Hanazono Jinja Shrine
Prayers offered at this shrine, originally constructed in the early Edo period, are believed to bring prosperity in business. Although it isn't among Tokyo's most beautiful shrines, it does host festivals, and it has a long history and an interesting location. It's a five-minute walk north on Meiji-dori from the Shinjuku-sanchome subway station, and the back of it is adjacent to the so-called Golden-Gai, a district of tiny, fascinating 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.
