Steve Wide - Tokyo Precincts: A Curated Guide to the City’s Best Shops, Eateries, Bars and Other Hangouts

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CONTENTS

Konnichiwa and welcome to Tokyo Precincts. Tokyo is our favourite city in the world! Its a place of eye-popping fashion, incredible food, cat cafes, hole-in-the-wall bars and train stations as big as city blocks. There are towering buildings with neon signs next to warren-like alleys full of tiny, old-world eateries. The shopping is dangerous! Youll be cramming your bags with toys, the latest gadgets, homewares and beautiful crafts. There is so much to love here, and we hope youll uncover your own favourite things.

Tokyo is a gigantic city, but its made up of smaller cities, each with its own unique feel. If you tackle Tokyo one part at a time, youll get a handle on it in no time. Tokyo Precincts is divided into 19 precincts, and for each weve picked our favourite shopping, eating and drinking experiences. This is our personal take on the city, which we hope you can use as a springboard for your own adventures.

Youll most likely use the train system to get around. The trains are fast, always on time and crazy fun, from the cute ads showing on tiny TVs to the sardine-can crunch at rush hour. Weve included station exit information for each review and some simple maps to help you get around (its easy to get lost). Youll also fine some (hopefully) handy tips on navigating Tokyo, etiquette, food, drinks and soon, which will help make your trip go as smoothly as possible.

So launch yourself into Tokyos precincts! Once you get your bearings, there is no end to the fun, amazing shopping and eating, friendly people and unforgettable experiences. There is simply no other place in the world like Tokyo and we hope you love it as much as we do.

Steve Wide and Michelle Mackintosh

With its neon flashing lights, giant TV screens and impossible crowds, Shibuya West cemented its pop-culture status long before the world came to snap pictures of it. This is an up-late precinct with a serious shopping addiction, and a bubbling laboratory where worldwide trends, youth fashion and lifestyles are born.

Youll find everything thats anything here, from seedy love hotels and games parlours to some of the worlds best music venues, blockbuster art and oh, did we mention shopping?

SHOP

EAT

EAT AND DRINK

See map

Nobody does shopping like Tokyo, and Shibuya West is definitely the precinct to see whats in and whats out. A good place to start is at the Shibuya 109 building, an absolute fashion mecca, especially for the younger set. Get ideas on the latest styles from the kids on the street and then head into the fashion madhouse within 109 to put your look together.

Newcomer Modi offers a mix of Japanese fashion and lifestyle brands, including HMV music and books (complete with an English section). Also check out bespoke Kimono shop The Yard, the great range of organic cosmetics at CosmeKitchen, and stop for a drink at Streamer Coffee Company on the 6th floor. Across the road youll find the brightly colored retro futurism of Tower Records, a musical playground set over nine floors.

Jinnan is a cool enclave with casual chic fashion stores such as Beams (note: Beams Boy is actually a boyish girls label), Journal Standard and United Arrows. have inspiring homewares, stationery and lifestyle goods. Scour this area for amazing new and vintage records, toys, manga and figurines. Its enough to keep even the most savvy shopper occupied for days even weeks!

TOKYO TIP

Alleys and lanes hold charming eateries, little pockets of calm amongst the madness.

8F, Ohata Building, 1-10-7 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku

3780 6203

www.grimoire-onlineshop.com

Open MonFri 18pm, SatSun 128pm

Shibuya station, Hachiko exit

Grimoire will make you feel like youve dropped through the rabbit hole into the darkest parts of Wonderland to go vintage hunting with Alice. This sinister fairy forest caters to followers of the dolly-kei style, a mashup of Victorian lace, Grimms fairytales and Gothic romance. Taxidermy, cuckoo clocks, creepy dolls, renaissance paintings and hanging puppets all conspire to make this the haunted house of retro shopping. Search the bulging racks of frou-frou dresses, Eastern European folk clothing and goth-girl cute for finds that are way outside the box. Embroidered trimmings, floral headpieces, cameos, brooches, patterned tights and Victorian perfume bottles complete the look.

1-23-7 Jinnan Shibuya-ku

5428 4188

www.tabio.com

Open MonSun 11am9pm

Shibuya station, Hachiko exit

Socks are a big deal in Japan; it makes sense in a country where you have to take your shoes off a lot. Jump on any train in Tokyo and youll see men from young office workers to 80-year-olds rocking chic sock-ware as the perfect way to style up or add edge to their outfit.

The word tabi refers to traditional Japanese split-toed socks, which are designed to be worn with geta (clogs). O-tabi means the honorable sock, and so you can be assured to find a range of seasonal socks made with attention to detail and quality here. Tabio MEN will style up your outfit, whether its for work or a casual outing, with one of their many socks available in eye-catching patterns and styles. Prices start at around 600, and getting up to 1500 for exquisite quality dress socks. And yes, both the split-toed and regular type of socks are available. For girls interested in adding a pair of Tabio socks to their own sock drawers, check out the variety of Tabio stores around Tokyos precincts.

2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku

3477 3111

www.tokyu-dept.co.jp/toyoko/foodshow

Open MonSun 10am8pm

Shibuya station, Hachiko exit

Youll never think of shopping-centre food halls in the same way again after spending a few hours gawking at the variety of food on display in this basement hawkers market. Its crazy at any time of the day, but things really get crowded when work is over and Tokyoites want to grab something to take home. The offerings run from Japanese and international street food to upmarket fare. Even the fussiest of eaters will be happy here, as theres just so much to choose from, including a great gyoza (dumpling) stand, rice-cracker stalls, sweets vendors and all manner of sushi, sashimi, grilled meats and rice dishes. There are free samples galore so you can try before you buy. Hit the food hall at closing time for some seriously marked-down bargains.