Many Japanese department stores are located nearby the train stations, some of them being actually owned by the railway companies. One of the important department store chains is PARCO, whose first store was established in 1954 inside the Ikebukuro train station building.

The store was called Marubutsu, and the PARCO name appeared in 1969, after the original company was bought by the railway company Seibu. Here’s a bird’s-eye night view of the surrounding area, featuring the Seibu and PARCO billboards, photographed from the Sunshine 60 observatory.

View from Sunshine 60, Ikebukuro, Tokyo

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