Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Day in
East Shinjuku
Morning
Leaving the south exit of
JR Shinjuku station, walk
down to
Shinjuku Gyoen
,
a spacious national garden.
An entire morning can be
spent here, but continue
instead to Takashimaya
Times Square, a futuristic
department store.
Sadeu
,
a café on the second floor,
serves
o-matcha
(green
tea). Take a short walk
along Meiji-dori to the cor-
ner of Shinjuku-dori and
Isetan
, a famous depart-
ment store and Tokyo ins-
titution. The fifth-floor
Isetan Art Gallery
show-
cases the latest trends in
Japan's ceramic, print, and
fine-art world. Walk up
to Yasukuni-dori, turn left
and follow the road to
Tsunahachi
(see p107)
on
the right. The old wooden
restaurant, a postwar sur-
vivor, serves tempura lunch
sets at moderate prices.
A devotee offering prayer, Hanazono Shrine
of red and white paper lanterns
illuminate the shrine's entrances
at night.
d
Map B3 • 5-17 Shinjuku,
Shinjuku-ku • 3209-5265 • Open
dawn-dusk
(
Golden Gai
A labyrinth of roughly 200
tiny watering holes clusters
along Golden Gai's four pedes-
trian lanes. Dating from just after
WWII, these bars are popular
with local office workers, and are
also patronized by writers, sumo
wrestlers, and cross-dressers.
Most of the establishments here
charge a ¥1000 seating fee for
starters.
d
Map B3 • Shinjuku,
Shinjuku-ku
Afternoon
Walk back along Yasukuni-
dori until you reach the
gates of
Hanazono Shrine
,
whose lively grounds are
right next to
Golden Gai
,
a quadrangle of bars. Its
lanes will be empty at this
time, a chance to choose
the bar you might like to
return to. Walk into adja-
cent Kabuki-cho and take
almost any street north
toward Okubo-dori, the
main street cutting through
Shin-Okubo
. Explore the
ethnic food stores and
specialist stores in the
area. The district has many
small temples and fox
shrines, as well as Chris-
tian churches catering to
a large number of Korean
worshippers. Have an
early dinner at one of the
several ethnic restaurants
in Shin-Okubo.
)
Takashimaya
Times Square
A shopping haven, this 15-story
department store is stunning in
its diversity. Besides the fashion
and accessory departments, res-
taurants, cafés, and well-stocked
food basement, there is an IMAX
theater, a Sega virtual-reality
arcade called Joypolis, and a
branch of Tokyu Hands, a novel
hardware store. Of special
interest to foreigners is a branch
of Kinokuniya, a huge bookstore
with a floor set aside for books
in the English language.
d
Map B4
• 5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shinjuku-ku • 5361-
1111 • Open 10am-8pm
105
Visiting directors, particularly Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin
Tarantino, are said to favor La Jetée bar in Golden Gai.
