Walking from Shinjuku West Exit to Keihana Ramen.

Walking from Shinjuku West Exit to Keihana Ramen.

Walking from Shinjuku West Exit, you will find "Katsurahana Ramen" near Kinokuniya Bookstore. This is a famous Kumamoto Ramen restaurant and has been in business for over 40 years. Due to the influence of the increasing number of tourists, it often appears in discussions about Kabukicho. In Japan, tourism became popular around the 1980s, and at that time, Japanese tourists with cameras hanging from their necks were sometimes ridiculed. However, as Japan's economy developed, tourism became commonplace, and as neighboring Asian countries became more affluent, the number of tourists visiting Kabukicho increased rapidly. Today, more Asian visitors are seen in Kabukicho than Caucasian tourists.

All large cities in the world are similar, with similar landscapes. The uniqueness of Kabukicho, however, lies in its unique culture, with its Japanese-language billboards and motley streetscape. Cultural facilities such as Kinokuniya may be difficult for foreigners to understand, but this is what they perceive as a "Japanese" experience. Whereas Shibuya has become touristy and homogenized, Kabukicho still retains its Asian obscenity.

As for the size of Kabukicho, it is characterized by the fact that it seems small to long-time residents and vast to first-time visitors. Underground passageways lead from Shinjuku 3-chome to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, accentuating the difference between the psychological and physical size of the area. The block near the station has a calm atmosphere with many cultural facilities such as movie theaters, but once you enter Sakura-dori Avenue, the "Kabukicho-like" atmosphere suddenly becomes more intense, and in the past, there were many scouts and gangsters in the area, creating a tense atmosphere.

Nowadays, foreign tourists usually visit the area up to the "Gojira Tower" area, and further in, there is a completely different atmosphere of a host club district. It is difficult to speak of Kabukicho as a single district, and it is more natural to think of it as at least three overlapping districts. Located in the cultural block, Katsuraka Ramen is a calm and relaxed part of Kabukicho that even middle and high school students and women can feel comfortable visiting.

Katsurahana Ramen has a 40-50 year history and has inherited the taste of the main branch in Kumamoto. The famous soup is not greasy and does not leave a lasting impression on the body, so you will not feel weighed down after eating, and you will want to eat it again and again. In recent years, the restaurant has been attracting attention for its taroumen, and staff of Southeast Asian descent can be seen running the restaurant. The taste is comparable to that of the main restaurant in Kumamoto, and the fact that the restaurant has been in Shinjuku, a large city, for many years is in itself a testament to its deliciousness.

On the other hand, the atmosphere of Kabukicho changes greatly depending on the time of day. During the daytime, the area is safe and secure near the ward office and bustling with businessmen and shoppers. At night, it is a bustling restaurant district, and from midnight to early morning is the most dangerous time of the day, when touts and trouble often occur. Gang fights are also more likely to occur in the early morning, and it has long been necessary to be especially careful during these hours. Even today, people who have missed the last train and customers who go to hostels gather here, showing the rich human drama that is typical of Kabukicho.

Kabukicho has undergone a major transformation in the past 20 years. The world depicted in "Shinjuku Swan" and Shintaro Ishihara's policy of purification lasted until the early 2000s. Still, if you visit Katsuraka Ramen, you can get a glimpse of the "good old Kabukicho" that still retains the smell of the Showa period. In the huge city of Shinjuku, Kabukicho continues to hold miscellaneous cultural and human aspects while constantly changing.