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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.
Although this shop specializes in washi and other papers printed in traditional Japanese designs, it also carries brushes, inkstones, and other calligraphy tools. In addition, a gallery at the entrance showcases a seasonal selection of traditional stationery as well as works by local artists.
The rice crackers, shrimp-flavored chips, and other Japanese snacks in brightly colored packages sold at this ramshackle Kappabashi store make offbeat gifts.
Recognizable by its stately entryway, Kitazawa has been in business since 1902 and specializes in rare prints, academic texts, and literary works. The dark-wood, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves are overflowing 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 on the second floor (called Intermediatheque) and an expansive sixth-floor rooftop garden overlooking Tokyo Station. In the basement is the Tokyo City Tourist & Business Information Center, where English-speaking staffers can share info on attractions and events in and around Tokyo. 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.
In business since 1909, this open-fronted store on Kapppabashi almost looks like a garage sale, with its stacks of bowls, plates, hotpots, and other traditional ceramics. Most of it comes with a very affordable price tag.
Reselling a variety of name-brand goods, this retailer's three separate stores—one for men, one for women, and one for watches and jewelry—occupy a block east of Shinjuku Station and are like well-curated and uncluttered secondhand shops. If you want a bit more cash for shopping, the watch and jewelry store also buys merchandise.
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 exquisite Japanese dolls that make unique—albeit expensive—souvenirs. Each one is individually handcrafted by an artisan, and prices range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
In business since 1663—and in this spacious location since 1880—Kyukyodo sells wonderful handmade Japanese papers, paper products, incense, brushes, and other materials for calligraphy.
Teen trends are born in this mall's stores, where merchandise genres range from Gothic Lolita to bohemian chic. It's even rumored that designers frequent this place to see where fashion is headed.
One of the big Akihabara department stores, LAOX is an outlet for consumer electronics and appliances. The main branch is duty-free, with four floors dedicated to gadgets, (lightweight vacuum cleaners, eco-friendly humidifiers) that come with English instruction booklets. LAOX is also good place to find the latest digital cameras, watches, and games. It has outlets in Narita Airport as well as Sapporo's New Chitose Airport. English-speaking staff members are on call.
This tiny shop is crammed with vintage magazines—interspersed with photography books—from all over the world. There is a heavy emphasis on fashion, culture, and lifestyle publications.
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 great coffee 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 focus, can be found in the Nakano Broadway shopping plaza. Nearly every otaku culture need is catered to here. If you want a Kamen Rider figurine, head to Mandarake Special 3 on the third floor. If you're a fan of tabletop role-playing games like Warhammer, make a beeline for the Kojosen branch on the fourth floor. Or, maybe you've outgrown otaku culture, and want to sell your goods? Try the third floor buy-back stand.
Whatever you're looking for in music—hip-hop, reggae, house, R&B—can be found at this shop, where a DJ booth in the center of the room pumps out the jams.
This well-established emporium by Asakusabashi Station specializes in hina (emperor and empress) dolls in extravagant Heian-era clothing. Some families with young girls display these for the month prior to Girls' Day (March 2nd). 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, Bricksquare, which has its own oasis-like European garden on the ground floor—the perfect spot to rest in between bouts of shopping at the luxury and everyday boutiques.
This flagship branch of the Maruzen chain, in the Oazo building, has English titles on the fourth floor as well as art books. The store also hosts occasional art exhibits.
The second-floor of this slick major department store has the European-designer boutiques (Prada, Luis Vuitton, Balenciaga) that are popular with Tokyo's brand-obsessed shoppers. The rooftop terrace is a welcome respite for the weary.
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. Away from the multiple floors of fashion and style, the two basement floors have an impressive selection of delicacies, while the eighth floor is home to the Art Aquarium (fee required), where fish are displayed in a vibrant collection of tanks.
This Tokyo flagship of a homewares store established in Nara City in 1716 stocks a wide range of items and tools for your daily life, including the Hasami line of crockery made with Nagasaki porcelain. Look for the store's signature tea towels, which are made of hanafukin, a traditional cotton cloth originally used as mosquito netting, and are are renowned for their soft texture and high absorbency.
Although many shops here now sell cheap knickknacks (often, not made in Japan) rather than traditional Japanese crafts, this street's atmosphere makes it worth a stroll on your way to Senso-ji. Things here are as lively as they were back in the Edo period. The street's entrance is marked by the giant red lantern at the Kaminari-mon; it ends a couple of hundred meters north, shortly before the Hozo-mon gate.
Kimono and yukata (cotton kimono) fabrics, traditional accessories, swords, and festival costumes at reasonable prices are all for sale at this Asakusa arcade. It runs east of the area's movie theaters, between Rokuku Broadway Street and the Senso-ji Complex.
“Omote” means “face” or “mask,” and this chic little boutique on the old-fashioned Kirakira Tachibana shopping street a station away from Tokyo Skytree stocks every variety imaginable. The selection includes Japanese-style clown masks and Venetian masks, as well as those from many periods and regions in Japan. There's a broad range of prices too, so you can find unique souvenirs here whatever your budget. Note, though, that the shop is only open Saturday and Sunday from 1 pm to 6 pm.
Despised and adored with equal zeal, another of Tadao Ando's adventures in concrete is this controversial project, which replaced the charming Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments and its selection of small shops and galleries. The mall's six, wedge-shape floors have a mix of brand-name heavy hitters and smaller stores with mid- to high-end shoes, bags, and other fashions. After checking out the latest in Japanese outure, you can take a break in one of the on-site restaurants or cafés.
Established in 1916 and very successful serving members of the post-war occupation forces, this shop is the perfect place to find reasonably priced, traditional handicrafts—painted screens, pottery, chopsticks, dolls—that make great souvenirs. Like many area businesses of late, this shop has moved off of the main drag of Omotesando and onto a back street between Dior and Chanel.
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.
Once a grubby warren of niche electronics merchants, Radio Kaikan has been revitalized as a brightly lit, bustling mall of Japanese pop culture accessories and electronic gizmos. Consider starting at the top and browsing your way down the ten floors of independent vendors selling mini–spy cameras, cell phones disguised as stun guns, manga, plastic models, gadgets, and oddball hobby supplies.
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