Top Rated Shopping in Tokyo

Opening its doors in December 2004, the ten story building houses Chanel's flagship store, as well as the Nexus Hall performance venue, the Chanel offices, and Beige Tokyo, the gourmet restaurant on the tenth floor. The boutique, housed on the first three floors, offers all the standards: fashionable shoes, handbags, perfumes, and clothing. What's different about this Chanel building is the amazing design of its facade. The exterior features 700,000 embedded LED lights that can illuminate the sky by shifting into 60 colors or simulating tweed, the fabric that Chanel made popular. It can also be used as a type of giant video screen to display images of events, such as fashion shows.

Ships Ginza is a well-established Tokyo brand that places a heavy emphasis on style and quality. The men's boutique in particular is worth a mention - they stock a range of casual clothing, which you can dress up with their accessories, belts and shoes - check out their range of bags, or their delightful ties. Business suits can also be ordered here.

Nishi Ginza store is an ideal place to shop for teenagers and trendy young adults. Almost everything here sparkles--tons of glittery hair slides, plenty of flashy jewelry, a wide variety of young fashions, and several stalls of cosmetics. Lovers of "Hello Kitty" will find the "Super Kitty" section on the second floor particularly interesting. This specializes in "Hello Kitty" goods designed specifically for young adults. The section carries stylish clothes, bags and various accessories, all bearing the "Hello Kitty" motif.

Lemonsha Ginza is part of the well-known and trusted Lemonsha chain of camera stores. They deal mostly with second-hand and imported cameras. It's more of an all-round hobby shop than just a camera shop for people of a certain age; Lemonsha also stocks binoculars, watches, fountain pens and model trains. Go and have a chat with the knowledgeable staff.

A particularly modern, bright and inviting department store, Hankyu offers many popular and familiar brand names, GAP, DKNY, Kenzo, Miyake, Cerruti and Nicole Farhi to name a few. The men's collection is just as good as the women's and the English floor guide is not only comprehensible, but lists everything by brand name. The Yurakucho branch also has a second H2 Sukiyabashi building on the next block (beside the Sony building), which houses more fashion and household goods plus HMV. Shopping is made refreshingly easy here.

This store caters to all of your Mac and iPod needs. Stop in to check out the latest games, software, and accessories. If you're traveling, the staff can direct you towards all the adapters you need for your electronics. Many locations also offer workshops on how to use their various products. See their website for more information and a calendar of events.