Ginza, Tokyo

Ginza, the shopping district, has a lot of high priced stores. Do you have a lot of money? Synne and I decided to pass some time getting a makeover at the christian dior counter of a big department store. Synne suggested that we buy something to be polite. I thought the lipstick was rather nice, so I asked the price. Unfortunatly, I misunderstood, and only after I agreed to buy it did I realize that I had just spent $35 on a tube of lipstick... Well it is a nice color...

Some people on VT seem to rave about Ginza, but at the end of the day, it's just a load of shops, which to be honest are not even particularly nice to look at, architecturally speaking. Big deal. You can buy the same kit in any big city, anywhere in the world. Armani is not confined to Japan.

Of course, if shopping is your thing, you may well disagree with me, but a word of warning. Unless you can read Japanese, your shopping experience won't be very satisfying, because you won't have a clue what any of the shops are selling (other than the two or three really large department stores). Especially because shops in Tokyo are often on the 2nd or 3rd floor, with only signage and the entrance to a staircase at street level, to make the most of the available space. So you can't even look in their windows. Also, once you're inside the stores, all the signage is often in Japanese only, so you haven't a clue where to go. Oh well.

The two things I thought were worth seeing in the Ginza area are the Sony Centre, which has 6 floors of the latest cool electronics, and the Tokyo International Forum (a kind of convention centre) - pictured - which just looks cool - there was nothing actually there that I could see.

See my separate travelogue for some more photos.

The Ginza.
The name brings images of cherry blossoms and electronics.
But in fact, I found just one cherry tree, and no electronics stores...
It's actually a high-end shopping street, but a few bargains can be found.
On Sunday afternoons, cars are cleared by the police, and it becomes a pedestrian mall. I chose that time to wander, and it was very nice indeed!
It's about the widest street in the city, and as my 'Time Out' guidebook reads, 'At noon, Ginza Dori... looks wide enough for Godzilla to wander down without touching a building.'