Shinjuku

photo by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Stephen Kelly from San Francisco, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0

The station is the busiest in the world: over 3.6 million passengers every day.

Coming out on the west side of the station, you find yourself at the foot of the Nishi-Shinjuku skyscrapers, which grew up after the waterworks that occupied the area closed in 1965 and the metropolitan government moved there in 1991. On the east side, beyond Yasukuni-dori, lies Kabukichō, the largest entertainment district in Japan, born from the post-war black markets; close by, the maze of lanes of Golden Gai still keeps the atmosphere of the clandestine bars of those days.

Shinjuku began in 1698 as a new post station, Naitō-Shinjuku, on the Kōshū road that linked Edo to the western provinces. It remained a marginal area until the Kantō earthquake of 1923 razed the historic centre of Tokyo: standing on the stable ground of the Musashino plateau, Shinjuku came through almost unscathed and drew those who were moving west. After the war the black markets around the station gave rise to Kabukichō and Golden Gai; from the '70s, with the opening of the Keio Plaza Hotel in 1971 and the move of the metropolitan government in 1991, Nishi-Shinjuku became the skyline of skyscrapers it is today.

ℹ️ Shinjuku Station is the busiest in the world according to Guinness World Records; counting transfers, the area reaches 4 million passengers a day, and finding your way among its exits takes care. The observatory of the metropolitan government building is open to the public free of charge. Kabukichō is busy and safe during the day; public transport generally stops around midnight.

🚉 Shinjuku-sanchome · 4 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · gotokyo.org · nominatim.openstreetmap.org · magical-trip.com

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