Shopping A-Z

Antiques & Curios

In recent years, it has become a buyer-beware market in Japan, mostly due to fake antiques produced in China infiltrating the Japanese market. You shouldn't have any problems with the reputable dealers listed here, but if you're buying an expensive piece, be sure to ask whether there are any papers of authenticity.

In addition to the listings here, other places to look for antiques include the Oriental Bazaar and Tokyo's outdoor flea markets.

Arcades in Shopping Malls

Arcades in Hotels -- Shopping arcades are found in several of Tokyo's first-class hotels. Although they don't offer the excitement and challenge of rubbing elbows with the natives, they do offer convenience, English-speaking clerks, and consistently top-quality merchandise. The Imperial Hotel Arcade (station: Hibiya) is one of the best, with shops selling pearls, woodblock prints, porcelain, antiques, and expensive name-brand clothing such as Hanae Mori. The Okura and New Otani hotels also have extensive shopping arcades.

Underground Arcades -- Underground shopping arcades are found around several of Tokyo's train and subway stations; the biggest are at Tokyo Station (the Yaesu side) and Shinjuku Station (the east side). They often have great sales and bargains on clothing, accessories, and electronics. My only complaint is that once you're in an arcade, it seems as if you'll never find your way out again.

Shopping Malls -- Sunshine City (station: Higashi Ikebukuro or Ikebukuro) is one of Tokyo's oldest shopping malls, with more than 200 shops and restaurants spread through several adjoining buildings. Its popularity, however, is now challenged by newer and grander shopping centers, including chic Omotesando Hills (station: Harajuku, Omotesando, or Meiji-Jingumae) with a varied mix of boutiques and restaurants; Roppongi Hills (station: Roppongi), an urban renewal project with approximately 130 shops spread throughout several buildings and along tree-lined streets; and Tokyo Midtown (station: Roppongi) with its mix of tony shops, restaurants, and offices.

Caretta Shiodome (station: Shiodome), a 47-story monolith just southwest of the Ginza (and across from Hama Rikyu Garden), contains 58 shops and 33 restaurants. While there, stop by the Ad Museum Tokyo, Japan's first museum of advertising with cool posters from bygone eras; admission is free. Just across the harbor, on the man-made island of Odaiba (station: Odaiba Kaihin Koen), is Palette Town, an amusement/shopping center that contains the sophisticated, upscale Italian-themed Venus Fort, an indoor mall that evokes scenes from Italy with its store-fronted lanes, painted sky, fountains, plazas, and Italian name-brand boutiques. Nearby Tokyo Decks targets Japanese youths with its international goods, including imports from the United States, Europe, China, and Hong Kong; I especially like its Daiba 1-chome Syoutengai section (on the fourth floor of Tokyo Deck's "Seaside Mall" section), a remake of mid-1900s Japan, with crafts, food, and an old-fashioned games arcade, and Daiba Little Hong Kong department with its Chinese accessories, souvenirs, and restaurants (on the sixth and seventh floors of the "Island Mall" section of Tokyo Decks).

One of Tokyo's biggest malls is LaLaport Tokyo Bay (station: Minami Funabashi) on the eastern outskirts of the city, with a staggering 500-plus shops and restaurants and unbelievable crowds on weekends. It's sensory overload for me, but true mall fanatics might find the experience invigorating. LaLaport Toyosu is smaller (190 shops and restaurants) but is more accessible (station: Toyosu) and even has a woodblock print museum, flower garden, and Kidzania, a career-oriented theme park where kids can play in various job environments, from a bank to police station.

Art Galleries

The Ginza has the highest concentration of art galleries in Tokyo, with more than 200 shops dealing in everything from old woodblock prints to silk-screens, lithographs, and contemporary paintings. In addition, Japanese department stores almost always contain art galleries, with changing exhibitions ranging from works by European masters to contemporary Japanese pottery. Check the free giveaway Metropolis for exhibition listings.

Books

Yasukuni Dori in Jimbocho, Kanda (station: Jimbocho), is lined with bookstores selling both new and used books, with several dealing in English-language books. Keep in mind, however, that English-language books are usually more expensive in Japan than back home. Still, no bibliophile should pass this street up, especially if your interest is in books related to Japan.

Department Stores

Japanese department stores are institutions in themselves. Usually enormous, well-designed, and chock-full of merchandise, they have about everything you can imagine, including museums and art galleries, pet stores, rooftop playgrounds or greenhouses, travel agencies, restaurants, grocery markets, and flower shops. You could easily spend a whole day in a department store -- eating, attending cultural exhibitions, planning your next vacation, exchanging money, purchasing tickets to local concerts and other events, and, well, shopping.

One of the most wonderful aspects of the Japanese department store is the courteous service. If you arrive at a store as its doors open at 10 or 10:30am, you'll witness a daily rite: Lined up at the entrance are staff who bow in welcome. Some Japanese shoppers arrive just before opening time so as not to miss this favorite ritual. Sales clerks are everywhere, ready to help you. In some stores, you don't even have to go to the cash register once you've made your choice; just hand over the product, along with your money, to the sales clerk, who will return with your change, your purchase neatly wrapped, and an "Arigatoo gozaimashita" ("Thank you very much"). Many department stores will also ship your purchases home for you, send them to your hotel, or hold them until you're ready to leave the store. A day spent in a Japanese department store could spoil you for the rest of your life.

The basement of the store is usually devoted to foodstuffs: fresh fish, produce, and prepared snacks and dinners. There are often free samples of food; if you're hungry, walking through the food department could do nicely for a snack. Many department stores include boutiques by such famous Japanese and international fashion designers as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo (creator of Comme des Garçons), Hanae Mori, Takeo Kikuchi, Vivienne Westwood, and Paul Smith, as well as a department devoted to the kimono. Near the kimono department may also be the section devoted to traditional crafts, including pottery and lacquerware. To find out what's where, stop by the store's information booth located on the ground floor near the front entrance and ask for the floor-by-floor pamphlet in English. Be sure, too, to ask about sales on the promotional floor -- you never know what bargains you may chance upon.

Department Store Hours -- Japanese department stores are generally open from 10 or 10:30am to 7:30 or 8pm. They used to close 1 day a week, but now they rarely close, or they close irregularly, though always on the same day of the week (say, on Tues) in no apparent pattern (1 month they may be closed the second Tues of the month, but the next month the first or not at all). In any case, you can always find stores that are open, even on Sundays and holidays (major shopping days in Japan).

In Shibuya -- Shibuya is a shopping mecca for the fashionable young, with so many stores that there's a bona fide store war going on. Tokyu and Seibu are the two big names.

Electronics

The largest concentration of electronics and electrical-appliance shops in Japan is in an area of Tokyo called Akihabara Electric Town (Denkigai), also known simply as Akiba and centered around Chuo Dori (station: Akihabara). Although you can find good deals on video and audio equipment elsewhere (especially just west of Shinjuku Station, where Yodobashi dominates with several stores devoted to electronics), Akihabara is a must-see simply for its sheer volume. With more than 600 multilevel stores, shops, and stalls, Akihabara accounts for one-tenth of the nation's electronics and electrical-appliance sales. An estimated 50,000 shoppers come here on a weekday, 100,000 per day on a weekend. Even if you don't buy anything, it's great fun walking around. If you do intend to buy, make sure you know what the item would cost back home. Or you may be able to pick up something that's unavailable back home. Most of the stores and stalls are open-fronted, and many are painted neon green and pink. Salespeople yell out their wares, trying to get customers to look at their cellular phones, computers, video equipment, digital cameras, CD and DVD players, TVs, calculators, watches, and rice cookers. This is the best place to see the latest models of everything electronic; it's an educational experience in itself.

If you are buying, be sure to bargain and don't buy at the first place you hit. One woman I know who was looking for a portable music device bought it at the third shop she went to for ¥4,000 ($33/£17) less than what was quoted to her at the first shop. Make sure, too, that whatever you purchase is made for export -- that is, with instructions in English, an international warranty, and the proper electrical connectors. All the larger stores have duty-free floors where products are made for export, and most shops are open daily from about 10am to 8pm or later.

The largest store is Yodobashi Camera, just east of JR Akihabara Station at 1-1 Hanaoka-cho (tel. 03/5209-1010), which offers much more than cameras on its six floors, including computers, games, rice cookers, bicycles, and more (some people fear this newcomer will put independent shop owners out of business). Other reputable stores include Laox, 15-3 Soto-Kanda (tel. 03/3255-5301), and AKKY International, 1-12-5 Soto-Kanda (tel. 03/5207-5027). If you're serious about buying, check these stores first.

In recent years, Akihabara has also earned a reputation as a center for Japanese pop culture, including anime, manga, and cosplay (costume play). Animate, on Chuo Dori at 4-3-2 Soto-Kanda (tel] 03/5992-1234), is a huge draw for manga lovers, but it's also worth popping into Don Quixote just a bit farther north (tel. 03/5298-5411), which has to be seen to appreciate its jumble of everyday goods too numerous to mention, including maid costumes (a perennial favorite) and even a maid cafe (I don't even want to get into why these are so popular) on the fifth floor. Anime fans will also want to stop by the free Tokyo Anime Center, just north of the JR Akihabara Station on the fourth floor of UDX (tel. 03/5298-1188; www.animecenter.jp; open Tues-Sun 11am-7pm), with an information desk, a merchandise shop, and a 3-D theater (admission charged).

For more information on Akihabara, go to www.akihabara-tour.com, where at the time of going to press, free 2-hour tours of Akihabara were offered every Saturday at 1pm.

Cameras -- You can purchase cameras at many duty-free shops, including those in Akihabara, but if you're serious about photographic equipment, make a trip to a shop dealing specifically in cameras, including Yodobashi Camera, above. If a new camera is too formidable an expense, consider buying a used camera. New models come out so frequently in Japan that older models can be snapped up for next to nothing.

Fashions

The department stores and shopping malls listed earlier are all good places to check out the latest trends. For inexpensive, basic clothing (think Japanese version of Gap), look for one of the 40 Uniqlo shops in Tokyo selling T-shirts, jeans, socks, shirts, and other clothing for the whole family. A convenient location is 5-7-7 Ginza, on Chuo Dori (tel. 03/5569-6781; station: Ginza). Another popular chain, selling cotton clothing in basic colors, is Muji, with its flagship located next to the Tourist Information Center at 3-8-3 Marunouchi (tel. 03/5208-8241; station: Yurakucho).

Otherwise, Harajuku and Shibuya are the places to go for hundreds of small shops selling inexpensive designer knockoffs, as well as fashion department stores -- multistoried buildings filled with concessions of various designers and labels. The stores below are two of the best known and largest.

Designer Boutiques -- Ginza is home to international designer names, including Prada, Cartier, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton. For top Japanese designers, the block between Omotesando Crossing and the Nezu Museum (currently undergoing renovation) in Aoyama (station: Omotesando, 2 min.) is the Rodeo Drive of Japan. Even if you can't buy here (steep prices for most pocketbooks), a stroll is de rigueur for clothes hounds and those interested in design. Most shops are open daily from 11am to 8pm. Issey Miyake (tel. 03/3423-1408), on the left side as you walk from Aoyama Dori, offers two floors of cool, spacious displays of Miyake's interestingly structured designs for men and women. (His very popular Pleats Please line is around the corner on Aoyama Dori, 3-13-21 Minami Aoyama; tel. 03/5772-7750.) Across the street is Comme des Garçons (tel. 03/3406-3951), Rei Kawakubo's showcase for her daring -- and constantly evolving -- men's and women's designs. The goddess of Japanese fashion and one of the few females in the business when she started, Kawakubo has remained on the cutting edge of design for more than 2 decades. Of the many non-Japanese designers to have invaded this trendy neighborhood in recent years, none stands out as much as Prada (tel. 03/6418-0400), a bubble of convex/concave windows on the right side of the street. One of Japan's newer designers, Tsumori Chisato, has a shop on the left side of the street (tel. 03/3423-5170). Also worth seeking out is Yohji Yamamoto on the right (tel. 03/3409-6006), where Yamamoto's unique, classically wearable clothes are sparingly hung, flaunting the avant-garde interior space.

On the other side of Aoyama Dori, on Omotesando Dori, is Hanae Mori (tel. 03/3400-3301), the grande dame of Japanese design, with everything from separates and men's golf wear to haute couture and wedding gowns on display on three floors of a building designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange.

Flea Markets

Flea markets are good places to shop for antiques as well as for delightful junk. You can pick up secondhand kimono at very reasonable prices, as well as kitchenware, vases, cast-iron teapots, small chests, woodblock prints, dolls, household items, and odds and ends. (Don't expect to find any good buys in furniture.) The markets usually begin as early as dawn or 6am and last until 3 or 4pm or so, but go early if you want to pick up bargains. Bargaining is expected. Note that since most markets are outdoors, they tend to be canceled if it rains.

Togo Shrine, on Meiji Dori in Harajuku (near Meiji-Jingumae or Harajuku stations), has a small antiques market on the first Sunday of every month from 4am to 2pm. It's great for used kimono and curios and is one of my favorites.

Nogi Shrine, a 1-minute walk from Nogizaka Station, has an antiques flea market from dawn to about 2pm the second Sunday of each month except November. It has a lovely setting; the shrine commemorates General Nogi and his wife, both of whom committed suicide on September 13, 1912, to follow the Meiji emperor into the afterlife. Their simple home and stable are on shrine grounds.

Hanazono Shrine, near the Yasukuni Dori/Meiji Dori intersection east of Shinjuku Station (a 5-min. walk from Shinjuku Sanchome Station), has a flea market every Sunday from dawn to about 2pm (except in May and Nov due to festivals).

Yasukuni Shrine, a 3-minute walk from Kudanshita Station, holds a flea market every Sunday from 6am to about 3pm on the long walkway to this very famous shrine.

The Oedo Antique Fair, held in the courtyard of the Tokyo International Forum beside Yurakucho Station, claims to be Tokyo's largest fair of international antiques (it has also taken away vendors from Tokyo's other flea markets). Held the first and third Sunday of the month from 8am to 5pm, it features Western antiques (at highly inflated prices), as well as Japanese glassware, furniture, ceramics, furniture, kimono, woodblock prints, and odds and ends. If you hit only one flea market, this should be it.

Finally, the closest thing Tokyo has to a permanent flea market is Ameya Yokocho (also referred to as Ameyokocho or Ameyacho), a narrow street near Ueno Park that runs along and underneath the elevated tracks of the JR Yamanote Line between Ueno and Okachimachi stations. There are about 400 stalls here selling discounted items ranging from fish, seaweed, and vegetables, to handbags, tennis shoes, cosmetics, watches, and casual clothes. The scene retains something of the shitamachi spirit of old Tokyo. Although housewives have been coming here for years, young Japanese recently discovered the market as a good bargain spot for fashions, accessories, and cosmetics. Some shops close on Wednesdays, but hours are usually daily from 10am to 7pm; early evening is the most crowded time. Don't even think of coming here on a holiday -- it's a standstill pedestrian traffic jam.

Interior Design

The department stores listed earlier have furniture and interior-design sections. In addition, a domestic chain worth checking out is Muji, which offers plain products, many of them made from recycled materials, in simple packages at affordable prices. Clothing, housewares, cosmetics, and other practical goods are offered at more than 280 locations in Japan, including its biggest store at 3-8-3 Marunouchi (tel. 03/5208-8241; station: Yurakucho), open daily 11am to 9pm.

Japanese Crafts & Traditional Products

If you want to shop for traditional Japanese folk crafts in the right atmosphere, nothing beats Nakamise Dori (station: Akasaka), a pedestrian lane leading to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. It's lined with stall after stall selling souvenirs galore, from wooden geta shoes (traditional wooden sandals) and hairpins worn by geisha to T-shirts, fans, umbrellas, toy swords, and dolls. Most stalls are open from 10am to 6pm; some close 1 day a week. The side streets surrounding Nakamise Dori are also good bets.

Another good place to search for traditional crafts is department stores, which usually have sections devoted to ceramics, pottery, bambooware, flower-arranging accessories, and fabrics.

Kimono

The Oriental Bazaar sells new and used kimono, including elaborate wedding kimono. Department stores also sell kimono, notably Takashimaya and Mitsukoshi in Nihombashi and Isetan in Shinjuku. They also have yearly sales of used, rental wedding kimono. Flea markets are another good option for used kimono and yukata, particularly the antiques market at Togo Shrine . There's also a secondhand kimono stand in Harajuku open for business every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday from 11am to 5pm on the corner of Meiji Dori and Omotesando Dori. Prices start at ¥500 ($4.15/£2.10), making them affordable even for friends.

Kitchenware & Tableware

In addition to the department stores and interior-design shops listed above, the best place to shop for items related to cooking and serving is Kappabashi-dougugai Dori (station: Tawaramachi), popularly known as Kappabashi and Japan's largest wholesale area for cookware. Approximately 150 specialty stores here sell cookware and everything else restaurants need, including sukiyaki pots, woks, lunchboxes, pots and pans, aprons, knives, china, lacquerware, rice cookers, plastic food (the kind you see in restaurant display cases), noren (Japanese curtains) and disposable wooden chopsticks in bulk. Although the stores are wholesalers selling mainly to restaurants, you're welcome to browse and purchase as well. Stores are closed on Sunday but otherwise open from about 10am to 5pm.

Pearls

Mikimoto, on Chuo Dori not far from Ginza 4-chome Crossing, past Wako department store (tel. 03/3535-4611), is Japan's most famous pearl shop. It was founded by Mikimoto Koichi, who in 1905 produced the world's first good cultured pearl. Open Thursday to Tuesday 11am to 7pm. Otherwise, there's a Mikimoto branch (tel. 03/3591-5001) in the Imperial Hotel Arcade of the Imperial Hotel (station: Hibiya), where you'll also find Asahi Shoten (tel. 03/3503-2528), with a good selection in the modest-to-moderate price range; and Uyeda Jeweller (tel. 03/3503-2587), with a wide selection of pearls in many different price ranges.