Tokyu Hands Ginza

When did Tokyu Hands become Daiso? Well, not quite since the prices and quality are definitely higher here. Gee, I remember the big Shibuya store from a visit over two decades back and wanting to buy everything in their inventory because it was so unique in that idiosyncratic, only-​in-​Japan kind of way. Little containers for just about anything. Staplers shaped like animals. Travel kits in impossibly small sizes and brilliant colors. Most of that is still in stock but other stores have popped up in the meantime like Daiso, which sells a decidedly cheaper line of products and has come to the Western world as a dollar-​fifty store.
Even though there is some crossover in the types of products they carry, Tokyu Hands is anything but a 100-​yen store. The outlet in the Ginza is actually called Ginza Hands and takes up five floors of the Marronnier Gate building. It’s still a variety store in the truest sense of the term with floors dedicated to various aspects of lifestyle shopping. You’ll find toys, rice cookers, pet items, tools for the office and the kitchen, luggage, umbrellas, toothbrushes, chopsticks, artwork and even costumes. One of my favorite items is a battery-​operated cat toy shaped like a wedge of Swiss cheese with mice popping out of the holes. There’s no reason to buy it but I just have to have it.

A chain of really big department stores where you will be able to find just about anything you want or need and also some things you did not even know you needed.
They have a wide selection of for example skincare and body care products, hobby materials, stationery and much, much more.
As a tourist this is a great place to get a bit of everything in case you’re in a rush and don’t have time to experience all the different shops Tokyo have to offer.
As a first time visitor to Japan I would recommend giving it a visit — it is still nice to browse all the floors and you will get to see a lot of strange products you didn’t even know there existed a purpose for.

This Tokyu Hands seems smaller than the Shinjuku store that I visited many years ago but it’s a fun place to visit nonetheless.
Tokyu Hands is a little department store that with floors dedicated to basic home improvement store, home décor, highly diversified stationary/​writing utensils, kitchen/​cooking, and travel, etc.
This store at the Marronnier Gate shares the building with a few fashion boutiques. I highly recommend taking the elevator to the top floor and then work your way down via escalator so that you can see everything and not waste a lot of energy walking more than you have to because those legs do wear down into bloody stumps after a while when exploring the city!
I only had a couple of hours to kill between client meetings near Tokyo Station and running off to the airport, so I decided to «get lost» in the city by hitting 3 places on my only-​to-​do list (Tokyu Hands in Ginza, UNIQLO Ginza, Sukiyabashi Jiro inside Ginza station). I didn’t have cellular service so I had to rely on the kind people of Japan to point me in the right direction given the addresses and names of these places.
Tokyu Hands was easy to find. It’s on the boulevard, so along the way, there were tons of fun distractions.
The one thing I was looking for at Tokyu Hands was the Potato Crisps Grabber that was featured on Karl Pilkington’s «An Idiot Abroad» Japan episode, where he peruses the store and finally settles on the tongs where he is later shown to eat his crisps on the train and not get his fingers greasy. Here’s a picture of it
After nosing around thermoses, bento boxes, rice cookers and other kitchen gadgets, I admitted defeat and asked the staff for help. They immediately know what I’m talking about but had to radio in to the back to check if this item is available. It seemed like I troubled a whole chain of staff just for this silly item… oops. They were very polite though and later regretfully informed me that they don’t carry this item — wasn’t sure if just out of stock or forever no more.
Oh well, it was fun anyway just looking around. Based on the cleanliness and well-​organized nature of inventory, as well as the well-​known brand, I recommend Tokyu Hands as a stop to anyone who has limited time and just wants to do something «Japanese-​y», like looking at Japanese stuff.