Mid-range · 3-hour walk · Tokyo
Shinjuku after dark in three hours
A free view from the city hall's 45th floor, the yakitori alleys by the tracks, Godzilla over Kabukicho and the tiny bars of Golden Gai.
Shinjuku station is the busiest in the world, and the city around it comes into its own after dark. This route starts with the free observation decks of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building at dusk, then crosses to the neon of the east side: the yakitori alleys by the tracks, the entertainment district of Kabukicho, and the two hundred tiny bars of Golden Gai. Start at about five in the afternoon. Some Golden Gai bars charge a cover, and say so on the door.
The route, stop by stop
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Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Kenzo Tange's twin-towered city hall of 1991. The observation decks on the 45th floor are free, and look out to Mount Fuji on a clear day.
40 min here Walk here → -
Omoide Yokocho
Memory Lane: a few narrow alleys of tiny yakitori counters beside the railway tracks, little changed since the black market after the war.
30 min here Walk here → -
Kabukicho
Tokyo's red-light and entertainment district. A life-size Godzilla head looks down on it from the Toho cinema building. Ignore the touts.
20 min here Walk here → -
Hanazono Shrine
The shrine that has looked after Shinjuku's merchants since the Edo period, quiet among the neon, with its lanterns lit in the evening.
15 min here Walk here → -
Golden Gai
Six narrow alleys of about two hundred bars, most of them seating half a dozen people. Some welcome strangers and some only their regulars.
50 min here Walk here →
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