Redevelopment Changing Ginza

Above, the former Matsuzakaya Ginza department store (center, background) site will
 house a Noh theater, tour bus depot and luxury brand shops. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The shopping district of Ginza is in the midst of a "redevelopment rush" that includes condominium towers and planned facilities for the 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympics.

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun:

It is expected that many foreign tourists and new condo dwellers will visit the newly developed places. Ginza, a historically popular shopping district that even has a specially coined word — Ginbura, or strolling around Ginza — to describe shopping there at a leisurely pace, will likely have a new look in the future. 

At least six large buildings with floor space of 5,000 square meters or more are under development in Ginza. All of these buildings are scheduled to be completed by the Tokyo Games. A building complex to be built on the former site of the Matsuzakaya Ginza department store in Ginza 6-chome aims to open in November 2016. The building, which will house a Noh theater and a tour bus depot in addition to luxury brand shops, will play a role in spreading information about Japanese culture.

Above, the Matsuzakaya Ginza department store (left center, background) in 2010. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

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