Places in the Tokyo/Kanto: Shinjuku
[Chiba] [Inage] [Kichijoji] [Shinjuku] [Shibuya] [Harajuku] [Yokohama] [Asakusa/Ueno][Ikebukuro] [Other places]
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Shinjuku is most definitely a city within the city and one of the most diverse places in Tokyo. The station is the central focus and it is the busiest station in the world with over 2 million people moving through it every day! JR has the Chuo/Sobu line running from Chiba west through Tokyo and beyond, Saikyo-sen to Saitama, the Narita Express to the airport and of course the Yamanote-sen loop line. This loop is much larger than the one in Melbourne and trains run approximately every minute, in full circles in each direction. It marks the areas of the inner city. Tokyo therefore has no centre as such, at least in the way Melbourne has its 'City'. Simply the entire area enclosed by the Yamanote-sen has to be classified as the centre. There are three subway lines, plus the Seibu Shinjuku line which heads through the north-west suburbs (departing from a separate station), the Keio-line which heads through the western suburbs to Hachioji in the far west of Tokyo and also the Odakyu line which runs through the southwestern suburbs all the way to Odawara and Hakone. Each of these private rail-lines as well as JR have department stores situated above them.
Odakyu also has the new Southern terrace which now complements the also relatively recent Times Square complex (with Takashimaya Department store, HMV, Tokyu Hands, an IMAX theatre and Kinokuniya, a fine source of foreign and Japanese books) both of which are found at the south end heading towards Yoyogi station. They provide a vista much similar to that of Southgate with the exception that if you look down, instead of the river, it is in fact the wide network of railway lines. Very bizarre, and very Tokyo.
To the southeast, a fair walk from the station, lies the Shinjuku Gyoen (Imperial Gardens) which are a nice place for a walk any time but are packed out in April with revellers enjoying the cherry blossom viewing (hanami) season.
Immediately west of the station is an electric shop area, with some restaurants etc also to be found plus the Berlitz Shinjuku branch where Efaniel is working. There are also a couple of pubs and izakaya in the area. These places are there to service the people heading home from the area behind, further west. This is the high-rise area of offices and hotels and is very impressive, especially at night. The architecture is simply amazing. The jewel in the crown is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building which is the tallest in Tokyo and until recently Japan but have been surpassed by Landmark Tower in Yokohama. Behind the TMGB is Shinjuku Central Park which is also nice for hanami.
Where West Shinjuku is the business hub, East Shinjuku is the entertainment hub and therefore it is not surprising that I am more often found on this side of town. This area includes the other department stores like Marui, Mitsukoshi and Isetan. While the southern end with the terraces is 'trendy and chic' and therefore is more popular in daytime, East Shinjuku, alive all the time, really comes alive in the evenings. In fact, this was the inspiration for the scenes of Ridley Scott's Bladerunner film. The most famous location is Studio Alta which is not only a shopping centre but also a real TV Studio with a large screen outside it. That would have been one of the first large screens in Tokyo and, while they can be found everywhere now, it made Alta a landmark. These days Alta is too popular and so usually people meet at the nearby bank buildings that are just as well known. The place here that I most often visit is the original Kinokuniya store which is dwarfed by its south Shinjuku sibling but still has a good range. A couple of branches of the chain izakaya Uoya-itcho are to be found near here along with branches of every other major Japanese izakaya chain. There is also an Irish pub and a Sapporo Beer Hall. Another place I often visit with my Japanese friends who went on exchange to Monash is a building called Saison Plaza which contains restaurants of all kinds from traditional Japanese to Italian to a Hawaiian bar. In case you haven't worked it out by now, drinking and Shinjuku go hand in hand. The name Shinjuku means 'new resting place' and like Shinagawa in the south it lies on one of the main entrances to Edo as Tokyo used to be known and thus was originally a town of hostelries on the border of the old city. It wasn't until the 1960s that it took the form it has today but the entertainment tradition remains very strong.
Still when it comes to 'entertainment' then of course there is the infamous area just to the north called Kabukicho. This is the home of the Japanese Yakuza along with many bars and theatres where I'm told you can sample just about anything (anyone) with a modicum of ease. It is a red-light district, sleazy in a way and could be dangerous at night particularly for females but I don't believe that it is really as bad as its reputation would suggest. Still, I have only been in there a few times - it doesn't offer anything that I am interested in although many of the movie cinemas are there. It also has its share of dance nightclubs. One more area on the Shinjuku east side which rates a mention is beyond the department store district and called Shinjuku 2-chome. This place is renowned as a gay hangout. I am told that Tokyo is one of the better places to be gay in Japan since the stigmas still exist but are nowhere near as bad as elsewhere.
Shinjuku is very much alive, full of bright neon signs, but it wears at you after a while. The place may be huge but no matter where you are either above ground or below in the warrens which surround the station area, the place is teeming with people all trying to head somewhere as quickly as they can with little regard for those around. It is one of the most exciting places around and a must for any visit to Tokyo. For those of us who live here, there is no avoiding it. With friends in Chiba, Tokyo, Yokohama & Saitama, Shinjuku, with its extensive rail links, is the most accessible place in the Kanto region and is therefore the most logical place for any rendezvous.
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[Chiba] [Inage] [Kichijoji] [Shinjuku] [Shibuya] [Harajuku] [Yokohama] [Asakusa/Ueno][Ikebukuro] [Other places]