Godzilla, king of Shinjuku

Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us

Starting a new week and still some Japan posts left to share, yay, right?

Today we are going for a short quick walk around Shinjuku, the famous Godzilla head neighborhood. This is our second time visiting Shinjuku, it may be surprising to read, but the first time we only got around Shinjuku Gyoen park and (by lack of awareness) we left out the northern area where the buzz of Shinjuku is more tangible.

So we knew that because third time is a charm, we specifically had to include Shinjuku in our planning to be able to finally see the Godzilla street in person. In addition, we decided to visit it during night-ish time so we could also see all the lights from the streets signs.

Shinjuku Godzilla road - The cat, you and us
Godzilla road

The famous Godzilla road is actually called Central Road and the Godzilla head is already noticeable behind the crosswalk. The Godzilla growls and throws smoke from 12:00am to 8:00pm every hour, so you can plan it ahead. Also notice that if you are staying in the Shinjuku Gracery Hotel, you get an access to the 8th floor to be able to take closer photos to the head. Alternatively, if you are a customer of the cafeteria of the hotel you’ll be accepted in the 8th floor terrace too, and I read that they have some Godzilla themed desserts, although the reviews are not that awesome.

Shinjuku Godzilla road - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Godzilla road - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us

This area in Shinjuku is called Kabukicho and it’s actually considered a risqué area in Tokyo. I don’t want to use the word dangerous, because in Tokyo everything called dangerous is an overstatement. It’s an area with a few erotic establishments that are usually run by people that might try to rip some of the possible customers off with prices and such. As long as you are not interested in those places, you’ll be completely fine. In fact, we felt as secure as in any other part in Tokyo, only that I didn’t enjoy some of the girls photos they use as decoy. A part from that, there are also a lot (a lot!) of restaurants here, which is why this area is so busy!

Shinjuku - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us

Omoide yokocho

The famous Robot restaurant is just around the corner, but it’s something that has never raised our attention too much. Instead, we went for a walk to Omoide Yokocho, a small alley known for the little izakaya shops. One of the characteristics of this alley is that they change decoration every season, we found the sakura, of course! It’s so eye-catching to take pictures with all the red lanterns, but please mind the “no photo” signs on some stalls to avoid making the restaurants owners uncomfortable, nobody likes to see places like this ruined by rude tourists, right?

We didn’t have dinner here, we just (respectfully) peeked around to see how it looked like, maybe you have a good recommendation for a stall here? As a general suggestion, I would make sure to check out how clean the kitchen is, always a good advice for food in the street. Japan is always super clean, but hey, it won’t hurt to make a closer look before eating.

Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho - The cat, you and us Shinjuku - The cat, you and us

Do you like Shinjuku? I am more a Shibuya/Harajuku gal at heart, but again, one of my favorite places in Tokyo, the Gyoen park, is in Shinjuku.

Would love to read your thoughts!

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5 Comments

  1. Nieves ADDS...

    Qué fotos más chulas! El barrio se ve muy luminoso y con mucho ambiente, y tú estás guapísima!

    1st October 2019
    • We reply...

      Gracias mami! <3 el barrio tiene mucho ambiente pero no creo que fuera tu favorito ;) Besitos!

  2. Fiona Harding ADDS...

    Oh I love this and love hearing about your misdirection because that also happened to me in Shinjuku! I didn’t realise the suburb was quite so big. The very first time I went to Japan (a fresh faced 21 year old fee) Shinjuku was where I stayed my first few days. I remember my first night wondering the streets on shinjukju by myself and playing skill testers and buying Japanese magazines and candies – ha (such a japan nerd!). I couldn’t believe a place like this existed. When I took Ben back all those years later I wanted to recreate for him my own experience except I couldn’t find that part of Shinjuku again and we ended up in a very normal looking neighbourhood – oops! I’ll have to have another go, especially because I didn’t know that’s where the godzilla lives :) Thanks for taking us with you on your magical Japan adventures!

    2nd October 2019
    • We reply...

      Aww 21 year old Fee sounds super cute! <3 You are so true, Shinjuku has a structure that it's so easy to miss one of the parts, while they are so different one from the other! This time I made sure to check with Google Maps that I was going to visit the correct ones. Do you know that the other day I dreamt that we were finally meeting in Japan? That's a sign that the 4 of us have to go back again, right? big hug!

  3. Fee ADDS...

    Oh gosh that would be so fun to meet in Japan!!! We should make that happen :) :)

    3rd October 2019

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