"Some people on VT seem to rave..." Ginza Tip by sjvessey

<font face='papyrus' color=#A00000 size=+1><b>S</b></font>ome people on VT seem to rave about <b><font color=#0000A0>Ginza</font></b>, but at the end of the day, it's just a load of shops, which to be honest are not even particularly nice to look at, architecturally speaking. Big deal. You can buy the same kit in any big city, anywhere in the world. Armani is not confined to Japan.

Of course, if shopping is your thing, you may well disagree with me, but a word of warning. Unless you can read Japanese, your shopping experience won't be very satisfying, because you won't have a clue what any of the shops are selling (other than the two or three really large department stores). Especially because shops in Tokyo are often on the 2nd or 3rd floor, with only signage and the entrance to a staircase at street level, to make the most of the available space. So you can't even look in their windows. Also, once you're inside the stores, all the signage is often in Japanese only, so you haven't a clue where to go. Oh well.

The two things I thought were worth seeing in the Ginza area are the <b><font color=#0000A0>Sony Centre</font></b>, which has 6 floors of the latest cool electronics, and the <b><font color=#0000A0>Tokyo International Forum</font></b> (a kind of convention centre) - pictured - which just looks cool - there was nothing actually there that I could see.

See my separate <b><font color=#0000A0>travelogue</font></b> for some more photos.