A little restaurant transplanted from Lyon, a Breton crêpe restaurant, shops selling wine from Bordeaux and Burgundy: Kagurazaka has earned its nickname of "Little France". All that is needed to complete the picture is a little accordion mu..

It would be easy to get lost in this train station out of which endless streams of people pour onto Shibuya junction. The staggering sight is calmly surveyed by Hachiko, a dog whose statue was erected in tribute to his loyalty. The dog used to wait f..

There is much to enjoy in Harajuku, a district which showcases the more eccentric side of Tokyo. The wide roads are dotted with unusual buildings, and tourists and sociologists come from all over the world to experience the cultural and social scene...

With its two perfectly straight ribbons of tarmac lined with zelkovas , or prestigious boutiques, Omotesando Avenue is often compared to the Champs-Élysées. But unlike its Parisian counterpart, which is rather classical, the Japanese avenue gives it..

Odaiba is a man-made island that was built from scratch in Tokyo Bay to accommodate a major shopping and leisure complex. This futuristic island is accessed not by boat but by a monorail, which passes over the Rainbow Bridge alongside cyclists. Chi..

Ryogoku is the home of sumo wrestling. As befits a designated entertainment area, the wrestlers' district now has its own "temple" in the form of the enormous Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium. Go to a tournament to see the procession of wrestlers,..

The place to come for electrical appliances in the 1960s, the Akihabara district has remained true to its technological vocation. Today it is a hub for electronic goods, video game and mobile phone industries. Small, highly specialised shops, tucked ..

The district of Jinbocho, Japan's book capital, has around 160 bookshops or stalls with a total of some 10 million books on sale. Needless to say, there are books on every subject, and not only in Japanese. You may even be able to find books that are..

Marunouchi means "in the circle", a reference to the fact that this district has expanded within an area demarcated by the moat surrounding the neighbouring Imperial Palace. Skyscrapers, including the historic Marunouchi Building (1923), ar..

Chuo-dori, the main shopping street, located at the crossroads in Ginza, boasts a different institution at every turn. The Wako building, one of the oldest department stores in Ginza, would have been over 100 years old if it hadn't been hit by the ..

Tokyo loves designer labels. Here on Harumi-dori you will see plenty of fashionistas, with their manicured nails, sun-bed tans and highlighted hair, taking the shops by storm. Dior is housed in an aluminium-clad building decorated with flashing fibre..

The district of Aoyama is known for its smart boutiques housed in eye-catching buildings. Tod's, which sells exclusively Italian brands, has the look of a hastily wrapped parcel. The Prada building, whose exterior of blue-tinged mirrors is girdled by..