyoto, and Osaka, but not Oita (have only been to the airport, if that counts!). How did you like it there?
I was there in the beginning of May. It seems slightly less creepy that at least we were there in a different time of the month. The trip was just over a week, so was a whirlwind tour of Japan. Oita was a destination for me because my ex-wife’s grandma (and a few other of her relatives) lived there. I had a great time, but that was not necessarily because of the city. Assumably, it had more to do with the people I met there. I’m not sure that I would recommend Oita as a place to visit for other people. Although, on my second trip there, I did have the opportunity to wear samurai armor at a local castle (a jo I do not recall the actual name or location of, sorry), and got to wander a town that has not been changed since before the Meiji era. Otherwise, I don’t think Oita has much to offer to visitors that do not have a specific reason to visit.
One thing though, is that there was a wonderful spa up in the mountain region of Yufu, which also has a great museum specializing in life and art in medieval Japan. If those sound interesting, it might be worth checking out if you are in the area sometime, but probably not worth a special trip.
If we’d determined that our Namco Namjatown visits were on the same day that would have been pretty weird! 5 cities in a little over a week when it’s your first time to Japan is a whirlwind trip indeed! The first couple of times I went to Japan, I only stayed in Tokyo and I was still exhausted by the end of the trip. So I’m impressed! I’m glad to hear you had a great time in Oita. I love the people of Kyushu, I find them to be warmer and friendlier than the people on the other 4 islands.
Although I didn’t get to see any of Oita City other than the airport, we did go to Beppu which is in Oita Prefecture and, I believe, next to Yufu. I absolutely loved Beppu, we stayed at the Suginoi Hotel which is up in the hills and has a fabulous hot springs facility. I definitely plan to go back to Beppu someday so I would love to also check out Yufu and Oita at that time. I really enjoyed reading about your trip, thanks so much for your comment!
There is no way that I could possible remember what day I was at Namjatown exactly, but at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if it WAS the same day.
The coincidences just get weirder and weirder. I have been to Beppu AND Yufu! A friend was working in Beppu as an English teacher, so we met up in both Oita and Beppu on several occasions, including a trip to a wonderful co-ed onsen. I don’t remember where or the name, so please don’t ask.
I was fortunate enough to have a free place to stay both times I was in Oita. Kyushu was much more friendly and laid back than anywhere else I went in Japan, but I’m afraid I have only been to two of the four islands. I would really like to get out to Shikoku on my next trip.
Did you visit Yufu at all? It was a really cool city from my experience. There is a museum there that deals with medieval Japanese culture, art and lifestyle and also has a small section about ancient Korean pottery, which was apparently very popular in Japan. Every exhibition of the museum was in a building designed to look like medieval Japanese houses. There is also a great spa just outside of town on top of the mountain with a beautiful onsen. The restaurant serves traditional Japanese dishes, and I ate whale tail there.
Did you make it to the castle and attached preserved town in Beppu? That was also another great highlight.
If the onsen you went to in Beppu was at the Suginoi Hotel then that would be hilarious! Suginoi was very Westernized so if you went to a more traditional one then you most likely went to a different one than I did.
How lucky that you’ve been able to stay in Oita for free! Did you get home cooked meals too? Aside from Tokyo, Kyushu is my favorite place to visit in Japan. I really want to dedicate one trip to seeing all the major cities on that island. So far, I’ve been to Beppu, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Miyazaki. Nagasaki was my favorite by far, the city is so different from any other in Japan because of all the Dutch and Chinese traders that used to pass through the city. The Peace Memorial and Museum are also such an experience, I actually liked it better than the ones in Hiroshima. I haven’t been able to get to Yufu at all but I’ll definitely have to visit the next time I’m in Kyushu. So exciting that you got to eat whale, what did it taste like?
Shikoku was fantastic when I went even though we only stopped in the city of Kochi. The castle there is one of the few original ones that remain in Japan. The majority of castles are reconstructions and while they’re nice to visit, they’re so modern on the inside. Kochi Castle will make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.
I wish I could’ve done more in Beppu but we were only there for a night so we spent most of our time holed up in our hotel, relaxing at the onsen. When do you think you’ll be going to Japan again?
I have a feeling that is the same hotel! I have not been to most of the Kyushu cities you’ve listed, except Fukuoka. That city was not really to my liking, though. Whale had a very subtle flavor that was similar to tako (because it was from the tail, and not a meat section), but with a strange bubbly texture.
The castle I went to in Beppu I believe is also an original, but it was a very small one. I honestly probably won’t be going back to Japan anytime soon, there are so many other places I would like to visit.
I know how you feel. I’d love to see other parts of the world, but my boyfriend and I can’t seem to compromise on anywhere other than certain Asian countries! He really wants to do an African safari and Antarctica and I want to go to Europe and some tropical islands. Maybe I can talk him in to some Southern American countries!
The two of you could try arriving at a compromise that involves going to a place that you want to go in exchange for a place that he does. Barring that, you could decide to go somewhere that is close to, but not really in line with either of your personal destination plans. There are many places in Africa you can do a safari, not just one! It seems that you both should be a little more open minded, because you never know what wonderful things you might experience somewhere new, regardless of whose list it is on.
My trip to India was one that was agreed on grudgingly, because I was not particularly interested in going there. But it turned out to be my favorite and most life changing places I have ever been. I did not particularly want to go there, but I have NEVER looked back. There is much to be learned from travel destinations that are arrived at from compromise!