Tokyo is so layered it's hard to comprehend without visiting. A building on a street may have a shop at the ground floor, but when you enter you find there's actually 10 shops, and then the basement also has shops and restaurants, and so do the five floors above and maybe the top few floors too. In between the 4th or 5th and the top floor are offices or apartments. Everything is layered and dense, and this is almost every downtown building. You need to look up to see the signage and only then might you understand what's in that building. And of course there are department stores, but they're confusingly little different as it's just boutiques within the larger store, and how is that different to just walking in and finding 10 stores? Especially when they want you to pay in every boutique and to do their little dance of giving you a gift (usually a sweet) when you purchase something and for that brand to make you feel special. Everything is so layered and dense.