🇯🇵 Shopping Guide Part2: Districts to Shop in Tokyo

Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world to shop! In this post, I’m going to share with you some great districts in Tokyo to shop at for various budgets.

Ginza is the most upmarket place in Tokyo to shop at - it is home to lots of flagship stores and luxury brands. Visit Ginza if you’d like to get a full “brand experience” at various impressive global flagships such as Uniqlo, Muji, Shiseido and more, or if you’re interested in luxury shopping, you’ll find the big stores of luxury brands such as Chanel, Prada, Gucci, LV and more all here!

Tokyo Station is where hundreds of train lines converge. If you’re riding the JR trains, you’ll find a GRANSTA underground mall in the gated area spanning the entire length of the station - there’s lots of restaurants, and you can also pick up lots of speciality food, souvenirs, character goods, and more - super convenient! Towards the Yaesu exit, you’ll find an underground shopping mall known as Yaechika, with a range of boutiques, drug stores, restaurants, lifestyle stores and more. There’s a large Daimaru department store here too.

Ueno & Okachimachi is a nice area to visit as well. There’s lots of restaurants and shops nestled in the busy streets within the area. The Ameyokono Shopping District is a labrynynth of market stalls selling food, discounted items, sports wear, drug stores, souvenirs etc. Visit ABAB for some affordable fashion (one of my favourite malls in Tokyo). You’ll find a decently large Uniqlo, GU and Yoshiike supermarket right next to the Okachimachi station. TAKEYA, an impressive discount store (better than Donki!) is also around the corner. A couple of thrift stores I like - Tampopo and Mode Off have branches here.

Shinjuku City, another large transport and shopping hub, has lots of department stores eg Lumine, Takashimaya, Isetan etc, an underground shopping mall known as Subnade, large standalone stores like Donki (several branches here), a massive Kinokuniya and Uniqlo, and lots of restaurants / shops around.

Shibuya City attracts the young and fashionable crowd. If you’re looking for chic Japanese fashion, head to Shibuya 109 (a stone’s throw away from the famous Shibuya scramble crossing!). Find cool stuff at Magnet, and go up to the rooftop where you’ll get a good view of the Shibuya crossing. You’ll also find huge stores of big brands like Uniqlo, GU, Zara, H&M, Apple, IKEA etc in Shibuya. Shibuya LOFT has lots of interesting homeware, stationery, personal care items and cute souvenirs. There’s a MEGA Donki here, but queues are horrendously long. Lots of thrift stores around in the area too.

Harajuku allures more to the hipster and younger crowd. Takeshita Street is a trendy street with some unusual shops, cosplay fashion, hipster fashion and there’s a large Daiso here too. Towards the Jingumae area, you’ll also find lots of thrift stores and fashion boutiques along and around Cat Street. La Foret Harajuku is a great mall for chic fashion.

Ikebukuro has both Seibu and Tobu department stores, along with a huge Parco shopping mall and lots of other stores. Within Tobu, Daiso has a huge flagship here occupying a whole floor with Standard Products and Threepy. Of all the Daisos I visited in Tokyo, I like this branch the best and feel they have the most comprehensive range of products.

Akihabara is where you find “geeky” stuff ranging from electronics to games, collectibles, comics and more. Not my thing, but I know people who could spend hours there!

Shimokitazawa is a hipster area where there’s lots of vintage and thrift stores. I haven’t had the opportunity to go there yet but I heard it’s really bustling.

Personally, my favourite districts to shop at in Tokyo are:

- Ginza for its impressive flagships

- Ueno for cheaper shopping

- Shibuya for fashion and all in one shopping

Save this post for your next trip to Tokyo. Happy shopping!

View part 1 on where to thrift shop in Japan here

Will be bringing you more travel and shopping posts soon so do follow for more updates.

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