Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Sorry! We don't have any recommendations for Tokyo right now.
Tokyo is Japan's showcase. The crazy clothing styles, obscure electronics, and new games found here are capable of setting trends for the rest of the country—and perhaps the rest of Asia, and even Europe and America.
Part of the Tokyo shopping experience is simply to observe, and on Saturday especially, in districts like the Ginza and Shinjuku, you will notice that the Japanese approach to shopping can be nothing short of feverish. You’ll probably want to resist the urge to join in the fray, especially since many of the wildly trendy clothes and accessories for sale will already be "uncool" by the time you get home. But shopping in Tokyo can also be an exercise in elegance and refinement, especially if you shop for items that are Japanese-made for Japanese people and sold in stores that don't cater to tourists. With brilliantly applied color, balance of form, and superb workmanship, crafts items can be exquisite and well worth the price you'll pay—and some can be quite expensive.
Note the care taken with items after you purchase them, especially in department stores and boutiques. Goods will be wrapped, wrapped again, bagged, and sealed. Sure, the packaging can be excessive—does anybody really need three plastic bags for one croissant?—but such a focus on presentation has deep roots in Japanese culture.
This focus on presentation also influences salespeople who are invariably helpful and polite. In the larger stores they greet you with a bow when you arrive, and many of them speak at least enough English to help you find what you're looking for. There's a saying in Japan: o-kyaku-sama wa kami-sama, "the customer is a god"—and since the competition for your business is fierce, people do take it to heart.
Horror stories abound about prices in Japan—and some of them are true. Yes, European labels can cost a fortune here, but did you really travel all the way to Tokyo to buy an outfit that would be cheaper in the designer mall at home? True, a gift-wrapped melon from a department-store gourmet counter can cost $150. But you can enjoy gawking even if you don’t want to spend like that. And if you shop around, you can find plenty of gifts and souvenirs at fair prices.
Japan has finally embraced the use of credit cards, although some smaller mom-and-pop shops may still take cash only. So when you go souvenir hunting, be prepared with a decent amount of cash; Tokyo's low crime rates make this a low-risk proposition. The dishonor associated with theft is so strong, in fact, that it's considered bad form to conspicuously count change in front of cashiers.
Japan has an across-the-board 8% value-added tax (V.A.T.) imposed on luxury goods. This tax can be avoided at some duty-free shops in the city (don't forget to bring your passport). It's also waived in the duty-free shops at the international airports, but because these places tend to have higher profit margins, your tax savings there are likely to be offset by the higher markups.
Stores in Tokyo generally open at 10 or 11 am and close at 8 or 9 pm.
Aqua City is almost indistinguishable from its next-door neighbor, Decks Tokyo Beach. What does set it apart from a regular shopping mall is the variety of food options: a food court in the basement, a barbeque spot on the roof, and a ramen theme park—as well as its own shrine. It also boasts a cinema and a wide selection of Japanese and international brands.
Opened in June 2020, Ariake Garden is a large-scale shopping mall with more than 200 stores, a hotel, spa with hot spring access, theater, rooftop terrace, and garden.
Ignore the name (this isn’t a pearl store), the Pearl Center is a classic shotengai (covered shopping arcade) running for just over half a kilometer (⅓ mile) on the south side of Asagaya Station. Like many shotengai, it houses a mishmash of stores, from cafés and small eateries to everyday goods stores and clothing shops. You will also find places selling kimonos, crafts, and traditional sweets. It’s a great place to soak up some local flavor and possibly pick up a souvenir. Most stores open around 11 am.
If you want to equip yourself for the neighborhood's annual Sanja Festival in May, this is the place to come for traditional costumes. Best buys here are sashiko hanten, which are thick, woven firemen's jackets; and happi coats, cotton tunics printed in bright colors with Japanese characters. Some items are available in children's sizes.
Classy and cutting-edge furniture, electronics, fabrics, ceramics, and books are sold at this multistory design center on the main Roppongi drag of Gaien-Higashi-dori. Savoir Vivre has an excellent selection of ceramics; Le Garage has accessories for high-end cars. On the fourth floor, the JIDA Design Museum shows the best of what's current in Japanese industrial design.
This Beams boutique's main draw is the limited-edition Porter bag for men and women, plus other collaborations of savvy daily goods, including brands such as Monocle, Wonderwall, and Wacko Maria.
Since the late 1990s, no brand has been more coveted by Harajuku scenesters than the BATHING APE label (shortened to BAPE) founded by DJ–fashion designer NIGO. At the height of the craze, hopefuls would line up outside NIGO's well-hidden boutiques and pay ¥7,000 for a T-shirt festooned with a simian visage or Planet of the Apes quote. BAPE has since gone aboveground, with the brand expanding across the globe. You can see what the fuss is all about in this spacious two-story shop with an upstairs conveyor belt of sneakers that is always a draw.
Bic Camera is one of Tokyo's largest discount electronics retailers and has multiple locations around the station. While you might see cameras and camera parts on display, this store has everything from kitchen gadgets you didn't know existed to the latest in audio and mobile devices.
If you're looking for vintage fashion and don't feel like making the trek to Shimokitazawa, Bingo is your place. It is on the third floor of the Modi building just north of Shibuya Crossing. You can't miss the greenery-covered corner entrance. The Modi building also houses a variety of other stores and just might be worth a visit even if you aren't looking for vintage clothing.
This tasteful four-floor shop allows you to complete your souvenir shopping in one place. The store carries traditional handicrafts—including ceramics, toys, lacquerware, Noh masks, fabrics, and lots more—from all over Japan.
This mammoth bookstore, an annex of Takashimaya, devotes most of its sixth floor to English titles, with an excellent selection of travel guides, magazines, and books on Japan.
Unlike other big stores in the Nihonbashi area, this sparkling mall feels contemporary thanks to an open layout and extensive use of glass. Neighboring it are three more new glittery towers: Coredo Muromachi 1, 2, and 3, which fuse traditional housewares stores with modern fashion boutiques. The in-house Nihonbashi Tourist Center runs workshops on everything from dressing like a Geisha to cooking food.
Serious cosplayers need serious costumes and this cosplay specialty store is where they shop for serious supplies. Anime, manga, video game characters? You'll find them all here, and more, especially as Cospatio shares the fourth floor of its building with a handful of other geeky stores, as well as a maid café.
Diver City gets a lot of foot traffic, mainly due to the life-sized Gundam robot statue welcoming shoppers in at the door. It also boasts a wide selection of stores and a food court with many dining options.
This 24-hour discount store has chains all around the country. The generally tight quarters aren't recommended for those with claustrophobia, but bargain hunters love the costumes, odd cosmetics, family-size bags of Japanese snacks, and used luxury handbags and watches. It's all haphazardly stacked from the floor to the ceiling.
This branch of the popular chain sells very reasonably priced interior goods that are trendy among young, urban Tokyoites. Here you'll find everything from the funky to the silly. Expect to see things like waffle irons shaped like cartoon characters, and kitchenware items from chopsticks to things you never knew you needed.
An English-speaking staff, a central Omotesando location, and antiques ranging from ceramics to swords are the big draws at this shop, in business since 1948. In particular Fuji-Torii has an excellent selection of folding screens, lacquerware, painted glassware, and ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). You can also pick up contemporary gifts, such as reading glasses with frames wrapped in traditional fabric.
Hana is the oldest art gallery in Shimokitazawa, a place not known for its art, and the offerings change about every other week. Its central location and eclectic collections make it worth a stop, but so do their shows that typically feature Japanese artists you might have never heard of before. It's usually closed on Tuesdays.
Kawano sells kimonos and kimono fabric in a variety of patterns. A satchel made of crepe fabric called kinchaku is the bag traditionally held when wearing a kimono, and cute little patchwork ones here make a unique find.
Ganso is one of several shops on Kappabashi-dori specializing in sanpuru, the replicas of food and drinks seen in many restaurant window displays. As well as realistic fake beers and plates of noodles, they also sell sushi-shaped trinkets. Or you could stop by for one of their afternoon workshops (¥2,500 per person) to make your own fake tempura.
One of the biggest and swankiest commercial complexes in the city, Ginza Six opened with much fanfare in 2017 and didn’t disappoint. Below the office spaces that occupy the upper floors, you’ll find another six floors above and below ground home to outlets of brands like Celine, Fendi, and Jimmy Choo. There are also cosmetic stores, deli foods, restaurants, art installations, and even a basement Noh theater. It's immediately across the street from the 12-story flagship of budget fashion brand Uniqlo.
One of the finest jewelers in Japan was founded in 1892. The store specializes in precious metals and diamond jewelry. It also sells a wide variety of art objects in gold, like those found on Buddhist altars.
Virtually defining Aoyama elegance is this small cobblestone shopping center, which draws well-heeled young professionals to its handful of fashion boutiques, spa, and a specialty store of Japanese crafts from Fukui Prefecture.
Cool and quirky T-shirts are the main focus of this store, but you can find other items in the frequently-changing lineup of designs that run from cartoon characters and odd quotes to abstract graphic images.
Near the Harajuku end of Omotesando, this mall houses luxury-brand shops such as Chanel and Maison Martin Margiela, three concept shops by Comme des Garçons, and one of only three Museum of Modern Art Design Stores outside New York City.
This is the last place in Tokyo to carry government-approved skin cleanser made from powdered nightingale droppings. Ladies of the Edo period—especially the geisha—swore by the cleanser. These days this 300-year-old-plus cosmetics shop sells little of the nightingale powder, but its theatrical makeup for Kabuki actors, geisha, and traditional weddings—as well as unique items like seaweed shampoo, camellia oil, and handcrafted combs and cosmetic brushes—makes it a worthy addition to your Asakusa shopping itinerary.
This small, cluttered souvenir shop in the Nishi-Sando arcade carries antique swords and reproductions and has some English-speaking salesclerks.
Established in 1886, "the Bergdorf's of Tokyo" is known for its high-end fashions both local and foreign, including a selection of larger sizes not found in most Tokyo stores. The second and third floors have champagne bars and snazzy store design that rival the world's best shops, making this one of the most pleasant shopping experiences in Tokyo, or anywhere, for that matter. The basement food court, which includes both traditional and modern prepared cuisine, is one of the city's largest in a department store.
Completely remodeled in 2015, this huge paper emporium is brimming with locally crafted and imported stationery, much of which is designed to translate traditional motifs onto contemporary office tools.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
