First off, we had to take off our shoes and leave them with those of the other customers. A very kind waitress walked us to our seats and gave us some menus. Luckly, they were illustrated so we did have some idea of what we were going to be eating. The house specialty was the grilled meat. We had a choice among many kinds and cuts of meet, each of which was to be personally cooked on the grill at the table.

Here’s the inside of the first Japanese restaurant we dined at.  It was very cute and pleasant, though the table was a bit short. At least there were benches to sit down on.

Here’s the meat while cooking on the grill!!! It was really delicious, especially because it was soaked in this mysterious sauce!!! The picture doesn’t show the burning coals under the grill, but trust me it was HOT and the meat didn’t take much time to be ready.

After the great hearty meal of meat we were thirsty despite the free water we got at the restaurant. We stopped at a drink vending machine. In Japan they’re everywhere and they’re filled with whatewer kind of drink you might want. Most of them are good and all of them were very cheap at around 120 yen (less than 1 euro) each. I was shocked when I saw that one price was modified from 130 to 120 yen!! Its incredible, they lower their prices while we do the opposite!! ^^

This is Yuki while buying a bottle of Grape Fanta from a vending (veeeeery good). All of them worked perfectly and not one of them bore signs of vandalism.  In Italy that’s impossible.

In the higher section you can see many kinds of coffee and cola.

On the way back to our Hotel we found a Manekineko just outside of a restaurant. Close to it the was a menu with the prices. Obviously I couldn’t keep myself from taking a picture of it.
Manekineko greets the customers of the restourant^^

Even if it was quite early we were feeling exhausted from the llong trip so we went to sleep. We asked to have breakfast at 8 am. The next day, after our beds were taken away and crammed in the wardrobe, the table was back to his usual place and the breakfast was served. I never thought that the Japanese could eat so much in the first hours of the morning!! We had rice, salty vegetables, fish, omelettes, miso soup, etc.

Wooo, our first Japanese breakfast!!! The pink cubes were used to boil the tofu, inside the soy, cheese was floating with vegetables and mushrooms.

Everything was delicious and in the end we were so filled that we didn’t need to eat anything else until dinner!!  Afterwards, we found a covered street that was obviously some kind of market. Both on the right and the left there were plently of fresh food shops: meat, fish vegetables and other mysterious things that we couldn’t identify. At the end of this street we saw a big stone torii that was there to announce the presence of a shinto temple nearby. The torii is a portal that has the function of purifying the people who enter the temple.

The Torii was huge and a Shimenawa, the big rope with the paper garland, was on it. As you can see, the torii touches the walls of the nearby structures; from far away you can see the lanterns and the altar of the temple.

Here there are the lanterns and the now-closer altar. In this little temple we found two rather disquieting figures… but we’ll touch on them later.

The belivers, purified from the torii, offer some money through a big grate just before the altar. Afterwards, they ring the big bell with the rope bound to it. In the end they clap their hands twice and pray. On the left there was an aquarium with two “whales” inside…

Carps or whales?!? They were really HUGE carp and swimming in the little aquarium on the left of the altar. I can’t even fathom how delicious they could be *ç* . Though… It’s probably better not to think about it or I would be blasphemous.

Maybe the resized picture can’t show their size at best, but I grant you that they were big. Really big. The second disturbing thing was an Omikuji dispenser. The omikuji are some kind of divine prediction, the one I took was of the “seven luck deities”. I’m still translating the divination, though once obtained I had to link it to a rope that was along a tiny street on the side of the temple. Close to that spot there was another altar, very little and finely red painted. It also had this ceremonial rope to give the offers and call the god, etc etc.
It was fine, but we had much greater projects….

Well that’s all! See you in the nex Article!

Bye-bye!

Related posts:

1. Kiyomizudera Shrine Tokyo – Japan travel: personal experience. Episode 3 Here we are again with another new  episode of our...
2. Tokyo outward Journey – Japan travel: personal experience. Episode 4 Hi !! here we are again with the Tokyo section...
3. Akihabara Tokyo – Japan travel: personal experience. Episode 5 Hey there! Here we are again with the second episode...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here all the details

In the JR station of Shinjuku there’s a blackboard where people use to post notes and announces: it became famous enough to be mentioned in many movies and manga comics (City Hunter by Tsukasa Hojo).

The most futuristic cityscape in Tokyo can be admired from the exit of this station: on the West side the magnificent Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices – an impressive group of buildings made by Tange Kenzao -stands out among many skyscrapers.

On the East side many malls, restaurants, boutiques, neon lights, hostess’ and ambiguous strip-tease clubs, and parks too – like the Shinjuku Gyoen, one of the biggest in town – give a whole different impression of the town.

The second one is probably one of the most famous crossroads in the world, and it is known for its bright and young commercial life. The cityscape is characterized by huge screens put on every building, many different restaurants, shops and love hotels. The majority of the young and fashion Japanese people can be certainly found in Shibuya, making the neighbour look more colourful and very typical. During the weekends, it almost seems that only young under 25 people walk down those crowded streets.

Shibuya – photo credit © by /\ltus

Shinjuku Itineraries East

A quiet and modest temple can be found almost by chance among the skyscrapers in Shinjuku. The Hanazono-jinja (tel:3200-3093; getting there: Marunouchi line to Shinjuku-sanchome, exits B3 and B5) is very nice to be visited at night, because of the lights inside it, but it works perfectly as escape from the squalor of Kabukichō. On Sundays, the temple hosts a flea market (open 8am – 4pm), the easiest way to find antiquities and miscellanies.

Hanazono-jinja – photo credit © by /\ltus

You may have a walk to “Shinjuku Gyoen” (tel.3350-0151;prices: adult ¥ 200, under 15 years ¥ 50, free for under 6; open: 9am – 4.30pm, Tuesday-Sunday; getting there: Marunouchi line to Shinjuku Gyoenmae, exit 1). You may also like a walk in direction South-East from the centre of Shinjuku: this zone belonged to the imperial estates before, as an agrarian research institute.
Shinjuku Gyoen is the huge park, showing an extraordinary variety of plants. If you are lucky enough to get there in the Hanami period, i.e. the cherry trees blooming, an impressive and unforgettable vision will meet your eyes. The western gardens are worth visiting too.

Shinjuku Itineraries West

If you like great heights you shouldn’t miss the skyscrapers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices (Tokyo Tocho; tel: 5321-1111; free entrance; open: 9.30am – 11pm, Tuesday-Sunday; getting there: Toei Oedo line to Tochomae, exit A4), the highest group of buildings in Tokyo. To find this huge building you’ll have to walk a few minutes from the West exit of Shinjuku. From the free viewpoint (202m high, from the 45th floor) you can see mount Fuji in winter. Certainly you’ll witness an extraordinary landscape from such great heights, since the complex symmetry of the buildings almost reminds a microchip. Taking photos is a must!

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices – photo credit © by ertaipt

The Shinjuku NS Building interiors are beautiful too (free entrance; open 11-12am, getting there: Toei Oedo line to Tochomae, exit A2). This isn’t the highest skyscraper in Tokyo, but its architecture is very peculiar and suggestive: in fact, the interior is a huge empty space enlightened by he sunlight through the glass ceiling. In the main hall there’s the biggest pendulum of the world, a Seiko 29m tall.

Shinjuku NS Building – photo credit © by kata49

Shibuya Itineraries

You can’t miss the statue of Hachiko, a dog whose story touched so much Japanese people to make a monument to remember it. About in 1920, Hidesamuroh Ueno – professor at the Tokyo university – had an Akita dog that used to go to the station with him everyday, waiting for his return every night. In 1925 the professor died because of an heart failure, but Hachiko kept on waiting at the station every evening for eleven years, until he died too. To celebrate his bondless loyalty to his master, Japanese people made a statue for him.

Hachiko – photo credit by nanoda.com

Two important museums in Shibuya are the Tobacco and Salt Museum (tel: 3476-2041; prices: adult ¥ 100, children ¥ 50; open: 10am-6pm, Tuesday-Sunday; getting there: JR Yamanote line to Shibuya, Hachiko’s exit) and the Tepco Electric Energy Museum (tel: 3477-1191; open: 10am-6pm, Thursday-Tuesday, getting there: JR Yamanote line to Shibuya, Hachiko’s exit).

The first one displays interesting items to show how the production of tobacco and salt worked in Japan before the modern age, the second one offers a really big exhibition (seven floors) concerning every aspect of electricity.

Tepco Electric Energy Museum – photo credit © by ‘pijn

Having fun in Shinjuku

Here is where all the shopping malls Isetan are, a true appeal for the young and chic people from abroad and Japan itself. Many international brands are sold over the eight floors, that are considered like a launch spot in Japan for the new ones (getting there: Shinjuku Sanchome station, lines: Marunouchi or Shinjuku, Exits: B3-B5).

Shinjuku Neon lights – photo credit © by SBA73

And many other way of entertainment too, like clubs, restaurants and games rooms where Japanese people use to play Pachinko, the most popular game that works like an easier flipper.

In the neighbour called Kabukichō, the most famous red-light district in Tokyo, you can find many soaplands (i.e. massage centre), love hotels, peep shows, pink cabarets and strip-tease clubs, but it can be a simple walking place too; in fact, besides the entertainments concerning sex many “normal” clubs and shops can also be found, like cinemas and nice restaurants.

Kabukicho – photo credit © by lefthandrotation

If you’d like something to drink, you may explore Golden Gai alleys. This is one of the most interesting places in whole Shinjuku, often shown in anime too, with many clubs put one next to the other to create a decadent atmosphere, somehow intellectual and peculiar ways of having fun for the most uninhibited tourists. If you’re lucky, you could even meet popular journalists, writers and directors.

Anime girls – photo credit © by colodio

Having fun in Shibuya

Anime and manga lovers can’t miss the Mandrake (tel: 3477-077; site: www.mandrake.co.jp; situated on B2 floor in the Shibuya Beam Bulding; open: 12am-8pm; getting there: JR Yamanote line to Shibuya, Hachiko’s exit). Here almost the whole collection of new manga comics can be found, and also some interesting shows with baby actors featuring anime characters.

Mandarake Anime and Manga Store – photo credit © by ikuda

Not much further, that is to say next to the Shibuya station of the Ginza and Hanzomon subways, there’s the homonymous district usually known as “sakariba”, the entertainment neighbour.

The best boutiques and shopping malls have been placed in the zone between the North-West exit of the station and the Yoyoji park: the Tokyu Department Store (2-24-1, Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku – Site: www.tokyu-dept.co.jp), the Seibu with its fashion boutiques distributed over nine floors (the last one is dedicated to the restaurants) and Parco, a group of many buildings for shopping.

In this district you can’t miss the Shibuya 109 (getting there: Shibuya station, Hachiko’s exit). The 109 is a big shopping mall dedicated to fashion for girls mostly. It was opened in 1979, hosts about one hundred fashion and gadgets stores, and it’s always crowded since it is popular thanks to the medias and is situated very close to the Shibuya station.

Shibuya 109 – photo credit © by deus-ex-machina

Shibuya also offers many nocturnal attractions. The people of the night can find nice and alive clubs like the Womb disco (tel: 5459-0039; site: www.womb.co.jp; price: ¥ 1500-4000; open: 8pm-till late; getting there: JR Yamanote line, Hachiko’s exit), with House, Techno and Drum ‘n’ Bass music, and many other ones on the Dogenzaka, each one with its own style and full of life, like magic synergies. But be careful, don’t get lost in some love-hotel!

Other informations about Tokyo districts can be found in our Tokyo Guide.

Typical specialities in Shinjuku

This district offers many typical and tasteful Japanese dishes. One of the most popular, the ramen (often presented in anime and manga, and it is Naruto’s favourite too!) is offered at the Keika Kumamoto Ramen (tel: 3354-4591; meal ¥ 800; getting there: Marunouchi and Toei Shinjuku lines to Shinjuko-sanchome, C4 exit), where the chashumen can also be eaten (ramen with roast pork, ¥ 830).

You may also like a nice Sukiyaki (main ingredients are thin meat slices, tofu, ito konnyaku, negi, Chinese cabbage and enoki mushrooms slowly boiled) or a tasty Shabu-shabu (very thin veal or pork slices boiled on the customer’s table in a soft broth, usually served with special sauces): look for these dishes at the Ibuki (tel: 3352-4787; sukiyaki dish ¥ 2205; shabu-shabu dish ¥ 2970; open 5am-11.30pm; info: English written menu; getting there: JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku, East exit), you’ll find a comfy place with many foreigners.

Typical specialities in Shibuya

The majority of restaurants in Shibuya don’t offer typical Japanese menu, except for Kushinobo (tel: 3496-8978; location: 5th floor in the J&R Bldg; price: starting from ¥ 1000; open: lunch and dinner; info: English written menu; getting there: JR Yamanote line to Shibuya, Hachiko’s exit) where you’d like to taste the kushi-katsu (pork and onion fried skewers).

Hotels in Shinjuku

There are a lot of hotel in Shinjuku, from cheap ones to very luxurious ones. We have made a list of Sjinjuku hotels.

Hotels in Shibuya

Related posts:

1. Tokyo Guide: a tourist guide to Japan. Tokyo Travel Routes, typical food, hotels and Ryokan. This guide provides all the information you need to know...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.