Shimokitazawa • Indoor Yatai in Shibuya • Midnight Diner

Shimokitazawa

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Tokyo. Shimokitazawa has a friendly artist and musician vibe with tons of things to do, great places to eat, vintage and thrift shopping, world-class coffee, and lots of places to drink and see live music. It compares to the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. It’s often listed as one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world. However, it still isn’t as busy or crowded as Shinjuku or Shibuya. It’s a lot smaller as well. It’s also very easy to access from Shinjuku or Shibuya as both of those stations have a direct line to Shimokitazawa. You don’t have to take my word for it, whenever I tell my American-Japanese friends who grew up in Tokyo that this is where I went on vacation, they say things like “Oh, you went to the cool part of Tokyo”. 

Indoor Yatai in Shibuya

Yatai are food stalls. They are usually outside; especially at festivals and fireworks shows. Fukuoka is famous for yatai. But, since you are unlikely to go to Fukuoka on your first visit to Japan, I recommend going to this indoor yatai area in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is on the second floor of the Chitose Kaikan building and it stays open from 5 PM to 5 AM. This particular food center focuses on izakayas that serve meat, but there are also other options including pizza and Thai food. It’s normal to restaurant hop and try all kinds of food which creates a fun social atmosphere allowing you to easily interact with locals and possibly leave there with new friends. I love to take people here as it’s always a good time.

Midnight Diner

Midnight Diner (Netflix) is a feel-good show about the proprietor/chef of a small Japanese izakaya in Shinjuku and the regulars that visit. In addition to the inventive storylines and charming characters, it will give you a sense of how a neighborhood izakaya feels.

Watch the trailer here

When I watch this show, waves of nostalgia wash over me as I’m reminded of my friend Tsujisan and his izakaya in Nagoya. Going to his izakaya felt like a home away from home. I hope that you can experience a place like this for yourself. It’s a true joy of travel to step into another world and have conversations with regular people about normal things. I talked about a good place to experience this previously in this newsletter in Issue #4 Hidden Drinking Culture in Japan’s Liquor Stores.