Signature Tour · Tokyo

Shinjuku After Dark

Neon, tiny bars and smoky yakitori counters: Omoide Yokocho, Kabukicho and Golden Gai with a guide who knows which doors to open.

Shinjuku

180 minutes

Private, 1 to 6 guests

From $160 / person

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Overview The Area Itinerary Details Booking

Overview

Tokyo at full volume

Shinjuku is Tokyo at full volume. Around the world’s busiest railway station, the lanes of the postwar black market survive beside the giant screens of Kabukicho.

Your guide takes you through the neon, into the alleys where Tokyo has gathered since the 1940s and 50s, and to counters where you can eat, drink and talk with the people next to you.

Yakitori in Omoide Yokocho

The tiny bars of Golden Gai

Kabukicho’s neon and the Godzilla head

A city street filled with lots of traffic at night

Length

Evening, 180 minutes

Starts

18:00

Meeting point

Shinjuku Station, West Exit

Finishes

Golden Gai (Shinjuku-sanchome Station)

Walking

About 2 km

Group

Private, 1 to 6 guests

Language

English, others on request

The area

From a post town to the busiest station in the world

A post town

Shinjuku began in 1698 as Naito-Shinjuku, a rest stop for travellers on the Koshu Kaido road west out of Edo.

Markets after the war

After 1945 black markets sprang up around the station. Omoide Yokocho is one of the few that survive, still selling skewers and drinks from tiny counters.

Golden Gai

The lanes of Golden Gai filled with small bars in the 1950s and became a meeting place for writers, filmmakers and artists.

The busiest station

Millions of people pass through Shinjuku Station each day, more than any other station in the world.

a group of people walking down a narrow street

a couple of people that are walking down a street

Itinerary

How the day unfolds

15 min

Meet at Shinjuku Station

Meet at the West Exit of the station.

45 min

Omoide Yokocho

Memory Lane grew out of a black market by the station after the war. Its narrow lanes are packed with yakitori and stew counters, and your guide finds you seats at one.

30 min

Through the neon

Cross under the tracks to the east side and the screens of Shinjuku’s main streets.

30 min

Kabukicho

Named for a kabuki theatre planned after the war but never built, Kabukicho is Tokyo’s biggest entertainment district. Look up for the Godzilla head on the site of the old Koma theatre.

60 min

Golden Gai

Six narrow alleys of around 200 bars, many with room for only a handful of guests. Your guide knows which welcome visitors and explains the etiquette and cover charges.

Details

What’s included

Included

Private bilingual guide

Seats found at busy counters

Bar and restaurant suggestions for later

Not included

Food and drinks (allow about ¥6,000 per person)

Bar cover charges

Taxis

Booking

Book your day

Pick the number of guests and a date. You pay securely on the next page.

Where we meet

A quiet corner of Bunkyo

The studio is in Suido, a residential part of Bunkyo Ward, well away from the neon districts. The streets are calm, which suits slow and careful work.

5 minutes on foot from Edogawabashi Station

Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line

Your guide meets you at the station exit

Prefer us to meet you at your accommodation? Let us know and we will take you door to door.

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