Kabukicho – the other Shinjuku
I didn’t know where I am going. At all me prevoius visitis in Tokyo I was on “the other side” of the Shinjukiu station – the side of the “Keyo plaza” and “Hilton” hotels and the “Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building”. Now I asked in the agency for the cheapest hotel (if possible in Shinjuku area) and that is how I ended up in Kabukicho (even though 8000 yen per night wasn’t so awfully cheap). Yes Kabukicho and its hotels is definitely for salary men and definitely not for family people with kids (unless they visit it as tourists of course). Especially I disadvise if you are with kids to take some of the cheap hotels their. Even though the hotel was clean I always could feel (even though very, very weak) cigarette smell (yes, in Japan they smoke, they smoke a lot and they smoke everywhere). Also if you are a lonely man (trying to find your way to or out of the hotel) expect to be stopped at least once per 20-30 meters and offered sex services or invited to bars with hostess. I was just refusing politely even though some of the black dudes were quite imposing (but still polite I must say). Otherwise I felt quite safe in the area (as pretty much everywhere in Japan) and there were no any problems when I was browsing the streets late in the night or just coming back to the hotel. Needless to say there were at least a thousand bars in the area and at least as many restaurants but I didn’t enter a single one apart for a ramen shop. The interesting thing about this ramen shop was that it was next to a kebab shop (in ramen there is a pig meat) but apparently they co-existed peacefully ( I am still sorry I didn’t took a picture of the two restaurants next to each other).
But enough of “speaking” – it is time for the pictures galore. Here is Kabukicho by day:
And here is Kabukicho by night (when the real life starts):
I just want to finish this entry with a picture of a small street ramen shop (I really like this one (the dish I mean – the picture too:))).
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