Tokyo / Ginza / Street

Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade

中央通りと歩行者天国 ちゅうおうどおりとほこうしゃてんごく

A kilometre of flagships that closes to cars on weekend afternoons.

EssentialArchitecture · Shopping · Free · Walkable · Photogenic

The spine of Ginza runs from Kyobashi to Shimbashi, and between the Wako clock tower at the 4-chome crossing and the great department stores it is Japan's most expensive retail address. On Saturday, Sunday and holiday afternoons the road closes and café chairs are set out in the middle of it. The architecture is the free show: Renzo Piano's glass Maison Hermès, Kumiko Inui's Dior, Jun Aoki's Louis Vuitton, the aluminium mesh of Ginza Place, Toyo Ito's Mikimoto with its irregular windows, and the 1932 Wako building that has kept the corner since Ginza was rebuilt.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Start at Kyobashi and walk south so the Wako corner arrives as the climax; the side streets one block west are where the small bars are.
Best time
Weekend afternoon for the promenade; after 9 pm for the architecture lit up and empty.
Allow
60 min
Station
Ginza (Ginza / Marunouchi / Hibiya lines)
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.ginza.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Ginza

Theatre Essential

Kabukiza Theatre歌舞伎座

Kabuki every day of the month, and a single act for the price of a coffee.

90 min · Higashi-Ginza (Hibiya / Asakusa lines), direct from the basement
Shop Worth it

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)
Shop Worth it

Ginza Itoya銀座伊東屋

Twelve floors of paper and pens, since 1904, with a vegetable farm on the top.

45 min · Ginza (Ginza / Marunouchi / Hibiya lines)

All places — Ginza →