Kichijoji Plaza Theater

The Kichijoji Toei Theater opened its doors on September 8, 1956 as a Toei premiere single-screener. However, unlike most Toei theaters, the Kichijoji Toei was not directly managed by Toei but was managed by Toko Films. Its original manager at the time is Naoichi Arai.

This was part of the Kichijoji area’s massive movie theater growth, which by 1958 had nine theaters in total, alongside the Toei. The other eight theaters at the time are the Kichijoji Odeon, Kichijoji Subaruza, Kichijoji Toho, Kichijoji Daiei, Kichijoji Cony, Inokashira Shochiku, Musashino Theater, and the Kichijoji Meigaza.

In 1977, Ichiro Hirano, who had been revitalizing Shintoho’s directly managed theaters in Chiba, became the manager of the Kichijoji Toei. In May 1979, its current Kichijoji Toko Building’s construction was completed, and its original location on 2-0-61 Kichijoji closed when it relocated to the then-newly-constructed building on 1-11-19 Kichijoji. After some back-and-forth with Toei and other parties, Hirano renamed the theater Kichijoji Plaza Theater on July 12, 1997, and the theater began to screen Toho films as well.

The Kichijoji Plaza Theater operated as a single-screener throughout its entire life, and the theater closed for the final time on January 31, 2024 due to the inability to secure sufficient revenue to cover major renovations due to the aging of its facilities.

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