■LAZONA kawasaki plaza

This truly massive shopping mall is attached to the west exit of the JR Kawasaki Station.  Designed by the well-known Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, the mall is home to about 300 shops and a wide choice of dining options, especially in the enormous “Grand Food” food court on the first floor.  With five floors of shopping and dining, all centered on a theme of “Food, Music and Travel,” it’s hard to imagine you won’t find something of interest here.

>>Access
72-1 Horikawa-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa

JR Kawasaki station====(connected to the west exit)====LAZONA kawasaki plaza

>>Hours
Shops/ 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Restaurants/ 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.


■LA CHITTADELLA

Yokohama’s La Cittadella shopping mall is an interesting mix of dining and retail space patterned on an Italian hilltown.  What makes it interesting is the architecture.  Rather than being a cartoonish replica, La Cittadella uses the hilltown model as a way of moving people through its space.  Where most malls use escalators to move people between levels, La Cittadella has a long, outdoor path winding up at an easy gradient, switching back and passing terraces, over bridges and through stepped gardens.  The centerpiece is an ampitheater surrounding a fountain, and most of the mall’s restaurants offer outdoor dining.   Restaurants actually outnumber shops here, another departure from the standard model.

In addition to the shops and restaurants, La Cittadella contains the Cinecitta, Japan’s first multiplex movie theater, and the Citta, a club drawing big name live acts throughout the year.

>>Access
4-1 Ogawa-machi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki city, Kanagawa

JR Kawasaki station====(5 min. on foot)====LA CHITTADELLA

>>Hours
Shops/ 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Restaurants/ 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
PIA (MAGGIORE B1F/Game)/ 9:00 a.m. - 0:45 a.m. 
BAGUS SPA (VIVACE 3F/Stone Spa)/ 11:00a.m. - 5:00 a.m.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-Matt Mangham

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Kawasaki