Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Ostensibly a do-it-yourself store, Tokyu Hands stocks a wide-variety of totally random (but oddly enticing) household, beauty and office supplies. Though…
Must-see shopping in Tokyo
Ginza & Tsukiji
Sanrio's flagship store is piled high with all the Hello Kitty merchandise your heart could desire, including some pretty blinged-up items of the famous…
Harajuku & Aoyama
This multistorey toy emporium is packed to the rafters with character goods, including all your Studio Ghibli, Sanrio and Disney faves. It’s not just for…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This under-the-train-tracks shopping mall focuses on artisan food and drinks from across Japan, including premium sake, soy sauce, sweets, teas and…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
See (and sample) humble beans and rice whipped into pastel flowers at this award-winning traditional sweets shop, in business since 1935. There are blue…
Ueno & Yanesen
At the top of Yanaka Ginza, Matsunoya sells beautifully simple, handmade household goods, such as baskets, brooms and bamboo strainers.
Harajuku & Aoyama
This consignment shop is stocked with labels loved by Harajuku kids, such as Comme des Garçons and Vivienne Westwood.
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Keeping the dream alive for fans of physical music, Disk Union has eight (cramped) storeys of used CDs and records, including whole floors for genres like…
Ginza & Tsukiji
The Okuno Building (1932) is of a rare vintage in ever-redeveloping Tokyo; most such buildings have long come down. But a concerted effort by artists and…
Asakusa & Sumida River
It's not all cheesy Sky Tree swag at this mall under the tower (though you can get 634m-long rolls of Sky Tree toilet paper). Shops on the 4th floor offer…
Asakusa & Sumida River
If you're after something for the kitchen or dining room table, head to Kappabashi-dōri Japan’s largest wholesale restaurant-supply and kitchenware…
Ueno & Yanesen
Sukajan are silken bomber jackets boldly embroidered, usually with traditional motifs such as cherry blossoms or cranes. They were originally created as…
Ginza & Tsukiji
Mitsukoshi is Ginza's most famous department store, anchoring one corner of the neighbourhood's main intersection. The fashion is mostly from…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
Mansei-bashi Station was Tokyo's original eastern terminus, completed two years before Tokyo Station in 1912. It closed in 1943 and was reborn at long…
Harajuku & Aoyama
This is the flagship boutique from celebrity stylist Sonya Park, whose signature look is a vintage-inspired minimalism in luxurious, natural fabrics. It…
Tokyo
The design of Takashimaya’s flagship store (1933) tips its pillbox hat to New York’s Gilded Age with marble columns, chandeliers and uniformed female…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This fascinating neighbourhood of more than 170 new and secondhand booksellers is proof that the printed word is alive and well in Tokyo. Amid tottering…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
What started as a linen supplier in Nara (near Kyoto) 300 years ago has evolved into one of Japan's proudest brands, creating beautiful natural clothing,…
Ginza & Tsukiji
This classy mixed-use complex, which opened in 2018, has a good assortment of fashionable boutiques as well as the 11-screen Toho multiplex. Check out the…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Expat and former US diplomat Norman Tolman has been collecting modern and contemporary Japanese print art for 50 years and has authored many books on the…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
Shibuya's newest mall (opened in 2019) has eight floors of fashion, beauty and lifestyle boutiques (and more floors for restaurants, cafes and gourmet…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
This high-end design complex is filled with galleries and shops selling art books, photographs, covetable homewares and other objets d’art.
Ueno & Yanesen
For nearly half a century this tiny stall in Ameya-yokochō has been selling recordings of popular Japanese music to the faithful. Its forte is enka, best…
Asakusa & Sumida River
Pick up great souvenirs from this plastic food model manufacturer. Among the examples of freakishly realistic food models are some more tongue-in-cheek…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
Minä Perhonen, from designer Minagawa Akira, is one of Japan's most successful brands. It's known for its pretty prints in soft, flattering colours;…
Ueno & Yanesen
Ameya-yokochō is widely known as the place to pick up bargain kicks; but among running-shoe fans, it's better known as the home of Mita Sneakers, which…
Ueno & Yanesen
Mitsuaki Tsuyuki makes and sells his incredible hand puppets here – look for lifelike renditions of Japanese celebs and, natch, Elvis. Quick portraits…
Tokyo
This mall, within the restored facade of the 1930s Tokyo Central Post Office, has a partiuclarly good selection of boutiques specialising in homewares and…
Ginza & Tsukiji
The ground floors of this L-shaped complex house some 70 stalls of wholesalers, all of whom used to operate in the old Tsukiji market, selling seafood and…
Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
This is an art-supply store to make you go weak in the knees: the walls are lined with vials of the crushed mineral pigments used in traditional Japanese…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
The folks behind the D&D Department lifestyle brand and magazine are expert scavengers, searching Japan's nooks and crannies for outstanding examples of…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Expat American Amy Katoh sells traditional and contemporary items such as tenugui (hand-dyed towels), indigo-dyed yukata (light cotton kimonos), bolts of…
Asakusa & Sumida River
Everything is natural about Maito's clothing and accessories, including the fabrics used (mainly cotton and wool) and the plant-based dyes. Choose from a…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This is the monster branch of Yodobashi Camera where many locals shop. It has eight floors of electronics, state-of-the-art camera and audio equipment,…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
Despite its name, Radio Kaikan has nothing to do with radios and everything to do with Japanese pop culture. It was completely rebuilt in 2014 to include…
Tokyo
In an neighbourhood known for its history of craftsmanship, second-generation Takatora produces stencil-dyed clothing and accessories just like in the old…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
This homewares shop is curated by Tokyo's original boutique hotel, Claska, in a renovated mid-20th-century building on Meguro-dōri, near other interior…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
What separates this small lifestyle goods and gourmet shop is its emphasis on fermented foods. There's a selection of artisanal shōyu (soy sauce) and…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
This outpost of 300-year-old Sendagi sake-ya (liquor store) Isego has a counter bar where you can order nihonshu (sake) by the glass (¥350 to ¥550; 3pm to…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This is highly debatable, of course, but Mandarake Complex might just be the most classic Akihabara destination for otaku (geeks): eight storeys are piled…
