Day 2
Morning In Tokyo | 東京の朝
We woke up quite reasonably, and at a decent hour actually. Well, if you consider 5am to be a decent hour, that is. Not to worry, we need to unpack a few things, contact the kids via Skype, and figure out what we were going to do first. Breakfast.
The hotel has a buffet-style breakfast which [...]
Hanazono Shrine | 花園神社
When planning this trip, I wanted the first “sight” we saw to be something fairly quiet, and I was not disappointed.
Hanazono Jinja is a Shinto Shrine, not to be confused with a Buddhist Temple. I guess you’re just supposed to know. The names give it away I guess. A “Jinja” (神社) is a Shinto shrine, [...]
Golden Gai | 新宿ゴールデン街
After leaving Hanazono Shrine, it was just a quick jump down a short flight of stairs and there it was, staring us in the face. The “Golden Gai” neighborhood.
“Golden Gai” is a small block of tiny bars and galleries tucked away behind the hustle of the rest of Tokyo. Yeah, OK, I’m sure it picks [...]
East Shinjuku | 東新宿
After leaving Golden Gai, we made our way back to Yasukuni dori in East Shinjuku. The far east side of this street is pretty tame, a lot of stores and nondescript buildings…. (well except for that one…)
But the closer you get to the station, the more interesting things get. The signs become brighter, the noises [...]
The Shinjuku Subnade
Descending the flight of stairs from Yasukuni dori, which looked like it could be a subway entrance, was instead the entrance to a vast underground shopping complex, the Shinjuku Subnade.
Down here in the Subnade, it was a different world. The bustle and garishness above gave way to a quiet, almost western-style shopping mall experience. Mainly [...]
Omoide Yokocho | 思い出横丁
So if you’ve read any of the websites and guide books you know that one of the recommended stops in Shinjuku is Omoide Yokocho, or “piss alley.” I can see now why it might be called that….
It’s located just north of the main station, beyond the Keio and Odakyu plaza and on up a bit, [...]
West Shinjuku | 西新宿
After we’d taken a bit of a breather (neither of us were still 100%, and not used to walking, which wouldn’t really be an issue ’til tomorrow) we headed out down the main drag, Koshu Kaido, the other direction, towards the glass towers of Nishi (west) Shinjuku.
And again, we were in yet another world from [...]
The Izakaya Experience | 居酒屋経験
Well, we decided to head back to where we wanted to eat dinner. Which proved to be a bit more difficult than we had anticipated. The menu out front of the building, for the Teng Izakaya (which was also a chain we discovered later, recognizable by its bright red mascot) looked good, real good. Finding [...]
