The largest shopping complex in Ginza opened in 2017 on the site of the old Matsuzakaya department store, with 240 shops arranged around a six-storey atrium that doubles as an art space. Kusama’s polka-dot pumpkins hung here first, and the commissions since have kept the same ambition. Below ground a Noh theatre performs classical drama; on the sixth floor Tsutaya Books runs one of the city’s finest art bookshops.
Treat the building as a free gallery with expensive shops attached. Ride the escalators to the top, step out onto the rooftop garden for the skyline, then browse down through the fashion floors. The basement food hall is the place for a sweet or a bento to eat upstairs.
Tips
- The rooftop garden on the 13th floor is free, rarely busy and has benches facing Tokyo Tower
- Tsutaya Books on the sixth floor stocks art and architecture titles you will not find elsewhere, alongside a gallery and café
- The atrium installation changes every year or so, so look up from the central escalators before shopping