Shinjuku — Tokyo's One Neighbourhood That Has Everything

Japan's busiest nightlife district, with neon blazing on every building in every direction. The highlight is the 12-metre Godzilla head peering over the 8th-floor terrace of the Gracery hotel — it roars, breathes smoke and lights up on the hour from 12:00–20:00. Photograph it for free from Godzilla Road below.

The legendary drinking lanes behind Kabukicho — around 200 tiny bars packed into a web of six narrow alleys, some seating just 5–6 people. The postwar-Tokyo atmosphere here is something you won't find anywhere else, and every bar has its owner's own personality: one themed on film, another on punk music. Wander slowly and pick the one that calls to you.

A charcoal-grilled yakitori alley on the west side of the station, nicknamed "Memory Lane" — though plenty just call it "Piss Alley" or the smoky alley, because the yakitori smoke drifts down the whole lane. Tiny shops are packed in tight, your seat right beside the grill, the old-Tokyo atmosphere turned up to the maximum. Sipping a beer and eating grilled chicken skewer by skewer at dusk is an experience you have to try.

A large garden in the middle of the district so quiet you forget you're in Tokyo. It's divided into Japanese, English and French garden styles, with ponds, wide lawns to relax on and a tropical greenhouse. In spring it's a popular cherry blossom spot, and the autumn leaves are gorgeous too — the perfect place to rest your legs from the bustle of the neighbourhood.

A view over Tokyo from 202 metres up without spending a single yen — the observation deck is on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (Tocho) in Nishi-Shinjuku, a tower that stands 243 metres tall. On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji; at night, a whole sea of city lights. Far better value than paying for a ticket up another tower, and there's a café and souvenir shop on the deck too.

Shinjuku is a shopper's heaven. The Isetan Shinjuku store is a 10-floor flagship, and its star is the basement (depachika) — one of the best food halls in Tokyo, where the sweets, desserts and ready-to-eat dishes are all beautiful. Lumine (run by JR East) is attached to the station itself and packed with fashion brands aimed at working professionals — you can shop without ever leaving the station.

An entertainment tower that opened in 2023 — 225 metres and 48 floors, the new landmark of Kabukicho. Inside it's all about entertainment: a cinema, a live theatre, an arcade, a Japanese-market-themed food hall on the 2nd floor (Shinjuku Kabuki Hall) and a hotel up top. A good place to duck out of the rain or find somewhere atmospheric to eat and drink before heading out into the night-time alleys.

The station itself is an experience — it holds the Guinness World Record as the busiest railway station in the world, once reaching around 3.6 million passengers a day, with more than 35 platforms, dozens of exits, and several railway companies meeting in one place. Watching the orderly chaos of Japanese commuters is its own kind of fun, but first-timers get lost here very easily.