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Natural House
Natural House serves the ecoconscious trendsters around Aoyama, meeting a growing demand for whole foods and organic produce. Along with bricks of rye loaves and pricey but nutritious bentō (boxed lunch), Natural House also peddles natural beauty products and health supplements.
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Nogi-Jinja Flea Market
The place to go for ukiyo-e (wood-block prints) and antiques from Asia and Europe.
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Odakyū
The 16-floor behemoth of a department store that sits atop Shinjuku Station, Odakyū contains several restaurant floors, high-end boutiques and low-budget accessories shops, as well as just about anything you'd need to live inside the station for the next ten years.
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Ohya Shobō
You could lose yourself for hours in this splendid, musty old bookshop specialising in ukiyo-e ('floating world' prints) and ancient maps. The friendly staff can help you find whatever particular piece of antiquated trivia your heart desires.
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On Sundays
An excellent art bookshop where you can browse through its enormous collection of obscure postcards.
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Oriental Bazaar
Carrying a wide selection of antiques and tourist items at very reasonable prices, Oriental Bazaar is an excellent spot for easy one-stop souvenir shopping. Good gifts to be found here include fans, folding screens, pottery, porcelain and kimono. The branch at Narita airport opens at for last-chance purchases.
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Parco 1, 2 & 3
If you see it strutting across Shibuya Crossing, you'll find some version of it at Parco parts 1, 2 and 3. These interconnected department stores are mostly targeted toward fans of Vivienne Westwood and other designers geared toward those favouring the schoolgirl look. They also have art galleries that feature multimedia installations, avant-garde painting and fashion-oriented exhibitions.
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Puppet House
This is a wondrous workshop of functional international marionettes, run by a super-friendly couple who are happy to talk shop. Look for the sign of Punch in an alley near Mizuho Bank.
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Q Flagship Ebisu-Nishi
Sharing a building with Hacknet, Q Flagship Ebisu-Nishi presents its clothing and accessories like candy, or jewellery. Many pieces are originals by local and international designers from as far abroad as Australia and Italy, but the shop also designs a house collection. Sizes are limited generally to those fitting svelte Daikanyama figures.
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Ranking Ranqueen
Come here to find what young Japanese are nuts about - the hottest, quirkiest consumer products, ranked every month according to sales. The No. 1 selling teeth whitener? They've got it. The best-selling bath salts, bottled tea, cellulite killers and tools to make your face look smaller are all here too. Enjoy the madness.
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Recofan
With several branches around town, this arm of Recofan stocks a wide variety of music, including folk, soul, J-pop and reggae. Between this store and the Mandarake shop in the basement, you could lose several hours.
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Restore
This small but selective secondhand shop along Komazawa-dōri is stocked with middleweight vintage as well as last-year's look. APC and Yohji Yamamoto rub shoulders on the hangers here, and they carry both men's and women's garb. Recycle and refresh your wardrobe.
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Roppongi Antique Fair
Another antique market that happens rain or shine; find good ceramics and quality dealers here.
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Roppongi Hills
In the first three months after its opening in April 2003, Roppongi Hills saw a staggering 26 million visitors pass through its doors. After a year, the count was up to a cool 46 million. The 200 retail stores, Mori Art Museum and nine-screen cinema still draw the crowds.
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Sakuraya
With a few branches around Shinjuku, this is the main rival to Yodobashi Camera. Like Yodobashi, it offers an incredible selection of lenses and digital cameras, and prices are similar at both shops.
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Sekaidō
To the east of Shinjuku Station, Sekaidō, whose entrance is marked by a banner depicting the Mona Lisa, sells a broad array of art supplies such as pens, brushes and easels, as well as fine paper and a vast selection of manga.
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Shibuya 109
Tokyo's fad-obsessed fashionistas come to 109's circular tower for the season's freshest looks. Most of the clientele is girls under 20; the punk fabrics and wild designs reflect this - it's what kids are wearing on the street.
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Sofmap
Crafty marketing, ruthless discounting and a staff of tech geeks have helped Sofmap sprout more than a dozen branches within Akihabara alone. This company rules the cut-price computer world with a silicon fist. Each shop specialises in new and used Macs, PCs and other cybergoodies; this one's the duty-free branch.
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Sunshine City
Billed as a 'city in a building', Sunshine City is another sprawling shopping centre where, for a small fee, you can get catapulted in a speeding elevator to the 60th-floor observatory to peer out across the Tokyo skyline. If you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji beyond the haze.
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Takashimaya
In Nihombashi Takashimaya is one of the more venerable old establishments with palatial architecture. Primly-dressed, white-gloved attendants operate the old-fashioned lifts and bow demurely as you arrive and depart; take the lift to the rooftop patio, where you can bring your bentō (boxed meal). There's another branch in Ginza and the enormous Takashimaya Times Square complex in Shinjuku.
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Takeshita-Dōri
If you're struck with a sudden urge to fit into one of Tokyo's youth subcultures, passing through the flowered arches of Takeshita-dōri will reveal all you need. You'll find salons to pouf your hair into a gigantic fro, white platform Mary Janes to go with your bloody nurse's outfit and creative inspiration from the teen tribes.
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Takumi Handicrafts
Takumi carries an elegant selection of toys, textiles, ceramics and other traditional folk crafts from around Japan. The shop also thoughtfully encloses information detailing the origin and background of any pieces you purchase.
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Three Minutes Happiness
Three minutes' worth is guaranteed, but your mileage may vary. This discount shop sells clothes out of decommissioned grocery-store freezers, and makes the shopping experience fun as well as cheap. Downstairs are clothes, shoes and accessories, while lurking upstairs are inexpensive homewares and kitchen knick-knacks.
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Tōbu
This is one of Ikebukuro's two big department stores, with a whopping 15 floors. Of particular note are the larger-than-average-sized togs (by Tokyo standards) to be found in the central building. This doesn't mean an availability of plus sizes, but that some items will be larger than a typical small.
