Shopping in Shinjuku? Don't Waste Your Day — 5 Routes EXPLAINED
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You can spend an entire day shopping in Shinjuku and still fly home with a bag of things you could have bought anywhere. Here's how to not do that.
Shinjuku is worth shopping for one reason most guides skip: it's one of Tokyo's largest transport hubs, so if you're short on time, you can finish your whole trip's shopping without going anywhere else.
The problem is that it isn't one shopping area. It's four, built around Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in the world with more exits than you'd think possible — which is how you'll end up walking endlessly instead of enjoying a fun shopping day.
But don't worry because in our shopping guide, we split Shinjuku into 5 routes based on what you're actually buying, so you can pick the one that matches your goal!
In this video, we'll also talk about:
• How long one route actually takes (almost everyone underestimates this)
• The famous Shinjuku stores you can skip, including the one everybody tells you to visit
• The stores that are actually worth your time, such as:
Beams Japan for unique Japan souvenirs;
MUJI, Uniqlo, and Hands for practical travel supplies;
and, of course, Shinjuku's iconic department stores for cosmetics and jewelry
• What our navigator, Liza, would actually buy, if she had one spare suitcase
━━━━━━
CHAPTERS
━━━━━━
0:00 Intro
1:39 What's Your Shopping Goal?
3:57 What to Skip
5:53 East — Routes 1 & 2: The Main Hub
11:00 South — Route 3: The Calm Alternative
13:38 Underground — Route 4: The Weatherproof Route
14:40 West — Route 5: The Quiet Hotel Side
16:23 Our Shopping Picks
17:26 Route Cheat Sheet — Screenshot Here!
🗺️ Here's every store in this video, on one Google Maps list:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Cfp5u8bHcwgSadfr9
⏱️ Plan 2 hours minimum per route, or half a day to do one properly. Only attempt two or three if you have a full day.
━━━━━━━
WATCH NEXT
━━━━━━━
First Time in Shinjuku? How to Survive the Busiest Station in the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snds3grkuaA
Where Should You Stay in Tokyo: 4 Best Areas + Hotels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRzFeaUWlqk
This is video 1 in our Tokyo Shopping Series. Ginza is next — subscribe so you don't miss it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
We're Travel Smart Japan. We live here, and we make the guides we wish we'd had on our first trip — stations, transport, and the parts of Tokyo that are easier than they look.
#Shinjuku #TokyoShopping #JapanTravel
Shinjuku is worth shopping for one reason most guides skip: it's one of Tokyo's largest transport hubs, so if you're short on time, you can finish your whole trip's shopping without going anywhere else.
The problem is that it isn't one shopping area. It's four, built around Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in the world with more exits than you'd think possible — which is how you'll end up walking endlessly instead of enjoying a fun shopping day.
But don't worry because in our shopping guide, we split Shinjuku into 5 routes based on what you're actually buying, so you can pick the one that matches your goal!
In this video, we'll also talk about:
• How long one route actually takes (almost everyone underestimates this)
• The famous Shinjuku stores you can skip, including the one everybody tells you to visit
• The stores that are actually worth your time, such as:
Beams Japan for unique Japan souvenirs;
MUJI, Uniqlo, and Hands for practical travel supplies;
and, of course, Shinjuku's iconic department stores for cosmetics and jewelry
• What our navigator, Liza, would actually buy, if she had one spare suitcase
━━━━━━
CHAPTERS
━━━━━━
0:00 Intro
1:39 What's Your Shopping Goal?
3:57 What to Skip
5:53 East — Routes 1 & 2: The Main Hub
11:00 South — Route 3: The Calm Alternative
13:38 Underground — Route 4: The Weatherproof Route
14:40 West — Route 5: The Quiet Hotel Side
16:23 Our Shopping Picks
17:26 Route Cheat Sheet — Screenshot Here!
🗺️ Here's every store in this video, on one Google Maps list:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Cfp5u8bHcwgSadfr9
⏱️ Plan 2 hours minimum per route, or half a day to do one properly. Only attempt two or three if you have a full day.
━━━━━━━
WATCH NEXT
━━━━━━━
First Time in Shinjuku? How to Survive the Busiest Station in the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snds3grkuaA
Where Should You Stay in Tokyo: 4 Best Areas + Hotels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRzFeaUWlqk
This is video 1 in our Tokyo Shopping Series. Ginza is next — subscribe so you don't miss it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
We're Travel Smart Japan. We live here, and we make the guides we wish we'd had on our first trip — stations, transport, and the parts of Tokyo that are easier than they look.
#Shinjuku #TokyoShopping #JapanTravel