I think it’s been about two years since I was last out in Shinjuku. Some things seem to have changed a little, but honestly not all that much.
As always, I come out of the East Exit. In Shinjuku, almost everything worth visiting is gathered around the East Exit. The South Exit has Takashimaya, so there’s at least a bit to do there, but the West Exit is mostly office buildings, so there’s hardly anything to do if you go out that way ^_^ Oh… there do seem to be a few good places to eat that cater to office workers..
The places I usually go in Shinjuku are the Disk Union Shinjuku main store and Miyama Shokai, a used camera shop. Both are near the East Exit. To survive in Tokyo, where almost everything except food is expensive, you need to know your secondhand, recycle and 100-yen shops well ^_^ At Disk Union I bought a compilation album by Shinichi Osawa. Not as good as I’d hoped, but, well.. it’s good enough to be satisfied with. Miyama Shokai actually gets so many visitors that good lenses hardly ever stay on the shelf. I did buy my 31.7 and 85.4 at this shop, but you can pretty much assume anything decent is gone as soon as it comes in. Then again, good lenses come in fairly often, so every time I go I check for the lenses I’m after.
Also near the East Exit, this is the main shop of Tsunahachi, the tempura place.
Still a line, as always.
Next up is the upscale department store Takashimaya. They sell Mori Izo, the “phantom” shochu, by monthly lottery, and to enter you have to go to the store in person. While I was there I dropped by the wine shop too; prices aren’t especially low, but they have some pretty good bottles. They were selling La Dame de Montrose ’02 for 5,000 yen, and there was a huge amount of Leroy from the ’76 vintage.. Leroy’s a bit steep on the wallet, though ^_^ Well.. how often am I ever going to buy Leroy with my own money..
The line at the basement food hall
This is the line for a sale that starts at 4 o’clock, and it’s really long. People are lining up to buy packs of fish fillets and side dishes, enough for a family of four, for 630 yen. I thought about joining the line too ^_^ but tonight’s dinner was already decided: curry.. (and tomorrow, and the day after..)
The street during pedestrian-only hours
The weather was nice today, but maybe because it had been bad for a while, there weren’t that many people out. Tokyo is pretty cold this year. I need to get to Ueno and Ginza before winter’s over, but I’m not sure I’ll have the time.
Shinanoya, a wine shop I found in Kabukicho
It’s not dirt cheap, but they had the wines from Drops of God in pretty good vintages. Maybe because of the neighborhood, their Champagne lineup is really well stocked. If you’re visiting from Korea, it might be worth dropping in once.
The Milano-za cinema in Kabukicho
It’s hardly changed from the Shinjuku I used to know. Except that Cafe Mikuni is gone.. their foie gras donburi was so good, and now I’ll never get to eat it again..