Fodor's Expert Review Hanazono Jinja Shrine

Originally constructed in the early Edo period, Hanazono is not among Tokyo's most imposing shrines, but it does have a long history. Prayers offered here are believed to bring prosperity in business. The shrine is a five-minute walk north on Meiji-dori from the Shinjuku-sanchome subway station. The shrine hosts festivals, but might be most interesting late at night. The back of the shrine is adjacent to the "Golden-Gai," a district of tiny, somewhat seedy nomiya (bars) that in the '60s and '70s commanded the fierce loyalty of fiction writers, artists, freelance journalists, and expat Japanophiles—all the city's hard-core outsiders.