High Jewelry Capitals - Tokyo

September 2008


Tuned-in Tokyo

Saturated with merchandise, Tokyo’s lucrative luxury goods market spares no expense

Saturated with merchandise, Tokyo’s lucrative luxury goods market spares no expense More than 100 years ago, Japanese pearl purveyor Kokichi Mikimoto opened his eponymous store in Tokyo’s Ginza district. With success came a larger locale, a contemporary two-story building of white stone that seemed to define the city’s jewelry savvy. A century later, Tokyo is once again pushing the boundaries of modern luxury shopping. As the hub of the Japanese diamond retail market and second in diamond jewelry sales only to the United States, Tokyo is a label-lover’s paradise. The storefronts in the chic Ginza shopping district read like the front-of-book advertising in Vogue, and jewelry mega-brands are opting for a “bigger is better” style of retail. Case in point: Bulgari’s new 10-story tower includes a swanky VIP lounge, restaurant and rooftop garden terrace, while De Beers’ curved flagship sits just blocks from Swarovski’s 5,000-square-foot crystal palace.

Photo of the premiere shopping district, Ginza

It’s no wonder that big names dot this shopping district like Broadway marquees in Times Square — smaller brands could never afford the $100,000-per-square-meter rent. The teenage fantasyland that is the Harajuku district notwithstanding, Tokyo remains a land of labels. De Beers nicely illustrated this point when it chose the city’s three ritziest department stores – Takashimaya, Matsuya and Itesan ­– as its second, third and fourth retail ventures worldwide.

Japan takes Manhattan Tokyo’s premiere shopping district, Ginza, has all the flash of New York’s Times Square; at $100,000 per square meter, rents are even more dazzling.