Page 111 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Tokyo

Shinjuku ❮❮ 109

is a branch of Kinokuniya, a huge A DAY IN EAST SHINJUKU
bookstore with a floor set aside for
books in English and other languages.
Shin- Okubo-dori
Okubo
Hanazono Shrine
9
MAP B3 • 5-17-3 Shinjuku,
Shinjuku-ku • 3209-5265 Kabukicho
With orange pillars and vermillion Golden Gai Hanazono
Shrine
walls, this shrine has been rebuilt Isetan
several times since it was founded
Tsunahachi
in the 16th century. Its presiding deity Shinjuku Station
is Yamato Takeru, a legendary Takashimaya Shinjuku
prince. Devotees stop by to petition Times Square Gyoen
the gods for luck. Rows of red and MORNING
white paper lanterns illuminate
the shrine’s entrances at night. Leaving the south exit of JR
Shinjuku Station, walk down to
Shinjuku Gyoen (see p107), a
spacious national garden.
An entire morning can be spent
here, but continue instead to
Takashimaya Times Square
(see p108), a futuristic department
store. Dona tello’s, on the 12th
floor, serves good gelato, ice
cream, and coffee. Take a short
walk along Meiji-dori to the
cor ner of Shinjuku-dori and
Isetan, a depart ment store and
Tokyo ins titution. The fifth-floor
Isetan Art Gallery show cases the
latest trends in Japan’s ceramic,
print, and fine-art world. Walk up
Shinjuka-dori, turn left and follow
the road to Tsunahachi (see p111)
on the right. The old wooden
restaurant serves tempura lunch
sets at moderate prices.
AFTERNOON
The imposing Tokyo Metropolitan
Government Building Walk north until you reach the
gates of Hanazono Shrine,
Tokyo Metropolitan
0 whose grounds are right next
to Golden Gai (see p107), a
Government Building
MAP A4 • 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, quadrangle of bars; however,
lanes will be empty at this time.
Shinjuku-ku • 5321-1111 • Open Walk into adjacent Kabukicho
9:30am–10:30pm (see p106) and take almost any
The Kenzo Tange-designed Tokyo street north toward Okubo-dori,
Metropolitan Government Building the main street cutting through
(Tocho) is part of a grove of sky- Shin-Okubo. The district has
many small temples and fox
scrapers that have been described shrines, as well as Christian
as everything from a mini-Manhattan churches catering to a number
to a row of grave markers. The of Korean worshipers. Have
building’s twin 48-story towers have an early dinner at one of
observation rooms, and high-speed the several ethnic restaurants
elevators carry visitors up in less in Shin-Okubo before heading
than a minute. The 360-degree back to the bars of Golden Gai.
views from the top are superlative.
See map on p106
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