New openings in Tokyo 2017

Hide your wallets: these are some of the new places set to vie for your cash in the year ahead

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Tuesday 13 December 2016

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Tokyo is quite literally transforming before our eyes in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics. As has become customary, we're taking some time off before 2017 rolls around to score a sneak peek at a selection of the most interesting mega-openings set to happen in the city over the next year – from enormous shopping complexes to a robot hotel and a '360-degree rotating theatre'. The seven spots featured below surely all have their unique charms, but whether they become the landmarks of the future or are mostly forgotten before 2018 remains to be seen. Check out the list and let us know which facilities look most promising by leaving your comment below.

The best new openings for 2017

Ginza Six

Shopping
Ginza

Open April 20

Touted as the largest commercial complex in all of Ginza, this humongous structure is set to open on the Chuo-dori lot last occupied by the Matsuzakaya department store. The concept for Ginza Six is 'world-class', meaning a rather upscale version of, well, everything. Facing the area's central drag on the ground level will be high-flying international brands like Céline, Dior and Fendi, while the more artistically inclined will surely appreciate the inclusion of Tsutaya Books...

Shibuya Cast

Shopping
Shibuya

Open sometime in spring

Part of the seemingly neverending redevelopment of Shibuya, this glass-and-steel monster will rise exactly halfway between Shibuya and Harajuku, with its location at the very start (or end) of Cat Street. It's set to house the usual combination of apartments, offices, and several fashion shops of the more affordable variety, while the side facing Meiji-dori will have a square ideal for events like flea markets. More interestingly, Cast is designed around the idea of creative workers...

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Ginza Asahi Building

Hotels
Luxury hotels
Ginza

Open sometime in late 2017

Rising high above Ginza's Namiki-dori is this new 14-storey (including two underground floors) Asahi Shimbun building that will house shops on floors one and two and a Hyatt hotel on floors three to 12. All that goodness is quite some time away, however, as the structure itself is only set to be completed sometime in autumn 2017...

Matsuzakaya Ueno South Building Redevelopment

Shopping
Okachimachi

Open sometime in autumn

The southern part of Ueno's venerable Matsuzakaya department store, closed back in 2014, is planning a grand comeback in late 2017. Floors one to six will house a branch of Parco, the next four storeys will welcome a Toho Cinemas complex, and the upper floors (12 to 22) will have for-lease offices. OK, not very exciting, but at least this mega-tower ought to bring some action back to a neighbourhood...

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Henn Na Hotel Chiba

Hotels
Chain hotels
Chiba

Open March 2017

No amount of android affinity can prepare you for Henn na Hotel ('strange hotel') in Nagasaki, staffed by robots of all shapes and sizes (with a handful of human staff ready to intervene in case the bots decide to take over the world). Yes, that T-rex you see wearing a lobby boy hat is actually the resident concierge. Robot-loving Tokyoites are in luck, for the mecha-hotel is opening a second location...

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Wired Hotel

Hotels
Asakusa

Open sometime in spring

Conjured up by the team behind the ubiquitous Wired Café chain, this hotel is set to open just off Asakusa's Hisago-dori early next year. On the first floor you'll find Tofu Bar, a café-bar that non-hotel guests are welcome to use too. Sweets and snacks made from (you guessed it) soy milk and tofu will decorate the menu, alongside a strictly curated sake lineup. There will also be 'snack nights'...

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IHI Stage Around Tokyo

Theatre
Toyosu

Open March 2017

Most likely opening long before the new fish market next door gets going (if it ever does), Asia's first '360-degree theatre' is set to start business in Toyosu next spring. With a capacity of over 1,300, it wows with seating set on a circular, rotating platform around which the stage and huge screens are set up. Sound confusing? We're not quite sure how it's going to work either, but expect a multisensory experience...

Catching up on last year's news?

New openings in Tokyo 2016

Things to do

Where to spend your hard-earned yen in the evolving city this year