Omoide Yokocho “Memory Lane” Shinjuku

On the west side of the Yamanote tracks, Omoide Yokochō “Memory Lane” is a small alley filled with yakitori joints. The tunnel under the tracks near the entrance of Omoide Yokocho is nicknamed gokiburi yokochō (cockroach lane) or shōben yokochō (piss lane).

Few museums preserve the atmosphere of Tokyo’s chaotic postwar era better than the Shinjuku Nishiguchi Shotengai drinking strip, commonly known as Omoide-yokocho (Memory Lane).

Smoke from the sizzling meat frames a scene evocative of the late 1940s, when old Tokyo’s rickety alleys hosted a lively underworld of hustling and black marketeering.

As the black market prospered, vendors began building small barracks one after another. These structures numbered 1,600 in their heyday around 1950, according to the local shopkeepers’ union.

The area’s area’s evolution into a dining zone began with the opening of a single stall offering “stew” using food scraps discarded by the Allied Occupation forces.

It is rumored that Omoide Yokocho served as a model for the sets of Ridley Scott’s cult classic”Blade Runner” (1982) starring Harrison Ford.

Omoide Yokochō’s days are numbered — landowners are planning to demolish some 80 wooden shacks to make way for a nine-story building.

“It has been a long-held dream for those who work here to redevelop the district, due to safety issues stemming from the condition of the buildings and the fact that the utilities infrastructure is half a century old,” said Kenji Murakami, the 55-year-old owner of Sushitatsu, a sushi restaurant in the alley.

Some info taken from the Japan Times