Ginza, Tokyo

Ginza is the most upmarket shopping area in Tokyo. It is located in Chuo ward, south of Yaesu and Kyobashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yurakucho and Uchisaiwaicho and north of Shinbashi. This is where you can find some of the finest, most luxurious department stores and boutiques in Japan. Ginza is also well renowned for its concentration of upscale branded stores.

Ginza (4 April 2007)



The name Ginza means "silver place", and refers to the silver-coin mint that was located here in 1612, during the Edo period. When the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital to Edo in 1590, Ginza was just marshland. But as soon as the marshes were filled in, merchants and traders started to move in, creating a bustling commercial district.

In 1872, a massive fire destroyed almost all the houses in Ginza. It was however an opportunity for a re-built, which resulted in a wave of two and three storey Georgian-style shophouses. Many of these have since been replaced with more modern buildings, but a famous one that still remains is the Wako Department Store building, at the junction of Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori.

Chuo-dori, Ginza (4 April 2007)


Since the 1960's, Chuo-dori is closed to traffic on weekends, allowing pedestrians full access to the road, and bringing about even more shoppers to the area.

Getting there

Ginza is served by three subway stations: the Ginza Station (M16, H06, C08), the Ginza-itchome Station (Y19) and the Higashi-ginza Station (A11 and H09).

For full details about taking the subway, go to Tokyo Metro (http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/).

Sights in Ginza

Shopping Destinations in Ginza

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.