Japan: Tokyo – Omoide Yokocho
Yokocho is an area of old Tokyo just outside the ultra modern Shinjuku Station – it’s a collection of low rise huts and buildings like they existed decades ago after WWII. Back then it was a black market here and crowded with sellers and buyers looking for food items in the war- impoverished Tokyo. Today, it’s a collection of small food stalls and tiny standing-room only tiny restaurants where Tokyo businessmen and foreign tourists alike vie to grab a quick stick of yakitori or a small plate of freshest sashimi and a glass of beer. The buildings feel old and run down by design and very traditional and yesteryear, and the food is delicious. It’s like time traveling into the past in the middle of super modern Tokyo. Many time period movies about old Tokyo and yakuza hangouts are filmed here.
