Isetan

Isetan began as a Tokyo kimono shop in 1886 and grew into Japan's most fashion-forward department store; its Shinjuku flagship, an Art Deco landmark from 1933, is a major reference point for Japanese fashion retail. The men's building alone — eight floors treating menswear with a depth no Western store matches, from bespoke tailoring floors to avant-garde Japanese labels — justifies the pilgrimage. The main building's fashion floors are curated with gallery seriousness, and the basement depachika food hall is among Tokyo's finest: a subterranean city of confectionery, bento, and gift-boxed fruit at prices that recalibrate one's sense of a melon. Ride to the rooftop garden between floors. The seasonal gift culture — chugen and seibo — reaches its most refined expression here; the wrapping alone is a lesson in Japanese retail.

Reserve real time for the men's building and the basement separately — each is a full visit — and consider the fruit parlour's absurd, wonderful gift melons at least once.