“Arrrrr, here be beer, me hearties!” said Captain Jake as we entered Hub. He had been, and continued to be, discombobulated by the lack of western-style drinking establishments in Japan. I include Hub, a chain of English-style pubs, mainly to make this point. It’s nice to have the English and Irish places out there so you can just have a pint without worrying about table charges, ordering food, or staying for a long time.
I also include this post mainly in order to say that I now understand another tourist attraction that was previously lost on me – Shinjuku’s ‘Omoide Yokocho’ or Memory Lane. It’s just north of the main bus roundabout of the west exit of Shinjuku (think Halc and Bic Camera). Previously I had walked down the street next to the tracks and wondered why anyone would say that this small block was at all interesting. This time, I realized that the small block is in fact split up into even smaller blocks with positively rabbit-sized alleys between them, and dozens of yakitori counters. It joins Ueno’s Ameyoko, the Yurakucho yakitori street, and…? as places in my memory banks where you can feel ‘old time Japan’ or ‘Asian street culture’ in Tokyo.
That Hub branch (just for completeness) 03-3345-5310 (and people had actually booked tables so you might need to sometime also!)
Omoideyokocho, a nice set of pictures and description here.