Shopping in Tokyo: Districts, What to Buy and Tax-Free Rules

The thing that surprises people about shopping in Tokyo is not the price or the selection. It is the wrapping. Buy a ¥400 pastry and it comes in a bag, folded and taped, with a small ice pack in summer and an apology if the queue took three minutes. Buy something expensive and a member of staff will carry it to the door and bow as you leave.

Tokyo is organized by district, and each one sells something specific. Knowing which district does what saves you more time than any other piece of shopping advice, and the one rule that has genuinely changed is how tax-free works: since November 1, 2026 you pay full price in the shop and reclaim the tax at the airport.

Ginza

Tokyo's shopping districts

Ginza: the luxury end

Ginza is where the flagships are: Chanel, Dior, Cartier, Uniqlo's twelve-floor global store, and Ginza Six, which has a Tsutaya bookshop and an art installation hanging in the atrium.

The two things worth knowing. Wako, the clock-towered building at the 4-chome crossing, is the district's landmark and its windows are a genuine display tradition. And Mitsukoshi, whose Ginza branch descends from a 17th-century kimono merchant, has one of the best depachika food halls in the city. Its global site covers tax-free arrangements for visitors.

On weekend afternoons Chuo-dori closes to traffic and becomes a pedestrian street, which is the best time to be there.

Ginza is also full of small, old, specialist shops that predate the luxury brands: handmade brushes, washi paper, knives, kimono fabric. Those are more interesting than the flagships.

Shinjuku: department stores and everything else

Shinjuku

The Shinjuku district is the volume end of Tokyo shopping. Isetan's main store is widely considered the best department store in Japan, particularly for fashion and for its basement food floor. Takashimaya Times Square holds a Tokyu Hands and a Uniqlo. Lumine and Lumine Est cover the mid-range.

Yodobashi Camera near the west exit is a sprawl of connected buildings selling electronics, cameras, watches, toys and stationery, and Bic Camera does the same thing across the station.

Shinjuku Station is the busiest in the world and you will get lost. Pick an exit number before you set off.

Akihabara: electronics and anime

Akihabara

Akihabara Electric Town was the postwar radio parts market and is now the anime and electronics district.

For new merchandise: Animate, the Kotobukiya building, Gamers, the Gachapon Kaikan with several hundred capsule machines. For second-hand and rare: Mandarake's tower, Surugaya, and the back-street shops that sell single parts.

The side streets off the main road still sell components by the tray, which is what the district originally was. Our guide to the district's history and layout explains how it is arranged.

For genuinely rare collector material, Nakano Broadway to the west is better than Akihabara, and Mandarake runs 27 separate shops inside it. Its company site lists the branches.

Shibuya: youth fashion

Shibuya

Shibuya is where Japanese teenagers and twenty-somethings actually shop. Shibuya 109 is the landmark, nine floors of small independent fashion brands aimed squarely at young women. Shibuya Parco has a Nintendo store, a Pokemon Center and a Jump shop stacked on its sixth floor.

Cat Street, running north toward Harajuku, is the better street: low-rise, independent, streetwear and secondhand, and no crowds compared with the crossing. Our guide to Shibuya after dark covers what happens there in the evening.

Harajuku: street style

Takeshita Street

Harajuku splits in two.

Takeshita-dori is 350 meters of teenage fashion, crepes and photo booths, and it is packed to a standstill most afternoons.

Ura-Harajuku, the back streets, is where the actual clothing is: the small labels that built Japanese streetwear in the 1990s, plus vintage and skate shops. Laforet on the corner holds Lolita and gothic brands on its lower floors.

Omotesando, the boulevard below, is the designer end, with flagship buildings by Herzog & de Meuron, SANAA and Tadao Ando that are worth seeing as architecture whether or not you go in.

What to actually buy

Japanese Yen

Stationery. The most underrated category. Itoya in Ginza has twelve floors of it. Pens, notebooks, washi tape and paper are better and cheaper here than anywhere.

Kitchen knives. Kappabashi, the restaurant supply street near Asakusa, sells carbon-steel and stainless knives with free sharpening and name engraving while you wait. Pack them in checked luggage.

Japanese Kimonos for Sale at a Clothing Shop in Tokyo

Vintage and secondhand clothing. Japan's used market is enormous and honestly graded. Shimokitazawa for curated, Koenji for cheap, Ragtag and Kindal for designer resale.

Drugstore skincare. Sheet masks, sunscreen, hand creams. Cheap, light, and the single best gift category.

Ceramics and craft. Kappabashi again, plus the craft floors of the big department stores.

Second-hand cameras. Map Camera and Fujiya Camera in Shinjuku and Nakano hold enormous stocks of graded film and digital bodies, often cheaper than abroad.

Food. Depachika basements, Nishiki-style pickles, matcha, and the regional snack boxes covered in our guide to Japanese souvenirs and omiyage.

Traditional textiles. Vintage kimono and obi fabric are cheap at flea markets, and our guide to Japanese textiles explains what you are looking at.

How tax-free shopping works now

This is the part that has changed, and older advice is wrong.

Since November 1, 2026, you pay the full tax-inclusive price at the register. You then reclaim the consumption tax at the airport, after a customs check confirms the goods are leaving Japan. Previously the discount happened in the shop.

The rules that still apply:

• You must spend at least ¥5,000, excluding tax, per shop per day

• The tax is 10 percent on most goods and 8 percent on food and soft drinks

• You need your passport at the point of purchase

• Purchases must be made within 90 days of your departure

• Eligibility is for non-resident visitors, usually on Temporary Visitor status

What changed besides the timing. The old split between general goods and consumables is abolished, and so is the sealed-bag requirement for food and cosmetics. But using or eating those items in Japan before you leave still voids the refund.

At the airport: scan your passport at a tax-free terminal before checking your bags. It will tell you whether your goods need inspecting. Every item on a receipt must be present if inspected, or that whole receipt is refused.

Plan for it. Leave an extra 30 minutes at departure, and do not pack tax-free purchases into a checked bag before you have done the terminal.

Payment and practicalities

Cards are accepted almost everywhere now, including most small shops. IC cards like Suica work for small purchases. QR payments are everywhere and mostly require a Japanese account.

Cash is still needed at flea markets, some small restaurants, temple stalls and older shops. Withdraw from 7-Eleven or Japan Post ATMs, which reliably take foreign cards.

Sizes run small. Women's clothing tops out where many international ranges begin, and shoes above roughly a US women's 9 or men's 11 are hard to find outside specialist shops.

Opening hours. Department stores run roughly 10:00 to 20:00. Electronics stores open later, often until 22:00. Small independent shops frequently do not open until noon and close one weekday.

Getting around. The subway covers every district here, and a one-day pass is worth it if you are doing three or more. The Tokyo Metro site has the route maps.

Markets and back streets

Nakamise Shopping Street

Nakamise-dori at the Senso-ji approach runs 250 meters of stalls selling fans, crackers, sweets and souvenirs on the approach to the temple. Touristy, and the senbei and ningyo-yaki are made on site.

Kappabashi, fifteen minutes away, is the professional end: knives, ceramics, lacquer, and the plastic food models restaurants display outside.

Flea markets are the best value in the city. Oedo Antique Market at the Tokyo International Forum on the first and third Sunday of the month, and the temple markets at Nogi Shrine and Togo Shrine. Old kimono, prints, pottery and tools at a fraction of shop prices.

Ameyoko at Ueno is a loud open-air market under the railway, selling food, cheap clothes and cosmetics, and it is the least polished shopping in central Tokyo.

Shopping etiquette

Hand money to the cashier on the small tray, not directly. It is on the counter for that reason.

Do not haggle. Prices are fixed everywhere except flea markets, and asking reads as an insult.

Do not eat or drink while walking through a shop, and take backpacks off in crowded stores.

Photography inside shops is often banned, particularly where the stock is valuable. Look for signs and ask.

Bags cost money now, from around ¥3 to ¥10, so carry one.

Do not tip. Nobody will know what to do.

A sensible shopping day

Morning: Ginza when the department stores open at 10:00, starting with the depachika for something to eat.

Midday: Kappabashi or Nakamise, depending on whether you want knives or souvenirs.

Afternoon: Shibuya and Cat Street, walking up to Harajuku.

Evening: Shinjuku for the electronics stores, which stay open latest.

That covers luxury, craft, street fashion and electronics in a day, and our guide to Tokyo street food covers what to eat while you do it. A seven-day Tokyo route gives you the time to do it properly instead of in one exhausting stretch.

For the museums and galleries between the shops, see our guide to Japan's museums, and our guide to where to stay in the city covers which base gives you for the shortest walk home with the bags.