Tokyo / Ginza / Gallery

The Ginza gallery walk

銀座の画廊めぐり ぎんざのがろうめぐり

A hundred small galleries above the shops, all free, most of them unmarked from the street.

For a second visitArt · Free · Rainy day · Quiet · Walkable

Ginza has more commercial galleries than any district in Japan — over a hundred, most on the upper floors of ordinary buildings, showing a single artist for a week or two. The classic circuit runs along the side streets between 1-chome and 8-chome: the Shiseido Gallery (the oldest in Japan, since 1919, in the basement of the Shiseido building), Ginza Maison Hermès' top-floor Le Forum, the Pola Museum Annex, Gallery Koyanagi, and the Okuno Building, a 1932 apartment block now entirely filled with tiny galleries you reach by a hand-operated lift.

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 The Ginza gallery walk
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Galleries mostly close on Sundays and change shows on Mondays; Tuesday to Saturday afternoon is the time.
Best time
Tuesday–Saturday afternoons.
Allow
120 min
Station
Ginza-itchome (Yurakucho line) to Shimbashi (JR), walking south
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
Street Essential

Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade中央通りと歩行者天国

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

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

All places — Ginza →