On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I made my way down to Ginza to take a look around. This is the home of excessive spending, where one square meter of land costs about 10 million yen and the coffee can run $10 a cup.
Chuo Dori, the main street going from end to end, is closed to vehicles. The area overflows with shoppers, tourists, and people-watchers who want to see and be seen.
On either side of the street, uniquely-designed buildings are jam-packed with expensive top labels.
Occasional resting spots can be found for weary shoppers, or those suffering from heart attacks after seeing the price of a meal. In all honesty, moderately-priced food isn't too difficult to find.
The building facades are quite fancy. Swarvoski's entrance looks like a chandelier.
I'm not sure what's going on here.
A clothing store.
Prada. There were a bunch of fir trees lined along the road.
Tiffany & Co.
I'm not sure what's in here, though I suppose it's the Seiko Building.
The Ricoh building looks like a camera lens?
Sapporo has a presence at a major interesection, though I think Asahi has the upper hand (you'll see why later).
Dior.
No idea. Coach is on the first floor.
The Sony building has a lot of great technology on display and is reasonably priced. But you'll probably get better deals in Akihabara or online.
Fujiya.
Lee? Marugen?
The back streets running parallel to Chuo Dori are where you'll find clubs, bars, and restaurants.
And you'll also find this super-narrow building. It's about 10 feet wide, I believe. With three stories, I could probably live in this kind of a footprint. It's certainly larger than my current place!
You have to look up at the signs to find all the restaurants and clubs tucked away in the skyscrapers.
The Apple Store is here too, and is always quite busy. One of my students told me that she just reserved an iPad Mini - and it'll be here in two months.
Remember I mentioned Asahi? They have a fairly-new restaurant/bar right on Chuo Dori selling ice-cold Super Dry. There's a better beer hall down the street named Lion, though. I'll have another post on that soon.
The shop windows are worth looking in as well. It's hard to photograph them on a sunny day, but they have interesting displays with unique mannequins.
This boy was sure interested in me, so I snapped a pic of him too. He's too cool for pre-school!
As I said earlier, Ginza is a place to see and be seen. This includes pets as well.
Dogs in Japan are accessories, like purses and jewelry. I've seen pet strollers
in use here, and plenty of dogs get dressed up for their day out. These two friends were enjoying the attention of onlookers and gropers.
This little chihuahua is absolutely adorable in his little costume. I wonder if he likes it. He didn't seem to shy away from the crowds.
For shoppers, Ginza is probably high on the destination list. But as a tourist with some free time on Sunday, it's worth coming by to walk down Chuo Dori, look at the people, and maybe do a little window shopping. In fact, it's close enough to Akihabara that you could do both in one day if you had the energy.
Ginza is big enough that you can get there via several stations on several lines. You can take JR lines or the Yurakucho subway line to Yurakacho Station for the easiest access, or walk from Shinbashi or Tokyo stations. The Ginza subway station (Ginza, Hibiya, and Marunouchi lines) is closer, for those riding the Metro. Chuo Dori is best visited on Saturday (after 2 pm) or Sunday (after 12 pm), when the road is closed and people are out walking. But visit any day to see high-class locals with free time heading to or from lunch.
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