10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Night Time Shopping in Ginza, Tokyo
When the night has fallen and you got nowhere else to go, it's probably time for you to hit Ginza, the high fashion center of Tokyo. Ginza has a lot of upscale shops and restaurants, it guarantees nobody will get bored in Ginza. There are so many exits in Ginza, I suggest to just come out from whichever exit and explore Ginza from above the ground instead from underground (unless it's raining or snowing).
If you like to shop, there are a lot of places to shop in Ginza from the luxury brand to local Japanese brand. Most of the stores open until quite late at night you don't have to rush doing your shopping task. Ginza is also home to Tokyo's oldest and most prestigious department stores. Wako is probably the most exclusive department store in Ginza.
If you prefer to eat, there are so many popular restaurants in Ginza. Be prepared that the popular restaurants may require a certain degree of perseverance from the diners. For instance, a lot of travellers need to queue for at least three hours to secure a seat at Sushidai (i.e. the sushi restaurant which was visited by President Obama during one of his visits to Japan).
I'd prefer to do my shopping than eating in Ginza that night but I don't have wallet capacity to buy a branded bag here. So I went to the fashion stores which are friendlier to my budget. If you are limited by budget like myself, you may like visiting store like Gu and Uniqlo.
In fact, Uniqlo Ginza has earned Certificate of Excellence from Tripadvisor. I recommend you to visit this Uniqlo (can I call this the HQ?) building in Ginza as it is so huge and there may be some limited edition items only sold in Japan.
A cool display in Uniqlo. I ended up buying a Tintin tee from Uniqlo but turned out Uniqlo Singapore has one too. The next time I decided to go to Japan, I should really take note of what's available and what's not in Uniqlo Singapore. Hahaha.
After a few hours of shopping and walking around, we stumbled into a waffle store called Manneken. There are some occasional buyers coming into the store so we thought the waffles must be at least not bad.
So many selection to choose from but I ended up loyal to my chocolate glazed waffle. Yum!
My friend stayed in Ginza before and she loved the experience (if I'm not wrong, she stayed in Mercure Tokyo Ginza). The hotel does receive a lot of positive feedback in Tripadvisor so I guess she must be right. Otherwise, you can check out other hotels in Ginza area for your consideration.