Ginza
Ginza Graphic Gallery - Art gallery: Ginza [Open Mon-Fri 11am-7pm; Sat -6pm. Closed Sundays.]
Monthly exhibitions focus on contemporary graphic design, showcasing the work of prominent designers from Japan and abroad. The gallery is run by Dai Nippon Printing, one of Japan's largest printing companies.
Nicolas G. Hayek Center - Notable building: GinzaThe innovative headquarters building of the Swatch Group in Japan is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who is known for implementing outside-the-box concepts such as buildings made from paper tubes. Completed in 2007, the greenery-covered...
Sony Building - Showroom: Ginza [Open 11am-7pm daily.]
If you enjoy checking out the latest consumer electronics, the multi-level Sony showroom, set up along a spiral ramp, should provide a few minutes' diversion. Above the showroom, the top-floor gallery showcases new (and new-ish) technologies -...
Maison Hermes - Notable building: GinzaThe slender, 12-meter-wide building housing the Tokyo flagship store of the French fashion house is covered with 13,000 custom-fabricated glass blocks. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the building was completed in 2001. A small art gallery...
Hankyu Department Store - Department store: Ginza [Open 10:30am-8pm daily.]
A mid-priced Osaka-based department store.
Mitsukoshi Department Store - Department store: Ginza [Open 10am-8pm daily.]
Recently renovated, the two-level food hall at Mitsukoshi carries a wide range of take-away foods from well-known Tokyo restaurants, and a few that serve food on-premises.
Ginza Matsuya - Department store: Ginza [Open 10am-8pm daily.]
The two-floor basement food hall is worth a visit if you're in Ginza.
Printemps Department Store - Department store: Ginza [Open 10am-7:30pm. Closed Wednesdays.]
The Tokyo branch of the famous French department store. You can find Belgian beers and a good Italian wine selection down in the basement food floor.
Marunouchi
Cotton Club - Jazz club: MarunouchiLive soul, R&B and jazz are presented here almost every night.
Herman Miller Store - Retail: Marunouchi [Open 11:30am-8pm.]
Run by the well-known US furniture manufacturer, the Herman Miller Store offers ergonomically designed chairs and office furniture, lighting equipment and stationery.
Intermediatheque - Museum: Marunouchi [Open 11am-6pm (Thu, Fri 8pm; entry until 30 minutes before closing). Closed Mondays.]
The Marunouchi district is teeming with smart new shopping-dining-office complexes, but Kitte ("postage stamp"), brought to you by the Japanese Postal Service, is the only one with its own natural-history museum. Or is it a contemporary art gallery?...
Tokyo International Forum - Notable building: MarunouchiDesigned by New York architect Rafael Vinoli and completed in 1997, TIF contains two theaters and 6,000 square meters of exhibition space as well as restaurants and shops. At the heart of the complex is a sixty-meter-high, hull-shaped glass and...
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum - Art museum: Marunouchi [Open Tue, Sat, Sun: 10am-6pm; Wed-Fri: 10am-8pm. Closed Mondays.]
Occupying one corner of the very tasteful Brick Square shopping and restaurant complex, this compact museum is set inside a replica of Marunouchi's first office building, which was originally built in 1894. The museum displays a collection of...
Kyobashi/ Yaesu/ Nihonbashi
Bridgestone Museum of Art - Art museum: Kyobashi [Open 10am-6pm (enter by 5:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
The collection here focuses on Impressionism and other European art movements as well as Japanese Western-style paintings from the Meiji Era and onward.
Communications Museum - Museum: Otemachi [Open 9am-4:30pm (enter by 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
The name "Communications Museum" sounds cooler than "Stamp and Telephone Museum," but those are the main subjects covered here. One highlight of the postal section is the collection of 280,000 stamps from around the world, including some very rare...
Taimeiken Kite Museum - Museum: Nihonbashi [Open 11am-5pm. Closed Sundays.]
A visit to Nihonbashi's Taimeiken Kite Museum feels a bit like stepping into the attic of an eccentric old man. The room is a tangled heap of color and string, requiring you to duck under and step around the hundreds of kites that couldn't fit...
Kuroeya - Retail: Nihonbashi [Open 9am-5pm. Closed weekends.]
Gorgeous soup and salad bowls, bento boxes, trays and other items for the table are sold at this lacquerware specialty shop. In addition to traditional styles they also offer modern interpretations of the classics, including lovely silver-colored...
Takashimaya - Department store: Nihonbashi [Open 10am-8pm daily.]
The basement food floor of Takashimaya is upscale and a bit old-fashioned at the same time, just like the rest of the store; you'll find booths run by traditional eel restaurants and similar fare.
Mandarin Bar - Bar: Nihonbashi [Open 11:30am-midnight daily.]
Sumptuous is the word for the Mandarin Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Nihonbashi. The interior by Ryu Kosaka, with richly tactile accents by textile designer Reiko Sudo, is chic and inviting, dominated by seductive earth tones. The scale of...
Kiya Knife Shop - Knife shop: Nihonbashi [Open 10am-8pm daily.]
Established in 1792 and still going strong, Kiya sells an amazing variety of kitchen knives, including ones crafted specifically for cutting fugu, salmon, soba noodles and vegetables. They carry seven different styles of eel knife alone. They also...
