Ginza-銀座 and Yurakucho-有楽町
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The Ginza (銀座) is Tokyo's most famous upmarket shopping, dining and entertainment district, featuring numerous department stores, boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, night clubs and cafes.One square meter of land in the district's center is worth over ten million yen, making it one of the most expensive real estate in Japan. It is where you can find the infamous $10 cups of coffee and where virtually every leading brand name in fashion and cosmetics has a presence.
From 1612 to 1800, today's Ginza district was the site of a silver coin mint (Ginza means "silver mint" in Japanese), after which the district was eventually named. The Ginza evolved as an upmarket shopping district following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
Most shops in the Ginza district are open every day of the week. A visit is most pleasant on weekend afternoons when the central Chuo Dori street is closed to automobile traffic and become a large pedestrian zone. The road closure takes place from 12:00 to 17:00 (until 18:00 from April through September). |
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The Yurakucho (有楽町, Yūrakuchō) district lies one stop south of Tokyo Station along the JR Yamanote Line. Together with the adjacent Ginza district, Yurakucho offers a wealth of shopping and dining opportunities. Yet at the same time, Yurakucho has a more approachable, relaxed atmosphere than its upscale neighbor, and parts of it maintain a charming, old neighborhood feel.
The area east of Yurakucho Station serves as the gateway to the Ginza district. It has recently undergone a facelift and is now dominated by a pedestrian friendly plaza surrounded by several shopping complexes, including ITOCiA, Hankyu Men's (a department store for men) and a Lumine department store. Further north stands the largest Muji shop in Eastern Japan, a popular household goods and clothing shop.
The west side of the station is best known for the Tokyo International Forum, an architectural highlight that serves as a venue for various conventions, exhibitions, concerts and events; and one of Tokyo's largest Bic Camera electronic stores, boasting eight floors with the newest electronic goods. |
Points of Interest
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Ginza 4-chome crossing
銀座4丁目交差点 |
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The heart of Ginza is the Ginza 4-chome crossing, which is the junction of Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori. From midday to sunset on Sundays, the central section of Chuo-dori is closed to vehicles making it a pedestrians Paradise. |
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Ginza Wako 銀座和光 |
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Shops: 10:30 to 19:00 |
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Built in 1932, the clock tower of the Ginza Wako building is the symbol of the Ginza, standing at the northwest corner of the district's centrally located Ginza 4-Chome junction of Chuo and Harumi Dori. Inside the building, jewelry and luxury items are sold. |
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Sony Building ソニービルディング |
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Showroom and shops: 11:00 to 19:00 Restaurants: typically 11:00 to 21:30 |
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The newest products by Sony, including DVD recorders, televisions, cameras, audio sets, mobile phones, computers and Play Station products, are displayed to the public in the showrooms in this building. There is also a tourist information desk on the first floor as well as a few shops, restaurants and cafes. |
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Kabukiza Theater 歌舞伎座 |
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Regular tickets for an entire play typically cost between 4,000 and 22,000 yen depending on the seat and require advance reservations. Tickets for just single acts are sold on the day at the theater for around 2,000 yen.The Kabukiza is one of the best places to see kabuki, featuring plays almost every day. The building was reconstructed and reopened in April 2013. It closely resembles its predecessor except for a skyscraper that now stands above it. |
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Yurakucho Gado-shita Dining 有楽町ガード下ダイニング |
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One of Tokyo's most interesting dining districts is located beneath the elevated train tracks north and south of Yurakucho Station (in Japanese: Gado-shita from "below the girder"). Stretching over about 700 meters, dozens of restaurants are built into the brick arches below the Yamanote Line, ranging widely from small yakitorijoints and izakaya to beer halls and slightly more upscale French wine bars. |
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Tokyo international forum 東京国際フォーラム |
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The Tokyo International Forum, an architectural highlight that serves as a venue for various conventions, exhibitions, concerts and events. |
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Shopping
Ginza, Yurakucho - Tokyo's premier upmarket shopping district
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The Ginza features high end department stores, boutiques, art galleries and designer brand stores. Nearly every leading Japanese and international brand name fashion and cosmetics company has a presence here, as well as major electronics brands such as Sony and Apple. The shopping extends into the nearby Yurakucho area with more department stores, boutiques and electronic retailers. |
Department Stores
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Ginza Mitsukoshi 銀座三越 |
Shops: 10:30 to 20:00
Restaurants: typically 11:00 to 23:00
The Ginza store of the Mitsukoshi department store chain was opened in 1930 and offers goods and services on twelve floors. Mitsukoshi's history reaches back to the year 1673.
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Matsuya Ginza 松屋銀座 |
Shops: 10:00 to 20:00
Restaurants: typically 11:00 to 22:00
The Ginza store of the Matsuya department store chain offers fashion, foods, household goods, a pet shop, a travel agency and an exhibition hall on its eleven floors.
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Printemps プランタン |
11:00 to 21:00 (until 20:00 on Sundays)
The Ginza store of the Paris based Printemps department store chain offers fashion, accessories, wines, foods and restaurants on ten floors. Printemps Ginza was opened in the year 1984.
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Marronnier Gate マロニエゲート |
Daily 11:00 to 21:00 (restaurants operate until 23:00)
The 12 floor Marronnier Gate shopping mall opened in 2007 close to Yurakucho Station. Clothing stores are located from the basement to the fourth floor, while the top three floors are taken up by restaurants. From the fifth floor to the ninth floor, the building is occupied by the Ginza branch of the popular Tokyu Hands department store.The Kabukiza is one of the best places to see kabuki, featuring plays almost every day. The building was reconstructed and reopened in April 2013. It closely resembles its predecessor except for a skyscraper that now stands above it.
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Marui OIOI |
Shops: Mon-Sat 11:00-21:00 Sun/Natl. hol. 10:30-20:30
Restaurants: Mon-Sat 11:00 to 23:00 Sun/Natl. hol. 10:30-22:00
Opened in October 2007, this is one of the largest MARUI department stores in Tokyo area. Targeted to fashionable people, this MARUI puts emphasis on fashion items and interior goods; it accommodates many brand shops and fashion boutiques of handpicked items that other MARUI have not accommodated yet.
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ITOCiA イトシア |
Shops: 11：00 to 21:00
Restaurants: typically 11:00 to 23:00
Yurakucho Itocia connects busy Ginza and Yurakucho stations, taking full advantage of its perfect placement to attract the area’s sizeable commuter crowd. This shopping centre features Marui Yurakucho (the department store chain’s first outlet in the area), and a cinema.
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LUMINE ルミネ |
Shops 11:00-21:00
Restaurants 11:00-23:00
LUMINE is commercial complex found in major towns in the Greater Tokyo area. Consisting of two buildings, LUMINE1 & LUMINE2, this LUMINE Yurakucho was born as its 15thcomplex, and it accommodates 107 shops in total.
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Hankyu Men's Tokyo 阪急メンズ トーキョー |
Mon/Thu 12:00-20:00
Wed to Fri 12:00-21:00
Sat 11:00-21:00
Sun/Natl. 11:00-20:00
With everything from the world's big-name brands to labels by Japanese designers on offer, Hankyu Men's Tokyo is the only specialty mens fashion store in Tokyo's Ginza and Yurakucho neighborhoods.
Popular Shops
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ITOYA 伊東屋 |
Mon-Sat 10:00 to 20:00
Sun/Natl. 10:00 to 19:00
Itoya, a stationery store in Ginza, reopened in June, 2015 after going through a renovation. Established about a hundred years ago, it is one of the prominent Japanese stores with a rich history.Itoya deals in stationery and offers ideas to enrich your everyday life. They also offer various services to tourists from abroad.
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MUJI 無印良品 |
Daily 10:00 to 21:00
“MUJI is simplicity – but a simplicity achieved through a complexity of thought and design. MUJI’s streamlining is the result of the careful elimination and subtraction of gratuitous features and design unrelated to function.” (Muji.us) At Muji, you can buy clothes, toiletries, furniture, storage, and the Muji prefab house.
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ISAMIYA 銀座いさみや |
Daily 10:00 to 20:00
Ginza Isamiya was built in 1923. It is a specialty shop that sells baby and children’s clothes from newborn to school-age sizes.
See our selection of over 20 brands of cute casual wear that can be worn every day in addition to baby gifts and birthday gifts.
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HAKUHINKAN 博品館 |
Daily 10:00 to 20:00
This multi-storey emporium in Ginza, one of Tokyo’s biggest toy shops, is a showcase for the wacky, the cuddly and the cute, all with a Japanese twist. The basement is the headquarters of the Licca-chan Club (the Japanese equivalent of Barbie). There is a tax-exemption counter on the fourth floor.
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BIC CAMERA ビックカメラ |
Daily 10:00 to 22:00
Bic camera is professional shop of the camera and home appliances of the largest. Bic camera have well-stocked camera, home appliances, personal computers, audio-brand watch brand bag, toys, liquor, medicine, daily necessities, etc.. also have staff members who speak foreign languages, so feel free to ask.
Ginza - Map
The information on this page is updated in April 2016.
The possibility want that information has been changed, please check the official website of each facility.