thanks again everyone.
i'm sure those phrases will really come in handy :)
it's a shame that I haven't yet had a chance to learn much japanese...
I only study French and Italian :/
I find that other countries are delighted when you attempt to speak their language so I'll just try my hardest :)

I'll mostly be shopping for alternative clothes while i'm there but I would also like to bring back some japanese souvenirs etc.
x

If you are really interested in shopping for fashion you should buy the PDF shopping guide to Tokyo from superfuture.com

It is an excellent guide which is broken into different areas - Shibuya, Ginza etc etc with maps of each area with the specific markers for stores and quick store reviews. It caters to a range of brands but all in the more exclusive genre - if you are interested in japanese brands like number (n)ine, undercover, comme des garcons, julius, diet butcher slim skin, issey miyake, junya wantanabe, yohji etc etc this will be perfect - same with international brand like maison martin margiella, raf simons, rick owens. If you are more into generic fashion (gucci, prada blah blah) you probably dont need the guide because places like that arent hard to find but it does give some good info on cafes, restaurants and night life and gives you some good shopping itineraries based on what areas you should do in one day etc.

Buy it as close as possible to when you go as it gets updates weekly with new store openings and closures etc. From memory it's only $10.