DISTANCE: 5km (3 miles)
TIME: A half day
START/END: Hibiya Station
POINTS TO NOTE: This route follows on from the Imperial Palace walk (for more information, click here). It is good to start in the late afternoon, so you can see Ginza lit up at night.
Both Marunouchi and Ginza are synonymous with expensive chic; against strong competition from other quarters they retain their charm, especially for the well-heeled, middle-aged shopper. The boutiques lining Marunouchi’s Naka-dori or Ginza’s Chuo-dori are a roll call of designer labels. But there are also cultural treasures here, plus prime examples of heritage and contemporary architecture.
Marunouchi
It’s a long time since Marunouchi lived up to its name – ‘within the castle walls’. The opening of Tokyo Station in 1914 put it on the modern map, and today it is enjoying a renaissance as the landowner Mitsubishi redevelops the area.
Once an anonymous street of office buildings, Naka-dori 1 [map] has blossomed into a sophisticated shopping strip. Start exploring it from the rear entrance of the Peninsula Tokyo, taking a moment to look up to your left just after you pass the first cross-street; poised at the hotel’s corner is a gargoyle.
Shoppers in Ginza
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications
Idemitsu Museum of Art
Head up Naka-dori one more block and turn left to reach the Idemitsu Museum of Art 2 [map] (Idemitsu Bijutsukan; www.idemitsu.co.jp/museum; Tue–Thur, Sat–Sun 10am–5pm; charge), hidden away on the ninth floor of the same building as the Imperial Theatre. This is one of Tokyo’s best private museums, housing a superb collection of Japanese ceramics, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, folding screens, exquisite Momoyama and early Edo-period gold-leaf genre paintings, and the 15th-century monochrome paintings of the Zen monk Sesshu. Its lounge provides a panoramic view of the Imperial Palace.
Tokyo International Forum
Return to and cross Naka-dori, and continue for one more block, passing Pâtisserie Sadaharu AOKI, see 1, to reach the striking Tokyo International Forum 3 [map] (www.t-i-forum.co.jp). Opened in 1997, the exhibition hall and theatre complex is the work of New York-based designer Rafael Vinoly. To get a bird’s-eye view, go up to the seventh floor, where skywalks criss-cross the middle of a curving 60m (190ft) high glass atrium shaped like a ship’s hull.
Inside Tokyo International Forum
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum
Return to Naka-dori to find the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum 4 [map] (2-6-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku; http://mimt.jp; Tue–Sun 10am–8pm; charge). This art museum owned by industrial giant Mitsubishi focuses on works from the mid-18th to 20th centuries. It is housed in a meticulous replica of the handsome 1894 red-brick office building – the first in the area – designed by Josiah Conder
Continue to the intersection of Naka-dori and broad Miyuki-dori, flanked by the high-rise Marunouchi and Shin-Marunouchi buildings. Turn right to face the handsome brick façade of Tokyo Station 5 [map]. This grand example of Taisho-era Western architecture, designed by Tatsuno Kingo, a former student of Conder, recently underwent a major renovation that restored the building’s original luster.
Bridgestone Museum of Art
Negotiate the pedestrian corridor beneath the station’s tracks that leads from the Marunouchi to the Yaesu side of the building, emerging beside Daimaru department store facing Yaesu-dori. Walk two blocks east to the intersection with Chuo-dori and the Bridgestone Museum of Art 6 [map] (Bridgestone Bijutsukan; 1-10-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku; www.bridgestone-museum.gr.jp; Tue–Sat 10am–8pm, Sun and hols 10am–6pm; charge). The tyre manufacturer’s art collection is composed mainly of Impressionists’ works, but there are also early 20th-century painters and post-Meiji-era Japanese artists here, as well as sculptures. The building is currently being replaced with a new structure to open at a date as yet to be determined.
Continue south down Chuo-dori towards Kyobashi subway station; nearby you can grab an energy boost from 100% Chocolate Café, see 2, before tackling the next boutique-and-department-store-studded stretch of the street.
Ginza
Two of the area’s best-known retail landmarks stand on the corner of the Ginza 4-chome crossing 7 [map]. The exclusive department store Wako, owned by the watch company Seiko, is housed in one of the few buildings to have survived the World War II air raids that flattened Ginza; it dates back to 1932. Across the road is Mitsukoshi, a top city department store. Also close by are Mikimoto, selling cultured pearls, and Ito-ya, a superb paper and stationery store.
Ginza chic
Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications
Kabuki-za
From Ginza 4-chome head southeast along Harumi-dori for several blocks to reach the opulent exterior of Kabuki-za 8 [map] (4-12-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.kabuki-za.co.jp. Here colourful and highly stylised kabuki dramas, combining music, dance and singing, are staged twice a day (usually starting at 11am and 4.30pm) during the first three weeks of the month – catching at least one act is recommended. It was founded in 1889 and rebuilt in 1924 and then again, controversially, in 2013 with a huge new tower by Kengo Kuma.
Shiseido Gallery
Ginza is also well known for its many small art galleries. A good one to head to is the Shiseido Gallery 9 [map] (8-8-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku; http://www.shiseidogroup.com/gallery; Tue–Sat 11am–7pm, Sun and hols 11am–6pm; free) in the basement of Shiseido Parlour, a cosmetics boutique. It features experimental art by Japanese and foreign artists. On the way there or back along Chuo-dori you will pass the Lion Beer Hall, see 3.
Cézanne at the Bridgestone
Public domain
Return to Ginza 4-chome and turn left, heading along Harumi-dori past more luxury boutiques to the Sony Building ) [map] (www.sonybuilding.jp; daily 11am–7pm), six floors stuffed with the latest techno-wizardry just waiting to be tried out.
Old Imperial Bar
Continue under the raised expressway and the railway tracks, keeping an eye out for Shinkansen (bullet trains). You will eventually arrive back where you started above Hibiya Station. To round off, there are a couple of choices. You could turn left and follow the track until you reach the junction with Miyuki-dori where to the right is the rear of the Imperial Hotel. Pop inside to see the sole remains of Frank Lloyd Wright’s original design in the hotel’s Old Imperial Bar ! [map], tucked away on the mezzanine floor of the main building. For something more rustic, head back towards Yurakucho Station, where under the railway tracks is the atmospheric tavern Shin-hinomoto, see 4.
Food and drink
1 Pâtisserie Sadaharu AOKI
3-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku; tel: 5293 2800; www.sadaharuaoki.com; daily 11am–9pm; station: Yurakucho; ¥
Pastry chef Sadaharu Aoki is the toast of Paris for his divine sweet creations. Sample éclairs, macaroons and filled croissants here at his first Tokyo ‘boutique’.
2 100% Chocolate Café
2-4-16 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku; tel: 3237 3184; www.choco-cafe.jp; Mon–Fri 8am–8pm, Sat–Sun 11am–7pm; station: Kyobashi; ¥
Local chocolate-maker Meiji offers chocoholic heaven at this café specialising in drinks and confections made from the cocoa bean. The decor is by one of Tokyo’s trendiest designers.
3 Lion Beer Hall
7-9-20 Ginza, Chuo-ku; tel: 3571 2590; www.ginzalion.jp; Mon–Sat 11.30am–11pm, Sun 11.30am–10pm; station: Ginza; ¥¥
Worth dropping by, if only to marvel at the ground-floor beer hall’s vaulted ceiling and mosaic-lined decor. Brewery Sapporo’s beers are accompanied by Germanic-style sausages and the like.
4 Andy’s Shin-Hinomoto
2-4-4 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku; tel: 3214 8021; Mon–Sat 5pm–midnight; stations: Yurakucho or Hibiya; ¥¥
A noisy, friendly, foreign-run no-nonsense izakaya (tavern) built under the railway tracks, serving fresh seafood at reasonable prices. English-speaking.