109 (department store)
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109 (Ichi-maru-kyū) is a department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. The store is operated by SHIBUYA109 Entertainment Corporation, a subsidiary of the Tokyu Group.
History and description
[edit]The building, located just across the street from Shibuya Station, opened in April 1979. The architect was Minoru Takeyama. Tokyu, the building's operator, designed the building as a "Fashion Community" containing small retail stores targeting the early-30s female consumer. Tokyu intended the store to compete with Seibu Department Stores, which was making inroads into the Shibuya area.[1]
The name of the building, 109, is a form of word play (goroawase, specifically numerical substitution) and is taken from the Japanese characters tō (meaning 10) and kyū (9) as in Tōkyū. The numbers 10 and 9 also signified the operating hours, which was 10AM to 9PM. The interior of the building is designed to move shoppers in a loop on each floor from the elevators past various shops. A movie theater was originally planned for the top floor, but the fire department would not grant approval due to emergency-evacuation routes not meeting appropriate standards. Although originally targeted at women in their 30s, the building later became more known as a sanctuary for young women from the gyaru subculture.[1][2]
The original emoji set from SoftBank Mobile (as used by iOS prior to the Unicode emoji standardisation) included one for Shibuya 109, 
. As a corporate icon, it was not assigned a standard Unicode code point, but it continues to be supported by Twemoji at its location in SoftBank's Private Use Area.[3]
Due to its prominent location in Shibuya, the building appears in various Japanese media like anime and video games; however, since 109 is a trademarked brand, the number is usually altered.
Collaboration with Ayumi Hamasaki
[edit]In April 2023, the 109 building was used for Ayumi Hamasaki's "25th Anniversary Shibuya109 Campaign", showcasing the artist both on the tower and through participating stores.[4] Famed for being an inspiration for gyaru culture in the 2000s, Hamasaki collaborated with numerous brands for limited edition clothing, merchandise, and confectionary, along with a playlist of her music being used across the building. A ViVi representative described the event as "a perfect envisioning of Ayu's world", and "a treat for visitors, regardless of whether they're a big fan or not".[5]
Stores
[edit]- Shibuya 109 (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 1979
- MAGNET by Shibuya 109 (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 2018
Opened as 109-2 in April 1979, renamed to 109Men's in March 2011 before being renamed once again to its current name.[6]
- Kohrinbo 109 (Kanazawa, Ishikawa) - September 1985
- 109 Machida (Machida, Tokyo) - July 2002 - Closed
- Shizuoka 109 (Shizuoka, Shizuoka) - October 2007
- Created in March 2006 as Shibuya 109 Dreams, later recreated into the current 109.[7]
- Minatomirai 109 (Yokohama) - April 2010
- Shibuya 109 Abeno (Osaka) - April 2011
References
[edit]- "SHIBUYA109 東京ガイド" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- "109Watch" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- "Elastic" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 27 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ^ a b Bull, Brett, "Decades as Tokyo's tower of girl power", Japan Times, January 22, 2009, p. 17.
- ^ Nagata, Kazuaki, "Shibuya 109 eyes rebound: Fashion landmark wants to make last year's sales drop a mere blip", Japan Times, May 14, 2010, p. 7.
- ^ Emojipedia. "Shibuya Emoji". Emojipedia.
- ^ "デビュー25周年を迎える「浜崎あゆみ」とSHIBUYA109がコラボレーション！『ayumi hamasaki 25th Anniversary SHIBUYA109 Campaign』 - 株式会社SHIBUYA109エンタテイメント" (in Japanese). 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ "浜崎あゆみデビュー25周年を記念しSHIBUYA109とのコラボレーションが実現！ayuの世界観満載の空間が広がっていました…♡". vivi (in Japanese). 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ "Shibuya's 109 Men's gets new look with 'scramble'-overseeing rooftop, dining floor and name". Japan Today. April 28, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ^ "「SHIBUYA109ドリームス」静岡にオープン" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-01-24.
35°39′34.36″N 139°41′56.44″E / 35.6595444°N 139.6990111°E
External links
[edit]
- Official website (in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)
- 109Men's (in Japanese)
- Kohrinbo 109 Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
- 109 Machida (in Japanese)