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Ginza - Tokyo Hotels .com

Ginza offers many types of cuisine

Named for a silver coin once produced in the area, Ginza is now synonymous with world-class shopping. This famous upmarket area of Tokyo is known for its vast complex of department stores, boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, and diverse entertainments. Between the Shinbashi Bridge and the Kyobashi Bridge is a popular shopping promenade lined with 12-story department stores. Here, visitors can find every designer label in fashion and cosmetics represented. Ginza is such a popular district that one square meter of land is worth more than US$100,000, making it some of the most expensive real estate in Japan. Not surprisingly, in Ginza, a cup of coffee can cost up to US$10.

October marks the highly anticipated Dai Ginza Matsuri festival, which celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the Meiji Restoration. This festival is marked by parades, bands, and street bazaars, but the real attractions are the huge sales that department stores in Ginza hold during this time. On the weekends, the central Chuo Dori area of Ginza is closed to traffic and becomes a large pedestrian promenade, making it easier for shoppers to peruse the streets, and spend money, at their leisure.

Ginza is also home to the Kabuki-za, a theater that has been holding traditional Japanese Kabuki performances since 1889. Traditional Kabuki incorporates dance, acrobatics, flying equipment, trapdoors, musical traditions, and ritualized movement. During these performances, the audience is free to wander about the theater, and to eat, drink, talk, and cheer as the mood strikes them. These breathtaking shows typically last three to five hours, and run twice daily. Tickets can be purchased for the entire show or for a single act, and English translation headphones are available.