Ginza 銀座
The name comes from a silver mint of 1612; the avenue closes to cars every weekend.
Ginza is in Chūō Ward, between Yaesu, Tsukiji, Yūrakuchō and Shinbashi. It takes its name from a silver mint opened in 1612; a fire in 1872 razed the area, and the Meiji government rebuilt it in fireproof brick on wider streets, in a Western style that the first foreign visitors found disorientating. Since the ’60s, under governor Ryokichi Minobe, the main avenue has closed to traffic at weekends. Today it is, together with Omotesandō, one of the two areas of Tokyo with the most luxury boutiques.
Tokyo
Higashi-Ginza, Ginza, Yurakucho
