Vintage-Shopping in Koenji A place packed with vintage shops? You find it in Koenji. It's also famous for its underground music scene, secondhand record shops and hip eateries and bars. "Tokyo's coolest neighbourhood", commented The Guardian. You may start at Koenji Street, a loose collection of shops that sell everything from used books and records to arts and crafts. See this guide by Tokyo Telephone. And read: Koenji: A Guide To Tokyo’s Retro Hub and 50 things to do in Koenji. See pictures of Koenji Street on Instagram.
Sokkyou 即興: This name means "improvisation". "The store is carefully stocked with on-trend pieces for both men and women, mostly of American origin", notes Timeout Tokyo.
BnA Hotel: A the two-room lodging opened in March 2016. BnA Hotel Koenji is an art hotel that resulted from Bed & Art Project, an initiative that aims to connect travellers with Japanese artists. Guests stay inside a work of art, one guest room designed by Ryuichi Ogino and one designed by Yohei Takahashi. The renovated three-storey building also hosts a basement gallery and a ground floor bar/cafe/reception, which is open to the public. Read more on HereNow Tokyo.
Akihabara is well known as Tokyo's electronics heaven or Tokyo's otaku (おたく/オタク) heaven. Foreigners have to understand first, what an otaku is. "The closest English translation for otaku would be geek, although otaku carries a stronger negative connotation, evoking images of someone who’s socially awkward and obsessively focused on certain interests", explains Tokyo Cheapo. Otaku is for example the word for an anime and manga fan. If this is your interest, you will head to Animate (アニメイト), the place for anime merchandise. Here you find plenty of manga, DVDs, key chains and even themed food.
Less prizey is secondhand merchandise. You will find it at Mandarake: This department store has over one million items, mostly manga and anime merchandise, of course you find here cosplay sets as well.
Lashinbang is another address for second-hand merchandise. Or you look for bargains at the Mottainai Flea Market in front of Akihabara UDX, held once a month.
Or are you the kind of otaku, who would like to be the master and served by a maid? This is the original theme of the Maid Cafés. @home cafe and Maidreamin are the best known. Be aware: Many of these cafes have a table charge of 540 yen, allowing you to stay only for a maximum of an hour or an hour and a half. Don't expect to be the master everywhere: Cure Maid Cafe (in the building of Cospa) tries to create a Victorian era ambiance, the maids are demure.
We stop at Bar Zingaro, "a cafe that fuses Norwegian exports — midcentury Scandinavian furnishings, Fuglen coffee — with the colorful art of Takashi Murakami", as the New York Times notes.
Fukumori Café: Fukumori is run by three Ryokans, which are all famous for hot springs, “Kameya”, “Takinoyu” and “Youzankan” in Yamagata prefecture and serve food and wine from Yamagata, for example beef. There is a shop associated, Tanafukumori, with goods from tradtional crafts to modern design.
Yodobashi Akiba: Here you can find any electronic thing - mobile techs and accessories, cameras and computers. but also coffee shops, restaurants, as a golf shop and a batting center on the ninth floor.
Don Quijote: A chain of stores selling almost everything, from groceries (sweets, drinks, snacks, etc.) to cosmetics, piercings, electronics to costumes, even the weirdest ones.
Finally we visit the place, where the Japanese IT-people look for good luck. They do it not on computer or smartphone screens, they do it at Kanda Myojin Shrine: Three Gods are enshrined here: Daikokuten – the God of fruity harvest, Ebisu – the God of fishermen and sucessful businessmen and Taira Masakado – a feudal lord. Here the IT professionals from all over Japan held blessing ceremonies for new IT ventures.
Chidorigafuchi Park: This park, next to the Tokyo Imperial Palace, is a wonderful place for a relaxing stroll in any season, and extraordinary beautiful during the cherry blossom period in late March or April. You can rent a rowboat and make your way along the moat. During cherry blossom the more than 250 trees along the Chidorigafuchi moat are lit up with LEDs at night, while the park's boathouse extends its opening hours.
Imperial Palace: Tokyo's Imperial Palace stands on what was once the site of Edo castle and residence of the Tokugawa shogunate. The East Garden is open to the public. Twice a year – on New Year's Day and December 23, the Emperor's birthday – the inner palace grounds are open to the public, greeted from a balcony by the Imperial family.
Ginza (銀座) is known as the high fashion center of Tokyo with many upscale shops and restaurants.
Mitsukoshi Ginza: Locals head to the 11th floor of Mitsukoshi Department store in Ginza for fried pork cutlets called tonkatsu, notes tatcha.com. But you find more mouthwatering food. Why not an afternoon tea at Harrods'? Also worth a look is the Ginza Food Garden, where more than 120 food shops welcome customers with hot, cold, sweet and savoury produce and ready-made dishes. Find Floor informations.
Are you looking for female clothing not outside your budget? Then head to Shimo-kitazawa, not very far from Shibuya and very popular by young people. There are amazing vintage shops and thrift stores to be found. A lot of winding, crisscrossing little streets are packed with shops, cafes, hole-in-the-wall bars and basement live houses. Near to the station you find the ¥700 store, but there are many more affordable boutiques around. "With its bohemian vibe and laid-back atmosphere, the area smacks of urban modern cool (...). It has the verve like no other in Tokyo", writes Shimokitazawa: A Guide To Tokyo’s Bohemian Hub. Cafes and shops don’t open until 11:00 a.m. or even later. You’ll also find that many places are closed on Tuesdays.
Nomin Cafe: They use fresh seasonal organic vegetables and offer variations to match dietary restrictions, like vegetarian or gluten-free.
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Shimokitezawa Cage: Underneath the Inokashira line tracks. This event space hosts everything from night-time markets and streetfood to art events as film screenings and open-air gigs. This extended pop-up space is set to run until 2019 a stone’s throw from the station. The Mikkeller pop up bar serves hipster craft beers.
There are 21 music clubs in Shimokitazawa. Bands as Bump of Chicken, Asian Kung-Fu Generation or Thee Michelle Gun Elephant all got their start in the clubs of Shimokitazawa.
