Tokyo’s Flagship Architecture: Ginza and Aoyama Compared

Ginza and Aoyama together hold some of the most studied shop buildings in the world. This guide takes them in the order a walk would.

Ginza

Cartier. The flagship reopened in October 2016 after two years of renovation, with a façade by Sylvain Dubuisson in two parts: dark granite below, inspired by Rue de la Paix, and above it shoji-style screens resembling Japanese cedar. See Cartier Reopens Its Ginza Flagship.

Hermès. Renzo Piano’s glass-block building on Harumi-dori is the most luminous, set out in Maison Hermès Ginza.

Chanel. Two buildings by Peter Marino, one of ten storeys with a glass façade that changes transparency, and a slender nine-storey tower; see Chanel’s two buildings in Ginza.

Ginza Six. The complex on the site of the former Matsuzakaya department store opened in April 2017 with space for up to 241 stores, a 4,000-square-metre roof garden and a Noh theatre. Our report is in Ginza Six Opens.

Aoyama

Prada. Prada Aoyama, the brand’s second Epicenter, opened in 2003 at Minami-Aoyama, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Its façade is a diamond-shaped grid filled with hundreds of glass panels, drawing on the shapes of crystals.

Where to stay

The Peninsula Tokyo, at the edge of Ginza, is the choice for shopping; the rest of the city’s hotels are set out in where to stay in Tokyo, district by district.