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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.
North of Roppongi, near Aoyama-itchome Station, this store shows the best craft work from all over the country, from paper to tools to pottery. Some of the prices in the shop can be deservedly high, but this is an excellent place to find one-of-a-kind, high-quality items. In addition to the gift shop, the center houses rotating crafts exhibits and hosts workshops and demonstrations.
A samurai who couldn't support himself as a feudal retainer launched this business selling handmade boxwood combs in 1736. It has been in the same family ever since. Jusan-ya is on Shinobazu-dori, a few doors west of its intersection with Chuo-dori in Ueno.
The brightly colored bulk packages of rice crackers, shrimp-flavored chips, and other Japanese snacks sold here make offbeat gifts.
Specializing in rare prints, academic texts, and literature, Kitazawa Shoten has been selling books since 1902. The floor-to-ceiling dark wood bookshelves stacked with hardcovers are overflowing—sometimes quite literally—with interesting finds.
The unique geometric shape of Kitte’s interior, which was partly designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, sets this department store apart. It also has a notable free history museum (called Intermediatheque) and an expansive rooftop garden overlooking Tokyo Station on the sixth floor. The department store’s name, Kitte, is a play on the Japanese words “stamp” and “come”. It makes sense once you know that Japan Post was the building’s developer.
Workers shape and hone blades in one corner of this shop, which carries cutlery, pocketknives, saws, and more. Scissors with handles in the shape of Japanese cranes are among the many unique gift items sold here, and custom-made knives are available, too. Kiya is located in the Coredo Muro-machi complex.
Are you looking for some high-class used or vintage luxury watches or jewelry or want to browse through luxury fashion? If you are looking to sell your own high-end goods, you can do so in the watch and jewelry shop. Three separate stores occupy a block east of Shinjuku Station--a men's, women's, and watches shop--reselling a dizzying variety of name-brand goods.
Bamboo is the name of the game here, and a plethora of goods range from baskets to display stands made of the resilient, natural material.
In business for more than a century, Kyugetsu sells handcrafted Japanese dolls. Each piece is individually made by one of Kyugetsu's artisans making for a unique—albeit expensive—souvenir. Dolls run from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
Kyukyodo has been in business since 1663—and in this spacious Ginza location since 1880—selling wonderful handmade Japanese papers, paper products, incense, brushes, and other materials for calligraphy.
The 140 or so stores at this Harajuku mall are where teen trends are born. Although shop genres vary from Gothic Lolita to bohemian chic, they all target fashion-conscious teenagers. Rumor has it that many of the West's top fashion designers still come here to look for inspiration for their next collections.
One of the big Akihabara department stores, LAOX has several locations and the largest and most comprehensive selection in the district, with four buildings. The seven-story main branch is duty-free, with three floors dedicated to electronic gadgets, such as lightweight vacuum cleaners and eco-friendly humidifiers, that come with English instruction booklets. LAOX has annexes—one exclusively for musical instruments, another for duty-free appliances—and outlets in Ginza, Odaiba, and Narita Airport. This is a good place to find the latest in digital cameras, watches, and games. English-speaking staff members are on call.
The half-Japanese, half-French duo who make this brand are former DJs and music producers, which may explain why the funky clothes have such a cool edge to them. The Kitsuné Café, which is just up the street and around a corner, serves some of the best coffee in the area and sells some Kitsuné-branded goods.
This perennial tourist favorite manufactures the plastic food that's displayed outside almost every Tokyo restaurant. Ersatz sushi, noodles, and even beer cost just a few thousand yen. You can buy tiny plastic key holders and earrings, or splurge on a whole Pacific lobster, perfect in coloration and detail down to the tiniest spines on its legs.
Not one Mandarake store, but nearly 30 of them, each with a distinct specialty, are found in the Nakano Broadway mall. Every otaku culture need is catered to here. If you want a Kamen Rider figurine, head to Mandarake Special 3 on the third floor, while fans of tabletop role-playing games like Warhammer should make a beeline for the Kojosen branch on the fourth floor. The list of geeky specialties goes on and on.
Hip-hop, reggae, house, and R&B vinyl can be found here, and a DJ booth pumps out the jams from the center of the room.
This long-standing doll emporium by Asakusabashi Station specializes in hina dolls, or emperor and empress sets in extravagant Heian-era clothing. Some families with young girls display these every year for one month until March 2, Girls' Day. Asakusabashi is one stop west of Ryogoku on the JR Chuo and Sobu lines or two stops south of Asakusa on the Asakusa subway line.
Bringing some much-needed retail dazzle to the area are these six shopping, office, and dining mega-complexes called Marunoucuhi, Shin-marunouchi, Oazo, Iiyo, Brick Square, and Tokia. Highlights include the fifth-floor open terrace on the Marunouchi building, with its view of Tokyo Station, and Bricksquare, which has its own oasislike European garden on the ground floor to rest in between bouts of shopping at the luxury and everyday boutiques.
In this flagship branch of the Maruzen chain in the Oazo building, there are English titles on the fourth floor as well as art books; the store also hosts occasional art exhibits.
The Ginza branch of Japan's first department-store chain has been open since 1930 and remains the largest department store in the area, with a sprawling grass-covered terrace on the ninth floor that provides a respite from the shopping bustle. On the third floor is an area called "Le Place" that sells only local designer fashion, and the two basement floors have an impressive selection of delicacies.
Although many of the shops have moved from selling traditional crafts to cheap knickknacks (often not made in Japan), it is worth passing down on your way to Senso-ji for the atmosphere. It is just as lively as it was when it was established in the Edo period, although now shops sells cheap sushi key chains and T-shirts alongside traditional hairpieces and silk screens. The entrance is marked by the giant red lantern at the Kaminari-mon, and ends at the grounds of the Senso-ji Complex.
Kimono and yukata (cotton kimono) fabrics, traditional accessories, swords, and festival costumes at very reasonable prices are all for sale at this Asakusa arcade. It runs east of the area's movie theaters, between Roku-ku and the Senso-ji Complex.
Architect Tadao Ando's adventure in concrete is also one of Tokyo's monuments to shopping. Despised and adored with equal zeal, the controversial project demolished the charming yet antiquated Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments along Omotesando Avenue. Six wedge-shape floors include some brand-name heavy hitters (Yves Saint Laurent, Jimmy Choo and Harry Winston) and a wide range of smaller stores whose shelves showcase mid- to high-end shoes and bags. It's worth a stroll to see the latest in Japanese haute couture, and restaurants and cafés can also be found here—but beware of long lines at weekends.
These vertical malls filled with small retail shops and boutiques are all within walking distance of one another in the commercial heart of Shibuya. Shops range from a collections of designer brands to an entire floor focused on game and anime goods. The rooftop food garden offers a break from shopping and views over Shibuya.
Zakka is what the Japanese call small knickknacks and gifts, and this eccentric store is brimming with zakka from the coffers of local fashion designers, artists, magazine editors, celebrities, and other stylish Tokyo denizens. The carefully curated goods are fixed up and resold, with an option to give a portion of the profit to charity. It is tucked inside the Brick Square complex, next to an English rose garden.
Eight floors featuring a variety of independent vendors selling mini–spy cameras, cell phones disguised as stun guns, manga, plastic models, gadgets, and oddball hobby supplies are sold here. Start browsing from the top floor and work your way down. There are two annexes across the street as well.
Next to the Midtown Tokyo complex, this is possibly the most exclusive and fashion-forward boutique in the city. Its three floors are made up of a cluster of stores, from luxury stores for men and women to a surf and activewear store, a café, and another store dedicated to high-end lifestyle gadgets like headphones, toy cameras, and stylish mobile peripherals.
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