Tokyo · Central Tokyo
Kabukiza Theatre
The Kabuki-za theater opened in 1889, and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times: once in a fire, once in the bombing of World War II. The current building, the fifth generation, opened in 2013 to a design by Kengo Kuma and Mitsubishi Jisho Design. The facade recreates the look of the fourth generation, and behind it stands a 29-story office tower.
You do not have to sit through a full four-hour performance: a single-act ticket (makumi) gives you a place in the fourth-floor gallery to watch one act. The price runs from ¥500 to ¥2,500 depending on the length of the act, and changes every month with the program. Near the entrance to the fourth-floor gallery you can rent opera glasses, and an audio guide for the act for ¥500.
Good to know
- On the day of the performance the box office for makumi tickets opens at 10:00, and you have to stand in line until it opens. If you leave the line you cannot return to the same place in it.
- After buying, you must be in the fourth-floor lobby at least 20 minutes before the act starts, otherwise your number is cancelled.
- The fourth floor has restrooms and vending machines but no bento stand. You cannot go down and come back in the middle of the visit.
- On the lowest floor (underground, B2) is Kobikicho Square: shops and souvenirs on a kabuki theme, connected directly to Higashi-ginza Station. You can go in and wander around even without a ticket to a performance.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Kabukiza Theatre.
- HereKabukiza Theatre
- ~3 min
Ginza Chuo-dori pedestrian paradise Street
On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays in the afternoon the main avenue of Ginza is closed to cars, and you walk in the middle of the road.
- ~5 min
Kyukyodo Ginza Shopping
An incense and stationery shop founded in 1663 in Kyoto, and in Ginza since 1880. Incense, scent sachets, letter paper, postcards, envelopes for gift money, brushes and ink.
- ~5 min
Sembikiya Ginza Honten Fruit Parlour Food
A luxury fruit shop with a fruit restaurant. A fruit sandwich for ¥1,512.
- ~6 min
Ginza Mitsukoshi Food Garden Food
The underground food floors of the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store: wines, sake, tea and sweets packed as gifts.
- ~7 min
Wako Building clock tower More to see
A building from 1932 in Neo-Renaissance style, on the corner of Ginza's central intersection. The four clock faces on the tower face roughly the four points of the compass.
More in Central Tokyo
Appears in: Tsukiji, Hamarikyu Gardens and Ginza: fish in the morning, luxury in the evening