Senkyaku Banrai: Why This Tokyo Tourist Trap Has So Few Foreign Tourists

More foreign tourists will visit Japan this year than ever. But you won’t see many of them at this spot near Toyosu.

Picture: Unseen Japan (all rights reserved)

By Jay Allen

Go to any “tourist-y” location in Tokyo these days and, depending on the day and time, you’re bound to find yourself stuck in pedestrian traffic jams and long cafe lines. That’s not true, however, of a relatively new tourist trap located near the Toyosu fish market. Even on a weekend, this location seems to be full of Japanese visitors and very few foreign tourists. Why are foreign tourists just not into Sankyaku Banrai?

Another artificial tourist experience in Tokyo

The outside of Senkyau Banrai seen from the bridge leading from Shijō-mae Station. (Picture: Unseen Japan)

Senkyaku Banrai (千客万来; “roaring business”) is a new Edo town-style attraction opened by MANYO CLUB Inc. in February 2024. Located near the Toyosu Fish Market across the street from Shijō-mae Station, the location contains a two-level pedestrian walkway featuring shops offering small food bites, drinks, desserts, specialty packaged food from traditional Japanese retailers, and souvenirs. There’s an outside area, the Menuki Odori, as well as an inside area, the…