Shinjuku

Shinjuku and its towering office buildings, shady yakuza and array of international restaurants is often and fairly noted as the center of Tokyo.  The argument has a lot to back it up.  Shinjuku has the biggest station (around 3 million passengers per day, the largest in the world), the city governmental offices known as the “Tochyou,” (pictured right)  and a diverse assortment of reasons to make it a destination: theater, cuisine, yakuza run red-light districts, homosexual oriented areas, chicken-on-a-stick, something for anyone really.  However, it is also in my experience Tokyo’s biggest disappointment.  Despite the great range of options available in Shinjuku for me, Shinjuku seems to lack depth.

    Despite the large number of people who pass through Shinjuku each day, that’s all people really do in Shinjuku, pass through it.  It’s a typical place to meet friends for a drink due to its transportation hub status, a place for coworkers to go out for an afterwork drink or for those gentlemen with a little stress in their lives, a place to go rent a prostitute and pretend she is Mariko from accounting.  As a result, the nightlife in Shinjuku is very heavy on izakaya.  Izakaya, the name often translated as “japanese style pub,” are probably most equivalent to a T.G.I.Fridays or a Chilli’s.  The main reason for being there is drinking and the company.  And while they make a good standby for lack of a better plan, they are not exactly destinations in themselves.  

    But Shinjuku’s cultural demise is due to more than just a preponderance of mediocre restaurants.  The current mayor of Tokyo, Ishihara, is working to clean up the red- light district in northern Shinjuku known as Kabukicho.  All the effort has really accomplished has been to push the sex scene a little deeper and a little further out of view.  Where it used to be a tourist attraction of itself just to walk around Kabukicho, it’s beginning to look more and more like just any other neighborhood.  While Kabukicho is already safe by standards of many other major cities, this little corner of seediness gives Shinjuku some spunk.

    The club scene in Shinjuku, which barely merited the name “scene” in recent years, is virtually finished with the closing of Club Code on Feb. 17th 2008.  Club Code, which was an institution of Tokyo nightlife for years and a mecca for ParaPara as well as other strata of Tokyo’s multi-layered nightlife scene was the last torch bearer.

    Lastly, some of the more old-school drinking areas, small neighborhoods chockfull of mini-bars called “nomiya” or “snacks” are under threat.  “Omoidasu Yokucho” and legendary “Golden Gai” are always on the board for possible “revitalization.”

    So one might wonder what is left to recommend.  Well, Shinjuku is the perfect place for one specific task.  A good all around look at the city and all its different faces.  However, if you are looking to get a bit deeper into any one of these areas, you’re probably better off in a different area of Tokyo.

WEST and SOUTH SHINJUKU

The most obvious attraction in western shinjuku is the (kinda big) shinjuku government building.  The two towers are each 45 floors tall, and they offer impressive (and more importantly FREE) views of the city.   If 45 floors just isn’t enough for you, head up to Ikebukuro where the Sunshine City building will take you 60 floors up into the sky or the Landmark Tower in Yokohama at 70 floors.  At the top you can use the money you didn’t spend on a ticket at a gift shop full of crap you don’t need or a decent looking cafe with a pretty awesome view.  The building also contains a Tourist Information Center which will be able to help you in any of your touristy needs. 

    I am a big fan of cafes with a view. Though it’s hard to beat a cafe on the 45th floor, I like street traffic.  I can pretty much forgive any thing else, provided it has a good view.  And if this were the only consideration the Starbucks at the Southern Terrace exit of Shinjuku station would be in my top 5 cafe ranking.  There is outdoor seating, high traffic of strange people, and gratefully they sell a large coffee that is actually American sized large.  It’s a great place to stop and gawk after shopping at the enormous Takashimaya Times Square Building across the tracks.  As you cross the bridge you will pass by one of the only two branches of the American donut chain Krispy Kreme and a line of people waiting an hour to buy them.  Pity these people; then move along.

    Takashimaya is a shopping place.  I am not a shopping person, so I’m kind of at a loss to recommend it. However, I have brought visitors who like shopping here and they tell me it’s quite good for that.  If I did have to shop, however, the two places in this complex I’d be sure not to miss are the 8 floor bookstore Kinokuniya, with an excellent (but expensive) English language section, and Tokyu Hands which has lots of unique only-in-Japan type stuff that make for good gifts and souvenirs.

NORTH and EAST SHINJUKU

When people go anywhere north of Shinjuku station they tend to say they are in Kabukicho.  Though actually this name only covers a few small blocks, its legend is so great it almost overtakes Shinjuku.  Kind of like the way people start to think all of southern Manhattan is “The Village.”  But in reality Kabukicho is quite small, safer and more boring than portrayed.  It’s safe for foreigners since the main criminal activity in the area depends on horny Japanese businessmen with impaired judgment parting with their money.  Mafia run businesses don’t really have an interest in breaking into the gaijin market.  As a result, foreigners are typically not even allowed into most houses of prostitution.  Well, unless they are working there.  This being said, a lot of people say Shinjuku is dangerous, so best be careful anyway.

    In the northern part of Kabukicho, the businesses slowly shift from female hostess bars into host bars.  Now the hostess/host bars are basically just paid companionship of the verbal kind; however, to what extent other deals are made is left vague.  In recent years the Host bar scene has exploded, I believe, far beyond what the real demand must be.  But the media fueled hype has seen probably a five fold increase in the number of host bars catering to female clients spring up in just the last five years.  

    Just to the north and east of Kabukicho is another legendary nightlife area, Ni-chome.  Translated directly it would be “Number 2 district” and that I think is a fitting name.  As the number 2 is certainly what put it on the map.  Ni-chome is the gay district of Tokyo.  While not nearly as large, open or prominent as gay neighborhoods in cities like New York or London, it’s a fairly interesting little corner of Tokyo.  I’ve heard from many straight folks that it can make for a fun change to a typical night out.  Even if you’re not out, out.  You know.  Like gay.

    A hop, skip, and a jump from Ni-chome is legendary drinking warren Golden Gai.  How these buildings remain used is the miracle of denial at work.  In earthquake prone Japan this beehive of small bars is a death trap.  But though everyone knows that the buildings are far beyond their use by date, no one cares.  Those you will find drinking in this fantastic little piece of old Tokyo are artists, dreamers, mentally ill and other what have you.  Around 200 bars, each seating only about five people are squeezed into the space about the size of a baseball field.  While just walking the neighborhood is a treat, you will probably want to sit and have a drink.  It can be intimidating, and some places might not rather have you there.  Not so much because you are a foreigner, but that these places have a very small number of regulars whose seats are kept for them like places at a family dinner table.  At the very front entrance is a very open and foreign friendly bar called “Champion.”  The bar run by a Filipino woman and her Japanese husband is good, not only for its all 500 yen drink menu, but also its karaoke.  From there with a little liquid courage in you, you might try poking your head in a few doors (WHILE SMILING!) and see if you don’t find your own little spot.  Just keep in mind, even if you do find a welcoming bar, you’ll likely be paying a seating charge and goodness knows how much for drinks, so be warned but have fun.

    If this is not enough of a trip back into Japan’s fuzzy drunken past, then you’ve got to make a trip to “Omoidasu Yokucho.”(Two photos, Right) Its official name “Old Time Memory District” may be printed on the sign, but everyone refers to it by its other name Piss Alley (Shonben Yokucho). Piss Alley is 95% Yakitori shops that are heavy on the drinking.  Cockroaches are fearfully plenty and nasty gunk from meat being grilled indoors hangs from the ventilation.  It’s lovely.  This place also is very near to being shutdown due to safety concerns, so how much longer it will survive is anyone’s guess.  The only place I recommend here specifically is located towards the north end of the yokocho.  “Albatross” is a funky, foreign friendly bar.  The first floor is a very small tight bar, where you are sure to strike up a conversation with the locals.  The second floor is for sitting on tatami and chatting.  But my favorite place, which is usually hard to get because it is either reserved or they don’t want to open it, is the roof.  Just pray there is no earthquake while you are there.

And while you are in the area...

Shinjuku-Gyoen is a very large and very well cared for park only a few minutes walk from the south exit.  Tokyoites have an extreme aversion to paying for nature and as a result they mob the free parks like Ueno, so parks like Shinjuku Gyoen that charge a small fee are largely neglected.  Two hundred yen is a very cheap fee, and in exchange you get a pristine park with lots of elbow room.  The official rules state drinking and just about every other activity is forbidden, but on my trips during cherry blossom season the rules didn’t seem to be in effect.

    And yes, that is an electric ticket gate.  You need to buy a ticket from a different machine about three feet away and then open the gates.  Those are pretty serious looking gates too.

Shin-Okubo is really just an extension of northern Shinjuku, but instead of Yakuza, homosexuals, or hosts you’ll find a large number of Koreans.  Most famous for yaki-niku (korean bar-b-que) you can get mysteriously cheap meat with excellent seasonings.  Definitely worth a visit if you are in Tokyo for more than a trip.