After exploring Akihabara, we made our way to Shinjuku City, the heavily-populated skyscraper district of Tokyo. The Shinjuku station, sat right in the middle of the district, is the busiest rail station in the world with over two million passengers every day. It should be a priority for any Tokyo to-see list with it’s many shops, restaurants, galleries and theatres. Then when you need some time out, there are the beautiful gardens in the middle of the area to take a stroll in.

Samurai Museum

For anyone interested in the history of the Japanese warriors, the Tokyo Samurai Museum is the place to visit. We were mildly interested when we came across the museum and had time to kill so decided to check it out. We came away completely overwhelmed by the experience. We learned so much about the colourful history of Japanese and the rituals and roles of the Samurai. A guide took us around each room of the museum, finishing with a performance and chance to hold a real sword yourself! A lot of fun and a real education about what made the samurai special. It’s also very close to the popular Robot Restaurant, where visitors are treated to a show every night featuring robot monsters, lasers and a light show.

Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens

The Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens originated during the Edo Period (1603-1867) as a lord’s Tokyo residence. Later it was converted into a botanical gardens. We love visiting parks when in a new city and this definitely gave Central Park a run for it’s money! It costs about £3 to enter and the gardens are huge. We visited in January but we managed to glimpse the very first buds of the cherry blossoms emerging. We can’t even begin to imagine how beautiful this area is when the trees are in season!

Memory Lane

A local informed us that this tiny street is also known as ‘piss alley’ (bars, drunk people… get it?) but we were super excited to visit as rumour has it that this small part of the city was one of the influences for the original Blade Runner film. The narrow streets are shabby but modern, cool but understated. Rows of tiny bars that only hold a handful of people are mixed with delicious ramen restaurants. We experienced it late at night, after we’d been to a nearby izakaya, an after work, casual place to hang out and have a drink. The place was heaving with people enjoying a night out and it did have a very cool futuristic vibe.

Shibuya Crossing

The nearby Shibuya is famous for its many layered pedestrian crossing, Shibuya Crossing. After (just about) managing to navigate the crossing, we headed to a Starbucks which had a large window to view it from. It’s a sight to behold!