TOKYO SHOPPING
Guide to Tokyo Shopping - including Shibuya, Ginza, Odaiba and Harajuku. Tokyo shopping is some of the best shopping in the world.
People from Tokyo and Japan in general love to go shopping, so they have some of the best shops in the world.
Tokyo Shopping - Shibuya - Busy sidewalks of fashionable Shibuya
TOKYO SHOPPING - FASHION
There are so many places with shopping centres and department stores throughout greater Tokyo, however there are some key areas that are exceptionally good. These areas tend to in central Tokyo. We have detailed listings of many of the stores in each location, along with maps for most districts showing where the stores are.
Up Market - International Brands
Ginza is home to the Who's Who of international fashion brands and key Japanese fashion brands, plus the best of the Japanese Department Stores.
Omotesando in the Harajuku District of Shibuya features many international fashion brands, but not to the same level as Ginza.
Department Stores
Ginza leads the way with the best and oldest department stores in Tokyo.
Shibuya, around Shibuya Station, features a large range of department stores, with some separated into
multiple buildings dedicated to a particular market, such as women, mens and youth.
Young or Street Fashion
Shibuya is a major shopping area and a definite place to visit for anyone
interest in Japanese fashion.
Not only are there many very trendy fashion stores, but you can see
many young Japanese people wearing the latest and some just outrageous
fashion in the streets.
(Picture - Two young Japanese ladies reading photographers
contracts they were just offered in the street outside Shibuya 109).
Tokyo Shopping - Shibuya 109 Building
Shibuya 109 Building (ichimarukyū) shopping centre filled with many very trendy clothing boutiques. It is very popular among young people, especially teens, and it is famous as the origin of the kogal subculture. Kogals are known for wearing platform boots, a miniskirt, copious amounts of makeup, hair coloring (usually blond), artificial suntans, and designer accessories.
On the Shibuya 109 Building site (Japanese language, but with enough English to navigate) you can see pictures of all the stores in the shopping complex.
Takeshita-dori
Opposite
Harajuku Station, Takeshita-dori is a narrow
street packed with young fashionable people and lined with fashion boutiques
and cafes. This is definitely the place to be seen if you are young
Tokyoite, but well worth visiting as a tourist. Takeshita-dori represents
the cutting edge of fashion in Tokyo where you can see all the latest in
Japanese street fashion and then buy in the boutiques.
Tokyo Shopping - 100 Yen shop
In Australia we have the "$2" shop and other various discount stores, but nothing had prepared me for the 5 floors absolutely packed with bargains and shoppers. Nothing in the store was more than 100 Yen (approximately US$1.20 or A$1.20). We found a battery powered massager, pedometer, wall size map of Japan, dogs rain coat and many other things. In most cases the quality was very good regardless of the price, but the packet of ten pens headed quickly for the bin.