shopping

photo: Rob Goss
Some parts of Tokyo may be livelier, some more fashionable, but nowhere exudes wealth quite like Ginza.

Home to the most expensive square metre of real estate in the country, infamously overpriced cups of coffee and hostess clubs where splashing half a million yen on a bottle of bubbly is par for the course, Ginza is the place Tokyo’s seriously wealthy go to drop serious cash. The good news though is that you don’t need to be rich to hang out there.

Department stores
The best time to discover Ginza is on the weekend, when the crowds come out and much of Chuo-dori - the main street running through Ginza - is closed off to traffic for the afternoon. With the weekday cars replaced by a smattering of street performers and the occasional outdoor café, the atmosphere is ideal for strolling between the area’s department stores. And Ginza has plenty of them to stroll between.

On one four-block stretch of Chuo-dori alone, Ginza can boast Matsuya, Matsuzakaya, Ginza Wako, Ginza Core, and a branch of Mitsukoshi, the flagship store of which is only another 20 minutes down the road in Nihonbashi. A couple of streets over to where Ginza begins to blur into the Hibiya and Yurakucho areas on Sotobori-dori, there is also a Printemps, a Seibu and two Hankyu department stores. They all add up to a whole lot of shopping, yet shopping is only part of what Ginza’s department stores are about.

Besides being great for checking out the latest and often obscenely priced fashions, Japan’s department stores – and Ginza’s in particular - are the best places to sample all manner of Japanese food. Head to the basement floors of any department store and you’ll find an impressive range of groceries, takeout lunches, regional specialities and deli goods, as well as a fine selection of both Japanese and Western sweets. Although the prices tend to be on the high side, the quality is always good and many of the stalls keep samples on the counter for passers-by to try.

photo: Rob Goss

If the samples leave you hungry for more, the upper floors of most department stores (Mitsukoshi Ginza is a restaurant-less exception) tend to be exclusively for restaurants and typically house a mixture suitable for most budgets – from staples like tonkatsu or ramen that will set you back around 1,000 yen, to high-end Chinese or Japanese restaurants where 1,000 yen won’t even get you a glass of water. As a word of caution, it is worth noting that between around noon and 2pm the restaurant floors get very busy on both weekdays and weekends and you may have to indulge in the Japanese pastime of queuing for a table if you want to eat around that time. If possible, plan for an early or late lunch or pick up something from the basement and walk over to Hibiya Park for a picnic.

Boutiques and Japanese brands
Beyond the department stores, Ginza’s streets read like a “who’s-who” of haute couture, with Cartier, Chanel and Hermes being just three of the major brands with prominent stores on or around Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori to add to the outlets they also have in many of the department stores. Thanks to an elitist air enhanced by the obligatory disapproving glances of the doormen if you enter in anything less than several million yens worth of clothing, these shops tend not to be as welcoming as the department stores. But don’t let that stop you from having a look inside as rich housewives and well-kept mistresses spoil themselves with million-yen handbags.

Competing for attention with the imported brands, Ginza’s home-grown “A-list” of prestigious stores includes Mikimoto for pearls, the giant, nine-storey Ito-ya for expensive stationary, Tanizawa for leather bags and accessories, and Tenshodo on Harumi-dori for jewellery and luxury watches. Should that not be enough for you, Sony Building on Harumi-dori and the Apple Store on Chuo-dori provide a couple of modern options for anyone interested in cool gadgetry.

Ginza on the cheap
Despite its well-earned reputation for being pricey, Ginza does have its fair share of cheaper options, and keeping a day out in Ginza affordable is no longer much of a challenge.

For a cheap bite to eat, most of the usual American fast food places and coffee shops have at least one branch in the area and budget Japanese coffee shops like Doutor (if you don’t mind the smoke) and Excelsior are easy to find, as are cheap and cheerful chain restaurants like Yoshinoya and Matsuya where most set meals are comfortably under 600 yen. When it comes to night life, Ginza is still an expensive night out, but there are some cheaper izakaya around (look for picture menus in the street with the prices listed) and one 300-yen bar a couple of back streets behind Ginza Core where – no prizes for guessing – everything on the menu is 300 yen.

If you want to pick up bargains, you would be barking up the wrong tree looking for them in Ginza, but there are some affordable shops that are worth a visit. The large branch of Muji on the other side of Sotobori-dori is good for simple fashions and interiors and the giant Bic Camera electronics store a couple of minutes away has some good deals on the latest gadgets and home electronics.

Arguably Japan’s most exclusive department store, Wako on the 4-chome crossing in the exclusive shopping district is a legend in and of itself – and one each and every visitor to Ginza should make the effort to visit time permitting.

In much the same way as Harrods rounds off a trip to London – a little time spent mouth agape at the prices in Wako is a ‘must do’ when in Tokyo.

Founded by a gentleman named Kintaro Hattori in 1881, and as with many Japanese companies created at the time, named after its founder, the business that was to later become Wako started off life as a watch and jewelry specialist until, in the confusion of post-WWII Japan, the company split and the retail portion of Hattori’s empire adopted the name they retain today.

Between its founding and the early morning hours of September 1st 1923, the shop, then known as K. Hattori, was particularly known for its prominent clock tower.

That was, until disaster struck just before lunchtime that warm late summer day; the Kanto area hit by a massive magnitude 7.9 earthquake later given the name ‘The Great Kanto Earthquake’ as most were preparing the midday meal.

In excess of 100,000 perished in the quake and resulting fires; some figures put the final death toll as high as 140,000. Hundreds of thousands of buildings were either entirely or partially destroyed, and Wako was no different; its famed Hattori Clock Tower toppling from its perch high atop the former structure, shattering on the street below.

No records exist as to whether or not the falling clock added to the list of fatalities and it took almost a decade before the department store born from the ashes of early September 1923, had another clock tower added to its roof.

Designed by Japanese architect Jin Watanabe, the structure as it still stands today is effectively unchanged since its 1932 unveiling, and was one of the few buildings left largely unscathed after the American fire bombings of the Japanese capital during the closing days of the Second World War.

The years 1945 to 1952 saw Japan occupied by US forces who, for reasons undocumented but likely connected to showing who was boss, opted to use the Wako building as the Tokyo branch of the PX / BX facilities found on US bases.

Eventually the Americans moved out and business as normal resumed.

Today, with smaller branches in the upscale neighbourhoods of Hiroo and Minato in Tokyo as well as in Haneda Airport and several high end hotels dotted around the country, the store is officially titled Wako Co., Ltd., but is more often than not known by the name of Ginza Wako or, simply ‘Wako.’

As in the early days, jewelry, top of the range crockery, watches and clocks as well as luxury items imported from Europe and the US form the backbone of its stock – and related reputation for only dealing in the best products on the market.

Prices sadly, are Ginza and then some! Think gold credit cards or direct bank vault access if you want to buy, or stick to the proverbial ‘window shopping’ if a mere mortal!

Expense aside though, Ginza would just not be Ginza without Wako.

For further information on Wako as is, view the official website at www.wako.co.jp