Great Tokyo Shopping Experiences

Bright lights, big city, and so much stuff to buy! Welcome to Tokyo, commercial hub of Japan. It's easy to go into sensory overload here, but savvy travelers know the secret: Zero in on an area according to what they want to buy, instead of wandering into the heart of the tourist districts and hoping for the best. Here are five specialty areas that may have exactly what you need.

Harajuku
Once upon a time this fashion district was largely unknown to Westerners; however, thanks to Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls tour, a lot more people are familiar with it—or at least, with the hyper-stylized teenagers that populate it. Think of it as Haight Street multiplied by a hundred, reports one Westerner: shop after shop crammed with styles that are wildly varied: Goth, "steam punk," anime characters, etcetera.

Tokyo Trip Idea: Temples of Asakusa

Tokyo's Asakusa district represents the heart of old Tokyo, and old Japan. Its centerpiece is the Buddhist temple of Senso-Ji, standing in the same spot for over a millennium after three fishermen built a shrine here in honor of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. Rebuilt several times over the centuries, today's structure is a 1958 replica, an earlier version having been destroyed in Tokyo's World War II bombings.

Photo Credit: Senso-Ji Temple, Tokyo (Corbis)