Known to be the most expensive district in Tokyo, therefore one of the most costly areas in the world, Ginza is a paradise for high-end shoppers. Ginza was the last stop of the day before returning to the hotel.

Shopping in Ginza

I excitedly walked around Chuo Dori before going inside Ito-ya, the famous stationery shop, but was disappointed by the collection. I then went to the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store, but it felt a little pretentious for my taste. My iPhone battery was drained when I used GPS to find Alice in Wonderland cafe, so I took refuge in the Ginza Apple store. Voted as one of the best Apple stores in the world, the place ended up being the only place in Ginza that didn’t disappoint me so far.

Vending Machine Drinks

I was done staying out and fighting the summer heat. I kept pressing different vending machines throughout the day, getting the coldest or weirdest looking or sounding drinks from them. My favourite was the Green Da-Ka-Ra. It tasted a little funny, but it did the job of cooling me down well, and the bottle had cute tiny pictures of the ingredients they put inside, which reassured the Japanese illiterate person like me that I was putting healthy stuff into my body.

Drug Store Beauty Products

I went inside a Drug Store in Ginza and stocked up face masks and weird souvenirs. This time I got the green Hello Kitty hair wax, peeled off the red lip stain and milk bath salt.

Japanese drug stores are gold mines for travel souvenirs

Pachinko

The final stop was the pachinko. I wanted to peek into this intriguing part of Japanese culture. Also, I like plush toys. They all were so bright and looked easy to obtain—a few coins left and right wiggle on the hook and viola. Or so I thought. After a few failed attempts and a growing crowd of people who were still in their work attire watching those failed attempts, I left Ginza.