Experiences / Shopping
A department store at opening time
開店時の百貨店 かいてんじのひゃっかてん
Shopping · Early morning · Rainy day · High-end
At ten (or half past) the doors of Mitsukoshi, Isetan or Takashimaya open and every member of staff on the ground floor bows to the first customers in; it is a small daily ceremony and the best free show in retail. Then the food basement before the lunch crowd, the kimono floor, and a stationery or craft floor where the assistant will spend twenty minutes on a fountain pen. The great stores are the most complete expression of Japanese service, and they are calmest for the first hour.
- How to arrange it
- Arrive five minutes before opening at the main entrance; no booking, and tax-free counters are on an upper floor.
- Price band
- ¥
- Allow
- 120 min
- Where
- Nihonbashi, Shinjuku, Ginza
Where to book it
Shinjuku
Isetan Shinjuku Main Store
伊勢丹新宿本店
¥ · 60 min · English: yes
Isetan's Shinjuku flagship is one of the largest and most fashion-forward department stores in the country, and its opening lineup draws serious shoppers rather than only tourists. The 6th-floor International Customer Service Center runs a multi-currency exchange machine and multilingual pages in English, Chinese and Korean, built for the store's genuinely international clientele.
Ginza
Mitsukoshi Ginza
三越銀座店
¥ · 60 min · English: yes
Sitting at the heart of Ginza's main crossing, Mitsukoshi's Ginza branch is a smaller, more architecturally striking sibling to the Nihonbashi flagship, with its own dedicated "For International Guests" services and tax-free processing. Watching the doors open here pairs naturally with a Ginza-focused morning rather than needing to travel to Nihonbashi.
Nihonbashi
Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store
日本橋三越本店
¥ · 60 min · English: yes
Japan's oldest department store, tracing its roots to the Edo-period Echigoya dry-goods shop, still opens its Nihonbashi flagship with a formal lineup of staff bowing to the first customers through the door, a daily ritual rather than a special event. A dedicated 7th-floor international service counter with tax-free processing makes it practical for a visitor to actually shop afterward.
Named operators, each verified against its official site. We list the booking route and whether English is spoken; hours and prices live on the official site. All operators
Places
Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store日本橋三越本店
Japan's first department store, a 1914 palace with a pipe organ, a five-storey atrium and lions at the door.
60 min · Mitsukoshimae (Ginza / Hanzomon lines), direct from the basement
The Isetan food hall伊勢丹新宿店の食品フロア
The most complete depachika in Japan — wagashi, bento, French pastry, sake, and a fruit shop where a melon is a gift.
45 min · Shinjuku-sanchome (Marunouchi / Fukutoshin / Shinjuku lines), direct
Ginza SixGINZA SIX
A department store with a Noh theatre in the basement and an art installation in the atrium.
60 min · Ginza (Ginza / Marunouchi / Hibiya lines)