Tokyo / Shinjuku / District

Omoide Yokocho

思い出横丁 おもいでよこちょう

"Memory Lane" — sixty yakitori and motsu stalls under smoke beside the west exit, since 1946.

Worth itFood · Late night · Local life · Photogenic

A black-market alley that never went legitimate enough to be torn down, Omoide Yokocho is two lanes of open-fronted counters selling yakitori, grilled offal, oden and beer to a mixed crowd of salarymen, backpackers and the occasional film crew. The smoke is the atmosphere; the stools are shared; the menus have pictures; and it is at its best at six on a weekday when the first shift of office workers sits down. The name given it by visitors, "Piss Alley", refers to a period the district would rather forget.

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A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Sit at the first counter with a free stool, order by pointing, and move on after two skewers and a beer.
Best time
6–8 pm on a weekday.
Allow
60 min
Station
Shinjuku (JR), west exit, 1 minute
Official site — hours, prices, closures
shinjuku-omoide.com · Map

Appears in

In this area: Shinjuku

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