We excitedly entered our room and was greeted with the most beautiful view we can ever wish for that left our jaw hanging to the floor and our heart rates up. We jovially ran around and danced our room near our window like two little kids during Christmas. WE COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT WE WERE IN JAPAN!!! A few minutes later my wallet arrived and everything was alright in our little world... So we sat down infront of the our gigantic floor to ceiling window made video.
A few minutes went by and so we decided to eat as we were starving after traveling for 12 hours. We heard of this place called Piss Alley a.k.a. Memory Lane where hard working locals that work in nearby skyscrapers eat, drink beer or sake to unwind. Apparently it hasn't changed since World War 2. So we headed down onto Memory Lane...
Taken from http://tokyopedia.wikispaces.com and edited by us for easier reading.
“OmoideYokocho’’ [Memory Lane] sometimes also called ‘’ShonbenYokocho’’ [Piss Alley] is located against the northwest corner of the worlds busiest train station (Shinjuku Station), just a few minutes walk from the forest of modern and post-modern skyscrapers. The area gained its pungent nickname from its earlier lack of toilet facilities,- a situation which has now been remedied.
In 1947 when the Japanese government started to enforce strict regulations on controlled goods, such as flour which forced many shops selling udon noodles, ramen, and other flour based products in the market switched to cheap meat products such as Yakitori (grilled chicken)and Motsu (stomach of cows and pigs) instead of flour-based foods. This style of food became popular offering in the area then. A redevelopment plan in 1959 for Shinjuku area was adopted. At the time, there were more than 300 shops and stalls in this area, many of them were ordered to close due to their illegal occupation. About fifty shops and stalls remain to date. These restaurants still offer the same style of food offerings that goes well with local draft beer and Sake.
Heres a video from mixtureTYO, he did a better job than us of capturing the walk through.
Heres another video from ohayuni71, he did a better job walking through by showing the restaurants.
Nothing could really have prepared us for how we felt about Japan at that moment that we saw Memory Lane a.ka. Piss Alley. The vibrant colors of the surroundings were illuminated by giant white lights that was almost as bright the morning sun. It my opinion rivals the city lights New York and Las Vegas. The night was alive and pulsing and we were part of it.
So we decided to mingle and eat with the locals at one of the micro restaurants. The Micro-restaurant we picked was called Echigoya which only sat 6-8 people max at the bar, unfortunately they didn't have a spot for us at there, but they did have room upstairs where they sat us down. The room was claustrophic 8 feet by 10 feet and was packed with 12 people!
Everyone in there was so friendly that we felt at home immediately. So we ate to our heart's and stomach's content.
After eating dinner we were really exhausted and we couldn't stay up any longer so we decided to head back to the hotel room and call it a night....
As we laid down waiting for sleep to take us, our minds drifted into thoughts of our adventures tomorrow. We were going to Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku National Garden Gyoen, Practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Tri-force Academy in Shinjuku, Shop at Takeshita Dori St in Harajuku, kick it in Shibuya, and we couldn't wait....
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