Yasukuni-dori is a busy thoroughfare, lined with neon-signed shops, restaurants, and businesses. Yasukuni-dori runs through several wards of Tokyo, including Chiyoda, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. The Shonan-Shinjuku railway line passes over the street. The red Kabuki-chō Ichiban-gai gate is often photographed as the main entrance to Kabukichō. Kabukicho a famous entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku. This is one of the most well-known areas in Tokyo, renowned for its vibrant nightlife, bright neon lights, and diverse entertainment options. The Godzilla head is a landmark and tourist attraction in Kabukichō. The 80-ton head, based on Godzilla's appearance in Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), was unveiled in 2015. The placement of the head on the Hotel Gracery's terrace matches Godzilla's 50 meter height seen during the Showa era films in the franchise. The Kabukicho district has a high concentration of host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. In host and hostess clubs, customers can pay to socialize with attractive hosts or hostesses over drinks. Kabukicho Tower is a 48-storey skyscraper. This area is also famous for its numerous movie theaters. Godzilla sometimes appears with "glowing eyes and smoky breath" (which we'll see soon!). This district's name comes from late-1940s plans to build a kabuki theater, and although the theater was never built, the name stuck. Prior to World War II, this district was one of the areas open to foreign-born property owners, who mainly operated tsurekomi yado, predecessors to today's love hotels. During the war, a bombing raid on April 13, 1945, razed the area to the ground. Omoide Yokocho, one of Tokyo's most characteristic streets, is directly on the other side of the tracks. The Tokyu Cultural Hall , Tokyu Milano-za movie theater, Tokyo Ice Skating Rink, and Shinjuku Koma Theater were all completed in 1956, cementing the area's reputation as an entertainment center. Trucks with billboards on them like that passing on the right advertise hosts that people can pay to spend time with. Each hour, for a brief moment, Godzilla's eyes light up! Kabukichō was quickly redeveloped after the war, mainly due to the efforts of the overseas Chinese in Japan who bought land left unused after the expos and developed it. In 2002, it was estimated that 70% of the land in Kabukichō was owned by foreign-born Japanese residents and their descendants. The rise of home video entertainment decreased the demand for film theaters, and Kabukichō became home to a number of video arcades, discos, and fuzoku (businesses offering sexual services). This little shop seels green tea and I bought some from here earlier in the day. By 1999, the area had been named "Asia's largest adult entertainment district", and tabloids were regularly running candid photographs of drunken Kabukichō patrons fighting and being arrested. However, starting in 2003, joint citizen and police patrols began enforcing business licensing. The 1948 Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act was more strictly enforced in 2004, forcing adult-themed businesses to remove customers at midnight in preparation to close by 1am. This distinctive building looks like it is inspired by Russian churches. Here, there are many photographs of hosts and hostesses but there are no red lights in the literal sense with prostitutes in the windows as in Amsterdam. With increased tourism from China and South Korea, tourists can now be seen in Kabukichō even during daytime. News reports suggest that this park has become a hotspot for prostitutes. After several large hotels opened in the district, the Kabukicho Concierge Association was formed to recommend businesses that would be safe for foreign patrons. The area is notorious for the practice known as bottakuri, where some businesses add exorbitant hidden fees to bring the final bill well beyond the initial advertised prices. I stayed at the Prince Shinjuku, which we passed earlier in the walk. Don Quijote is the area's main tourist souvenir store. Sakura-dori street is another of the most popular areas of Kabukicho for nightlife. This used to be considered one of the most dangerous places in Kabukicho. When the famous Robot restaurant opened in 2012, however, the security situation improved significantly. Robot restaurant is closed now with no indication of whether it might return. The Shinjuku station that serves this area is the busiest in the world. Some three million people pass through it every day. The Four Seasons pathway is an oasis of green amongst the neon. Golden Gai is one of Kabukicho's most characteristic zones. Golden Gai is composed of a network of six narrow alleys, connected by even narrower passageways which are about wide enough for a single person to pass through. Over 200 tiny shanty-style bars, clubs and eateries are squeezed into this area. The area provides a glimpse into the relatively recent past of Tokyo, when large parts of the city resembled present-day Golden Gai, with extremely narrow lanes and the tiny two-story buildings. Most of the buildings here are two-story, having a small bar at street level and either another bar or a tiny flat upstairs, reached by a steep set of stairs. Some of the bars here are so small that they can fit only five or so customers at one time. Despite its scruffy appearance, Golden Gai is not a cheap place to drink, and the clientele that it attracts is generally well off. Golden Gai is well known as a meeting place for musicians, artists, directors, writers, academics and actors, including many celebrities. Many of the bars here only welcome regular customers, who initially should be introduced by an existing patron, although many others welcome non-regulars. This Shinto shrine was founded in the mid-17th century. Constructed in the Edo period by the Hanazono family, this shrine is dedicated to Inari, the androgynous god of fertility and worldly success. The shrine is a favorite place for businessmen to pray for successful ventures. You enter the shrine through Torii gates signalling the transition to a spiritual place. You'll find lots of classic street food in Kabukicho. Look out for menchi katsu - a breaded and deep-fried ground meat patty - and monjayaki, like a savory pancake cooked right while you wait on a hot griddle. The Sanchome district is less famous that Golden Gai or Kabukicho but it is not less vibrant. The streets here are crammed with bars and restaurants advertising with idiosyncratic neon signs. Many restaurant signs and menus are only in Japanese, but you'll find pictures and some English in other places too. In the dense grid streets of this area, you'll also kind karaoke bars and music venues. The area has plenty of authentic sushi restaurants where you can watch chefs preparing your food. Eating in restaurants can be intimidating here when there is no English and proprietors are sometimes known to inflate prices, but to food is too good to miss out! In a lot of places, you'll find yourself sitting outside at a small table, crammed in with other diners. The area is still home to some of the old-style drinking dens that were everywhere in Tokyo before the economic boom. This is one of the main shopping streets in the area with high end fashion brands. This is Isetan Shinjuku Store, one of the trendiest department stores in Toyko You'll find lots of long-established department stores and underground markets in this area. This street is popular for its Cat Cafe MOCHA Lounge, one of the largest cat cafes in Tokyo. Other foods you should try at restaurants in this area is ramen and tempura fried seafood. Shinjuku City is a special ward of Tokyo meaning it has municipal autonomy. As of 2018, this ward has an estimated population of 346,235 and a population density of 18,232 people per km2. This is one of Tokyo's famed 3D billboards! And equally famous cute cat! Shinjuku began to develop into its current form after the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923, since the seismically stable area largely escaped the devastation. West Shinjuku is one of the few areas in Tokyo with a lot of skyscrapers. The Tokyo air raids from May to August 1945 destroyed almost 90% of the buildings in the area in and around Shinjuku Station. In 1991, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved from the Marunouchi district of Chiyoda to the current building in Shinjuku. Shinjuku station straddles the boundary between the Shinjuku and Shibuya special wards. The station was used by an average of 3.59 million people per day in 2018, making it the world's busiest transport hub by far (and registered as such with Guinness World Records). Close to the West Exit of the station is a maze of alleys known as Omoide Yokocho. The alleys are crammed with izakaya-type bars which serve alcoholic drinks and snacks. The bars are popular with workers stopping by for a drink after a day in the office. Omoide Yokocho roughly translates as Memory Lane, a place that people are nostalgic about. The area was originally a vast black market that rose up from the ruins of Tokyo in the days right after World War II. The area was once much bigger but a large part was demolished when the station was being built and another part destroyed in a fire in 1999. Although the area still has rather a clandestine feel, all restaurants are now licensed. The area was once considered dangerous but now it is safe and popular with tourists. Sticks of barbequed yakitori chicken are one of the most popular snacks. Other forms of grilled skewed meat are also popular including pork belly and intestines. Almost all the restaurants and food stalls here have English menus available. Eateries are mostly motsuyakiya (broiled offal restaurants) and yakitoriya (chicken skewer restaurants). It is an unspoken rule here to order food with your drinks. If you order beer on its own you'll likely be asked to leave. Today, there are roughly 80 premises, including some 60 bars and restaurants, crowded together in about 2,000 m2 of land.