Live House Coming to Kyoto’s Heian Shrine Area — 5ch: ‘The Name TOKIO Is Just Terrible’

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The story

It’s been reported that a live house called “TOKIO KYOTO,” with a capacity of roughly 700 to 800, is set to open in January 2027 on a lot adjacent to Kyoto’s Heian Shrine. The operators reportedly built the concept around “Japanese-ness.” When the news hit 5ch’s Hello! Project board, discussion ranged across several angles: concern about how the facility’s name and location might affect the area’s scenery, how it would coexist with existing venues like Rohm Theatre Kyoto, and how it differs from the up-to-9,000-capacity “Kyoto Arena (tentative name)” being planned on the former site of the Muko-machi Velodrome. A defining feature of the thread was that welcoming voices and voices calling it a poor fit for the traditional townscape showed up side by side.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 28, 2026 18:58
Could come in handy for Hello! Project
5AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:00
Isn't this the place Eba and Kamifu wanted to play?
6AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:01
Juice=Juice can use Rohm Theatre
and everyone else could just use this place — seems like a good fit, no?
7AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:01
Kyoto's new live house, TOKIO KYOTO, set to open — standing capacity 700, theme is "Japanese-ness"
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0fe8ce5f86651440fcf9802a8ef7ad1b998b5734
17AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:05
Re: #7
So is it Tokyo or Kyoto, make up your mind (lol)
12AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:02
Haru-san's triumphant return to Rohm Theatre still hasn't happened, so let's just settle for this place instead
15AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:03
Won't this get shut down fast over scenery complaints?
22AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:10
Is it going up inside this?

23AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:10
Fukuoka's PARCO is closing next February too, and it's being rebuilt into a 22-story building with a live house and hall inside
Scale unknown
24AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:12
If they slap the name 'TOKIO' on it, won't Kyoto locals just refuse to go?
They've got that pride thing going
56AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:20
Re: #24
Isn't that more like Kenji Sawada?
25AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:13
Perfect for Haru-san then — Rohm Theatre's already monopolized by Eba and Mifu
26AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:14
Live house
KYOTO DO ESSE
27AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:14
The arena Juice=Juice is set to inaugurate

Construction is underway on the multi-purpose Kyoto Arena (tentative name), with a capacity of up to roughly 9,000, on the grounds of the Kyoto Muko-machi Velodrome in Muko City, Kyoto Prefecture. Facility overview — Planned opening: October 2028. Scale: 5 stories above ground, approx. 30m tall (total floor area approx. 29,774㎡). Capacity: approx. 8,925 seats for sports use, approx. 9,328 seats for concerts. Main uses: new home arena for pro basketball B.League team the Kyoto Hannaryz, various sporting events, concerts and other events. Surrounding development: alongside the main and sub arenas, commercial and dining facilities plus an outdoor plaza are planned. Including the renewed Muko-machi Velodrome, a full renewal opening is being targeted for fiscal 2029.
41AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:28
Re: #27
I really hope they pull it off
Eba and Mifu should be in their prime by then
29AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:17
But didn't they already do an event concert at Heian Shrine?
30AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:18
Would be nice if Nishida could leave the Kanto region for once and make a triumphant return here too
31AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:20
Taku Taku (a legendary Kyoto live house) is all we need
I'm so sick of out-of-towners pushing this 'tradition plus innovation' line
32AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:21
Seriously don't need this
I just don't know what to say… honestly
I've got nothing
36AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:24
TOKIO… the name is just way too bad
They've already stirred up needless backlash from Kyoto locals before even opening — it'll either fold fast or get forced into a rename
37AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:25
Juice=Juice only does arena-class shows these days anyway
38AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:26
Kyoto doesn't need some grubby little live house
It'll ruin the scenery
39AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:26
The stage is guaranteed to be super low
Worse than the CUTUP space at Tower Records
You'll only get a decent view up to the second row
40AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:28
800, huh
Kyoto locals hate noise, so it's hard to get permits for big halls here
42AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:30
It's better than if they'd built it up in north Kyoto, but
still, what a weirdly complicated spot to build in
43AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:35
Turns out Rohm Theatre has a small hall too — looked it up and it's 700 seats
Though that one's more for classical chamber music
Wonder if there's real demand for this one
44AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:38
Came all the way from way out east Kyoto, did you
45AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:42
It's such a beautiful part of town
Feels like exactly the kind of place where you shouldn't be running a live house
46AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:46
They call it 'a live house that represents Japan, full of Japanese-ness,' but all I see is something that'll wreck the character of the neighborhood
47AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:49
We've already got Gorilla Hall, no interest in going all the way to Kyoto
Not exactly a fun city
48AnonymousSep 28, 2026 19:54
The number of foreign tourists there now must be insane
Haven't been to Kyoto in like 20 years
Feels like it's changed even more than Shibuya has
54AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:13


55AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:17
So this'll be the new venue for Kansai-area Eba-Mifu events and bar events, huh
58AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:37
Re: #55
800 capacity is too small, right?
57AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:32
Come on… I don't even know what to do with this… seriously, what do they want from me
Who's actually going to go to this thing
And what's with the theme being "Japanese-ness"
If that's the case, name the place in Japanese
What's with 'TOKIO KYOTO,' are they stupid
Who exactly are they winking at
Who is this even for
59AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:38
Wait, no, saying I haven't been to Kyoto in 20 years is an exaggeration
I traveled out for an early Juice=Juice release event at a place called Shin-Puh-Kan
It's a quirky spot, kind of like a shrunk-down version of LaZona or LaQua
That was probably the last time I went to Kyoto
Around 2014 I think
60AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:42
I remember it being Chan-san's birthday event, 2013 maybe
62AnonymousSep 28, 2026 20:51
Heian Shrine itself is a newcomer that was only built during the Meiji era

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

Heian Shrine is often talked about as though it’s a symbol of the “thousand-year-old capital,” but it’s actually a relatively new structure, built in 1895 (Meiji 28) to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the founding of the Heian capital — a point some commenters raised themselves. The newly reported “TOKIO KYOTO” is a commercial live house set to open on the adjacent site in January 2027, with a capacity of roughly 700 to 800, and its official concept is built around “Japanese-ness.” On the thread, the central points of debate were unease about a commercial facility moving into a traditionally scenic district, and concern that an English-mixed facility name might clash with local sentiment. At the same time, some Hello! Project fans welcomed the idea simply because it gives Kansai-area shows a new venue, so opinions were split. One thing readers might easily confuse is that this facility is a separate project from the up-to-9,000-capacity “Kyoto Arena (tentative name),” currently under construction on the former site of the Muko-machi Velodrome and slated to open in 2028 or later — commenters in the thread also expressed hope that the two venues, given their different scales, would end up serving different purposes.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “An 800-capacity live house to open next to Kyoto’s Heian Shrine in January 2027.”

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