Yakitori Alley at Omoide Yokocho, Piss Alley, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Omoide Yokocho, tucked beside the west exit of Shinjuku Station, is a narrow cluster of alleyways lined with tiny yakitori stalls and bars, most seating only a handful of customers at a time. The district took shape in the black-market years after World War II, when vendors sold food and drink from makeshift stands along the rail tracks, and it earned the nickname "Piss Alley" for its lack of plumbing in that era. A 1999 fire destroyed much of the area, but shop owners rebuilt it in the same cramped, low-slung style, and the alley remains one of the few surviving examples of old Shinjuku's postwar layout. Paper lanterns and hand-painted signs mark stalls specializing in skewered chicken, offal, and oden, many run by the same families for generations.

Photo taken in March 2023.