Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [84]
WEST SIDE
Shinjuku’s west side is mainly administrative, with its attractions mainly centred around the gleaming building interiors and the observation floors of the towering Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices
These city offices (Tokyo Tochō; Map; 5321-1111; 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; admission free; observatories 9.30am-11pm Tue-Sun, North Tower closed 2nd & 4th Mon, South Tower closed 1st & 3rd Tue; Toei Ōedo line to Tochōmae, exits A3 & A4) occupy two adjoining buildings worth visiting for their stunning architecture and for the great views from the twin observation floors. On really clear days, you might even spot Mt Fuji to the west. To reach the observation floors, take one of the two 1st-floor lifts.
Shinjuku NS Building
The interior of the Shinjuku NS Building (Map; 2-4-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; admission free; 11am-10pm; Toei Ōedo line to Tochōmae, exit A2) is hollow, featuring a 1600-sq-metre atrium illuminated by sunlight that streams in through the glass roof. The atrium features a 29m-tall pendulum clock. The restaurants on the 29th and 30th floors have excellent views over Tokyo, but if you’re not hungry the views are still free.
Pentax Forum
Set up as an interactive showroom where photography buffs can play with the latest equipment, Pentax Forum (Map; 3348-2941; 1st fl, Shinjuku Mitsui Bldg, 2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; admission free; 10.30am-6.30pm; Toei Ōedo line to Tochōmae, exit B2) is a must for shutterbugs.
Harajuku & Aoyama
Harajuku and Aoyama (Map) are where Tokyoites come to be spendy and trendy. They’re enjoyable areas to stroll and watch locals in contented consumer mode. Takeshita-dōri buzzes with teenyboppers shopping for hilariously mistranslated T-shirts and fishnet stockings; tree-lined Omote-sandō, with its alfresco cafes, is still the closest Tokyo gets to Paris; and the bistro alleys of Aoyama harbour some of the best international cuisine in town.
For snaps of the idiosyncratically clad natives, check out the weekend madness at Jingū-bashi (see the boxed text, above).
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COSPLAY
However you know them – as Harajuku girls, goth-Lolis or cosplay-zoku (costume play gang) – these reps of Tokyo youth culture are recognisable all over the world.
The cosplay-zoku are mostly teenage girls who assemble at Jingū-bashi Click here on the weekends, bedecked in goth make-up, punk kimono getups, subversive nuns’ habits and cartoon-nurse exaggeration.
Cosplay kids are united in their fondness for Japanese visual-kei (visual type) bands or anime and manga characters, and a sense of pride in their individual style. Many of the girls are ijime-ko, kids bullied in school, who find release and expression in their temporary weekend identities.
The end result is Tokyo’s famous weekend circus of excited photographers, bewildered tourists and cultural voyeurs. The girls revel, primp and pose for the cameras until dusk, when they hop on their trains back to ‘normal’ life in Tokyo or its faceless suburbs.
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MEIJI-JINGŪ
Completed in 1920, the shrine (Map; 3379-5511; www.meijijingu.or.jp; 1-1 Yoyogi Kamizonochō, Shibuya-ku; admission free; dawn-dusk; JR Yamanote line to Harajuku, Omote-sandō exit) was built in memory of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, under whose rule Japan ended its long isolation from the outside world. Unfortunately, like much else in Tokyo, the shrine was destroyed in WWII bombing. Rebuilding was completed in 1958.
Meiji-jingū might be a reconstruction of the original but, unlike so many of Japan’s postwar reconstructions, it is altogether authentic. The shrine itself was built with Japanese cypress, while the cypress for