Sanbangai Street sits just west of Shinjuku Station and is part of the dense network of narrow commercial lanes that define this section of the city. The area developed rapidly after the mid-20th-century reconstruction of Shinjuku and is now lined with small restaurants, curry shops, bars, and specialty eateries catering to commuters and office workers moving through the station district each day.

The nearby Shinjuku Post Office has long served as a recognizable landmark on the north side of the station, anchoring a neighborhood known for its mix of long-established storefronts and constantly rotating food businesses.

The iconic illuminated gate marking Kabukichō Ichiban-gai, photographed in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Installed in the late 1960s and redesigned several times since, the red archway has become one of the most recognizable entrances to Tokyo’s largest entertainment district.

Kabukichō developed after World War II as a planned theater district—its name comes from a never-built kabuki theater—before evolving into a dense zone of restaurants, bars, cinemas, and nightlife venues. The gate’s bright bulbs and bold lettering serve as a symbolic threshold into the neighborhood’s tightly packed streets, which remain active late into the night.

An older enamel “Community Road” sign in Shinjuku, Tokyo, photographed in March 2023. These signs—marked with コミュニティ道路 (“community road”) and a stylized map of the ward—were installed beginning in the late 1970s and 1980s as part of a municipal effort to identify quieter local streets prioritized for pedestrians, schools, and neighborhood traffic rather than through-traffic.

Although many have faded or disappeared as Shinjuku redeveloped, surviving signs like this one remain a small reminder of earlier phases of the ward’s streetscape planning. The hand-drawn lettering, green stripes, and simplified ward outline reflect the graphic design style common in Tokyo’s municipal signage of that era.

A close-up of a Japanese IC card recharge machine shows a bright pink interface with the word “チャージ” (charge) displayed prominently. The IC logo indicates it’s used for topping up transit smart cards like Suica or Pasmo. On the right side, selectable amounts range from 1,000 to 10,000 yen. The machine’s metal casing and reflective surface hint at its location inside a modern subway or train station.