Tokyo

0101

Marui

Department store with all of the usual high-end brands. Closed in 2022 for re-building, reopen due 2026.

109 Building

Ichi-maru-kyu

Teenage fashion. Worth an escalator trip. The name is a wordplay on Tokyu, its owner company: 10 is toh and 9 is kyu in Japanese.

Animate

アニメイト

Seven floors - plus one basement level - of pure otaku goodness. From DVDs and manga to character goods and games, the variety of merchandise on offer is mind-bogglingly vast and will make anime/manga fans wish they were made of money.

Daily 10:00-21:00

Azabu-Jūban

麻布十番

A quieter commercial district to the southeast of Roppongi Hills, and a good place to spend a lazier afternoon browsing through shops and enjoying the local cafés. The surrounding residential area is popular among professional expats, so expect to see many international families as you walk through.

Bic Camera

A huge, six-floor electronics store in front of JR Yurakucho Station, selling everything from household appliances to contact lenses. There is even a small movie theater on the 7th and 8th floors showing lesser-known Japanese and foreign films. Perhaps a good place for a one-stop shop if you are not able to spend time exploring the streets of Akihabara.

Bic Camera

Second-largest electronics shop in Shinjuku. While not as big as Yodobashi Camera, prices and product range is roughly the same. The East side shop, next to Books Kinokuniya, is bigger than Yodobashi's East side shop, but still smaller than the West side location.

Closed · opens 10 am

Book-Off

About 8 or 9 floors of all books. The thing that sets this book-off apart from others though is that the top two floors are dedicated exclusively to manga. There is a small section for dōjinshi as well but selection is limited.

¥105 and up

Comic Toranoana

コミックとらのあな

Looking for dōjinshi? This is the place to head for. Look next to the Taito Station.

Daily 10:00-22:00

Dengama

田窯

A particularly good boutique specializing in handmade Japanese pottery. The discount racks outside are downright cheap at several hundred yen a pop, but more expensive items on the second floor may run into tens of thousands of yen. Don't miss the trays of wacky decorative chopstick holders.

Gachapon Hall

ガチャポン会館 Gachapon kaikan

An entire store full of gachapon: capsule toy vending machines. Put in a few coins, turn the crank, and out pops a capsule containing a random trinket. The small toys and figurines, some of which attach to your keys or phone case, are of fairly high quality, and many are collector's items.

Mon-Fri 11:00-20:00, Sat Sun 11:00-19:00·Most gachapon around ¥200-300/each

Hands

ハンズ新宿店

This is a large variety goods shop, and if "large" doesn't impress you, you have probably never faced the dilemma which kind of sand to use for your model railway. Because here, you can choose from a dozen kinds of sand alone - from yellow Sahara sand to reddish Nullarbor sand, everything in handy plastic packets. This shop is the best proof that in a rich mega city, there is a clientele for anything. You can buy almost anything you want. Also a good travel luggage section, and if you need a pen or pencil you will be overwhelmed with the choice.

Isetan

伊勢丹

Isetan is the most prestigious department store in Shinjuku and boasts the highest sales figures in Japan. It caters to a broad adult age group. It has a beautiful depachika (basement floor selling food and gifts) that is a little more expensive than other department stores in Shinjuku.

Japan Sake and Shōchū Information Center

日本の酒情報館 nihon no sake jōhōkan

This four-story complex run by the Central Brewers' Union sells anything and everything related to sake, including cups, glasses, books, hydrometers and, of course, the nectar itself. \315/515 gets you a taste of 3/5 sakes that change daily.

Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, closed weekends and holidays

K-Books

ケイブックス

Only two floors. First floor is half adult manga/hentai while the second floor is half dojinshi. There is plenty of space though to browse around and they have tons of doujinshi there. Some cheap figures and a whole row of shelves dedicated to body pillow cases. If you want regular manga they have that on both floors as well.

¥105 and up

KITTE

JP Tower

The former Japan Post headquarters have been renovated into a trendy building with many shops and restaurants. The top roof is an open garden giving an amazing view on Tokyo Station, perfect for watching bullet trains come and go.

Closed · opens 11 am

Kappabashi

かっぱ橋

A more offbeat shopping option, it is best reached from Tawaramachi station on the Ginza line. This is Tokyo's restaurant wholesale district, which sells plastic food, metal spatulas, deep fryers and an immense variety of affordable crockery. Some shops sell only in wholesale quantities, but many are happy to sell single items and factory-made Japanese pottery (which to the casual eye is indistinguishable from the handmade kind) can sell for as little as ¥100 a piece. Another bargain is high-quality Japanese kitchen knives, which are generally much cheaper in Japan, but due diligence is required, since some of the flashier knife shops aimed at tourists resell cheap Chinese-made junk. Many stores here are closed on Sundays.

La Qua

ラクーア

La Qua is a new shopping mall with some attractions attached. It opened in 2003, replacing a section of the amusement park at Tokyo Dome City. There are boutiques, a grocery store, restaurants, a hairdresser, massage salon, and gym. In addition a roller coaster runs along the roof, and there are other amusement attractions including a water slide and a concert stage. Among all these, the main accommodation is the LaQua spa, see Do.

LaOX Duty Free

LaOX Duty Free specializes in export products and has multilingual staff on hand.

Mon-Thu 10:00-20:00, Fri Sat 10:00-21:00, Sun holiday 10:00-20:00

Lumine

ルミネ

Lumine has 3 buildings around the JR Shinjuku Station. Lumine 1 and 2 cater to all ages with average priced goods. Both buildings are at the South Exit. Lumine Est (ルミネエスト) is at the East Exit and Central East Exit. Lumine Est focuses more on haute fashion for younger women and famous restaurants.

Mandarake

Massive shop devoted to manga, anime, hentai, dojinshi, figurines and collectible offshoots.

Mandarake

An 8-floor second-hand shop dealing manga, dōjinshi, video games, toys, and collector's items. To buy toys from these show cases you need to find a slip of paper and write down the code of the toy you want, then take the paper to the counter and the attendant will retrieve the toy for you. It's easy and effective, although the stores can becomes quite busy at times. Check their online floor guide.

Maruzen bookshop

丸善 丸の内本店

It may be your best bet to look for English books in Tokyo, including a "Books on Japan" section. If you don't find what you are looking for here, you probably won't have much luck looking elsewhere.

Closed · opens 9 am

ONODEN Tax-Free Department

ONODEN specializes in overseas electronics. Multilingual staff.

Daily 10:00-20:00

Odakyu

小田急百貨店

Odakyu was closed in 2022 for re-development of the area and moved to the smaller Halc building, north of the West Bus Loop, which also houses the electronics store Bic Camera.

Radio Center

ラジオセンター

Radio Center is an unbelievable two-floor warren of tiny shops, each specializing in (for example) LEDs, voltage meters, ceramic capacitors or miniature cameras. Heaven for the do-it-yourself electronics aficionado, and these days a flashback to the Akiba of yesteryear.

Radio kaikan

秋葉原ラジオ会館

This is Akihabara's cartoon, anima shop, with several separate stores on each floor. You can buy various figures and anime related goods.

10:00 ~ 20:00

Sugamo

巣鴨

Popularly known as "Grandma's Harajuku" (obaachan no Harajuku), and indeed most shops in the area do seem targeted towards an older clientèle. For the (rare) tourist, however, this means a plentiful supply of tea, pottery, kitchen implements and clothes in styles that went out of fashion 50 years ago. The area is at its liveliest on the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month when a street market is held.

Takashimaya

タカシマヤ新宿店

This department store caters towards the mid-20s and up, along with families. The depachika is comparable to Isetan, but not as famous. Look for Hands and Books Kinokuniya at the Southern end of the department store.

Tōkyō Kyūkyodō

東京鳩居堂

Located right across the street from Wako and its landmark clock tower on Ginza's main intersection, this two-floor shop specializes in the traditional Japanese paraphernalia (papers, fans, calligraphy brushes, votive scents etc.). A popular stop for foreigners in search for something exotic and genuine.

Closed · opens 10 am

Wako

Japan's most expensive luxury department store, the clock tower of this grand art deco building is a Ginza landmark. Founded in 1881 as a watch and jewellery shop, these still make up the core of their offerings but they've expanded to cover high end houseware to a discerning clientele. If you're itching to drop ¥50,000 on a handkerchief or ¥770,000 on a miniature brass replica of a Victorian serving cart, this is the place to be.

Closed · opens 10:30 am