Ultimate Guide: The best shops in Tokyo's most famous retail district

From gold chopsticks to lucky silk cats ... retail therapy in Ginza is full of surprises.

Word is out that Ginza's Dover Street Market, founded by Japanese fashion legend Rei Kawakubo and husband Adrian Joffe, has taken delivery of The Tokyo Toilet Book. The pocket-sized book is a summary of The Tokyo Toilet (TTT) project, initiated by retail executive Koji Yanai, which saw 16 famous architects, among them Kengo Kuma, Tadao Ando and Marc Newson, design public toilet spaces that would bring to life "quiet spots in busy Tokyo".

The project morphed into last year's film, Perfect Days, directed by Wim Wenders, whose story centres on the cleaner who keeps these toilets pristine.

What better memento of a trip to a Japan, where high-tech toilets are truly an art form.

Tokyo's Ginza district, which abuts the historic Nihonbashi part of town, is retail paradise - the "I deserve it" destination for those who shop. In the Chuo Ward, it's a short walk south of Tokyo Station.

It's dripping with luxury brands - Dior, Cartier, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Prada, Hermes and Bulgari, with Loewe and Louis Vuitton showcasing the longest queues today. But there are many less opulent shops that offer something more authentically Japan. With a manageable map provided by the concierge at my research base, AC Hotel Tokyo Ginza, and with help from my best friend Google Maps, I set out to find them.

Natsuno, in the lane behind Dover Street Market, is chock-a-block with 2500 pairs of chopsticks and associated accoutrements - from the functional to the luxurious, the latter with lacquer coatings, delicate painting, glitter finishes, gold leaf and pearlescence. They range in price from $20 a pair to $200,000 for gold. I get a child's pair made from highly polished wood, engraved with the recipient's name.

Itoya's flagship store (there are seven) is a 12-storey homage to stationery, established in 1904 by Katsutaro Ito. Writers, diarists, painters, travellers and decoupage devotees will be in seventh heaven. And you'll be going back for seconds from the greeting card buffet. Pen brands to lust after include AP Limited Editions, Namiki, Pilot, Nakaya, Platinum, Sailor and Taccia. Purchases at Itoya can be engraved, foil stamped or embroidered.

Edoya is the home of the brush you probably never knew you needed. Like the long thin brush for cleaning reusable drinking straws. It's housed in a 300-year-old wooden store in Nihonbashi, and there are brushes for lips, hair, face, boots, dust, scrubbing and back scratching. I learn goat hair is best for delicate shoes, horsehair for sturdier ones, and copper wire brushes for ridding suede of dirt.

Haibara was established in 1806. In an award-winning black cubic building since 2015, it's the go-to place for washi and chiyogami traditional Japanese paper along with wrapping paper, colourful craft paper, stationery, fans, money envelopes and woodblock prints.

As globally ubiquitous as they are, checking out Japanese brand legends in situ feels respectful. Apart from all those cars and cameras, there are heavyweight labels to keep an eye out for: Uniqlo, Comme des Garcons, Mizuno, ASICS, Junya Watanabe, A Bathing Ape and Onitsuka Tiger.

The Seiko Museum Ginza is reminder of how sundials and waterclocks and mechanical clocks evolved into the behemoth the luxury watch market is today. It's a compelling intersection of engineering and science, and a wonderland of springs, pendulums, chronometers, clocks as big as cars, portable clocks and the first dainty women's wristwatch. Mikimoto is, of course, famous for pearls. The Ginza flagship store is luxurious, discerning, nicely paced. I have my eye on a string of large baroque pearls which incorporate some nice asymmetrical opal touches in the design. Its price tag is 33 million yen ($313,326), which is cheaper than the 11-carat pear-cut emerald with 33 carats of diamonds for 176 million yen ($1.7 million).

Department stores can be a nightmare, but in Ginza they're entertaining. Best known are Wako, Mitsukoshi and Matsuya. Choose your floor: for example, at Matsuya, Japanese fashion revolutionaries Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Akio Hirata are on the fourth floor, while the sixth floor is a shrine to golf and there's a driving range to test out new clubs on the roof.

In ExitMelsa, another cool shopping centre, find on the fourth floor Seikado premium ceramic tableware from about 80 artisan kilns in Kyoto. Then visit the vast whisky museum - M Whisky Shop Ginza - on the sixth floor.

However, Tokyu Plaza becomes my favourite. First, I discover the fashion label of Eriko Yamaguchi, recently featured in Newsweek, then Fujimaki Select which has 1000 odd items made in Japan, many exclusive. It's the one-stop shop for gifts, including stunning glass, Imabari cotton handwashers or, their biggest seller, those lucky Beckoning Cats in colourful silk grosgrain. Among the goods at Shosa nearby are leather wallets made by folding a single length of leather without stitching. Ginza Six, however, is the diva of department stores. It shimmers with expectation. There are 241 shops (including every high-end designer you've ever heard of) plus a 4000-square-metre roof garden, traditional Noh theatre, and one of Tokyo's most extensive art book shops, Tsutaya, on level four, which also has a cafe, a Japanese sword counter, art exhibitions and merch: the temptation a money purse by Yayoi Kusama for $142. I am blaming jetlag for the purchase, at United Nude, of a pair of sheer, shocking pink Kiwanda Kiwanda ankle socks; $37, with frill.

This is thirsty work. So what are the most hydrating bars? Tender Bar, on level five of the Ginza Noh Theatre Building, has views. It's run by Kazuo Ueda, inventor of the "hard shake", trailblazing in the cocktail world.

Hidetsugu Ueno, owner of High Five bar (Efflore Ginza 5 Building), is an ambassador for Japanese bartending. The head bartender at Star Bar (Sankosha Building), Hisashi Kishi has many medals and protegees.

Innovative bartender Naomi Takahashi opened Gaslight Eve (3F Ginza Fuji Building) in 2015. Her cocktails are award-winning. The bourbon-based Roxie Heart is a taste of Chicago in the heart of Tokyo. At Ginza Six, Mixology Salon on the 13th floor serves just eight with tea-based cocktails concocted by rising star Shuzo Nagumo.

Sip and savour the day's Ginza purchases. Just don't do the maths.

The writer travelled with assistance from AC Marriott and OMO5 Gotanda.