Smart Doll Tokyo Showroom

Before the pandemic, we welcomed visitors to our Tokyo walk-in store. When COVID-19 hit, I made the difficult decision to close the store—something I never thought I’d do. But as the saying goes, never say never.

While the store remains closed for general browsing, we do our best to accommodate scheduled visits and in-store pickups when possible. We’re generally available between 2 PM and 4 PM, Tuesday through Friday, but availability may vary depending on ongoing studio activity, or our holiday schedule — which may not align with public holidays.

If you’re interested in visiting, please get in touch first with your preferred time and any items you’re interested in (there’s no obligation to buy).

We usually don’t take bookings more than two weeks in advance, since we often take the team out on spontaneous field trips. To avoid any issues, please contact us within two weeks of your planned visit so we can confirm availability.

If it’s within that window, you’re welcome to place an order for pickup—just check with us first to make sure we’ll be around. At checkout, enter your Japan lodging address and include a note mentioning that you’ll be picking it up in person.

You can either:

We don’t recommend placing pickup orders too early, as we won’t be able to confirm whether we’ll be on-site when you visit.

Some folks like to order on the spot while at the store—but please note we don’t have public Wi-Fi available, so make sure your device has mobile data if you plan to do this - or you can use the iPad in the store.

All in-store pickups are subject to Japan’s 10% consumption tax, as we don’t offer duty-free processing. We accept credit cards, cash, and PayPal (if ordering online).

Also, while Google Maps may show our store as “open,” we’re unable to accommodate unscheduled visits. Booking ahead means we can give you our full attention without interrupting ongoing work.

When booking a visit with us, no need to worry about clashing with other visitors - we just schedule you at the same time ;-)

While I’m not always available in the studio, if you are interested in a chit chat then ask for me :-)

Location details are as follows.

ENGLISH ADDRESS
SMART DOLL
3-6-33 NISHI-GOTANDA
SHINAGAWA-KU
NISHI-GOTANDA BUILDING 1F
TOKYO

JAPANESE ADDRESS
SMART DOLL
東京都品川区西五反田3-6-33
西五反田ビル1階

Map/地図 > https://tinyurl.com/3ts666hn

Contact > email

TRANSPORT
Nearest station is Gotanda (五反田) on the JR line or Ikegami line. Fudomae is also an option on the Meguro line. Use the Google Map link above for directions. If you got no Internets, save a map in your mobile by typing into your google maps app "OK MAPS" and it will cache a map of the area - as long as you got GPS you will find it.

Folks should not send anything to the above address as the security guards dispose of any item that we do not register as being expected.
Folks should not leave donuts on the doorstep (like folks have done before) or linger about expecting jobs to be handed to them (like folks have done before).

As the world shifted toward online shopping and remote work, we found that reopening our store to walk-in visitors—even after pandemic restrictions eased—was more costly than beneficial.

Maintaining a physical storefront required significant time and resources. Staff had to remain on standby at all times, price tags needed constant updating to match online changes, and the store layout—along with the dolls’ outfits—had to be refreshed regularly, much like the window displays at Selfridges. While rewarding, these tasks diverted time and attention from other parts of the business that needed more focus.

Our location also sees little foot traffic, meaning there were often entire days without any walk-ins. This made it difficult to justify the operational costs.

In the post-pandemic period, our sales increased five-fold. To keep up with demand, we’ve since repurposed the entire store as a shipping center during peak times—a change that’s helped us serve more customers more efficiently.

Another reason we don’t accept walk-ins is because the store is often used for filming — both for internal content and when media come to visit. This was the case when CNN stopped by to shoot a piece at the store. You can see the clip on the CNN site from the 4:11 mark.

Smart Doll is occasionally featured on Japanese TV too - this filming was with actor and TV presenter Junji Takada.