Kabukicho, Shinjuku's neon entertainment district: what's worth seeing (the Godzilla head, Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, Hanazono Shrine, Golden Gai next door) and the police advice on touts, bar scams, drink spiking and card fraud, with the emergency numbers.
Kabukicho is the block of neon just north-east of Shinjuku Station, and it's Tokyo's biggest entertainment district: izakayas, karaoke, game centres, cinemas, hotels, and also host and hostess clubs and sex businesses. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department describes it in exactly those terms. It's also one of the most photographed places in the city, for the red Ichiban-gai gate, the Godzilla head over Central Road and the late-night crowds. For the rest of the neighbourhood, see our Shinjuku guide; for the city, things to do in Tokyo.
The warnings from the police and the UK Foreign Office are specific: street touts steer visitors into bars where the drinks are spiked or the bill is padded, and cards are charged large sums. So never follow anyone who approaches you on the street, whatever they offer. Pick bars yourself, see a menu with prices before you sit, and keep track of what you order. Emergency numbers: 110 for the police, 119 for an ambulance.
What Kabukicho is
The name means 'kabuki town'. After the war, the district was renamed to attract a kabuki theatre as part of rebuilding the bombed area, Shinjuku City says. The theatre was never built, but cinemas and theatres were, and the area grew into an entertainment district. Kabuki itself was finally performed in Kabukicho in 2024.
Today the police describe it as one of the largest entertainment districts in Japan, with izakayas, karaoke, hotels and cinemas, a lot of late-night drinking, and sex businesses; some places in it, they add, are known for ripping people off, and a few are illegal outright, such as underground casinos. It's busy 24 hours a day. The district starts across Yasukuni-dori from Shinjuku Station's east side, and the red Kabukicho Ichiban-gai gate is the usual way in and the usual photo.
Getting there: Seibu-Shinjuku Station is on the district's western edge; JR Shinjuku's east exit and Shinjuku-sanchome Station are a few minutes south across Yasukuni-dori. The catch: the street behind the gate, and the other main streets of Kabukicho 1-chome, are exactly where the police's warning map marks the most touts. Enjoy the view, keep walking, and don't stop to talk to anyone who approaches you.
The police warning map marks the main streets of Kabukicho 1-chome, Central Road among them, as tout hotspots. Walk on; don't stop to talk.
What's fine to see
The Godzilla head looks over Central Road from the 8th-floor terrace of the Shinjuku Toho Building, which opened in 2015 on the site of the old Shinjuku Koma Theater, with a cinema, restaurants and a hotel inside. GO TOKYO, the city's official tourism site, calls the head life-size and a landmark that welcomes visitors to Kabukicho. Shinjuku City made Godzilla a resident and tourism ambassador in 2015, and two Godzilla manhole covers sit on the pavement outside, on the Central Road side.
See it: free, from the street; it's lit up at night. The hotel in the building, Hotel Gracery Shinjuku, sells Godzilla View rooms that look straight at the head, and it's on our where to stay in Tokyo guide. The catch: Central Road is one of the streets the police mark for touts, so take your photo and move on. For the love hotels in Kabukicho 2-chome, in the district's north-east corner, see our love hotels in Tokyo guide.
The Robot Restaurant has closed. Its robot-and-dance show, in a basement at 1-7-7 Kabukicho, was one of the district's best-known tourist attractions before the pandemic. A smaller comeback was announced in May 2023, but by 30 May 2023 it had closed with no plan to reopen, according to Time Out Tokyo; Google Maps lists it as permanently closed. Older guides still mention it.
Look down for the two Godzilla manhole covers on the pavement outside, on the Central Road side.
Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, opened on 14 April 2023, is the 48-storey, roughly 225-metre tower facing Cinecity Square, and it's the easiest place in Kabukicho to spend an evening on your own terms. Inside: two hotels (BELLUSTAR TOKYO and HOTEL GROOVE SHINJUKU), the 109 Cinemas Premium cinema, THEATER MILANO-Za, the Zepp Shinjuku live venue, a namco arcade and, on the 2nd floor, a food hall called Shinjuku Kabuki hall (Kabuki Yokocho).
Open: the food hall from 6am to 5am the next morning; namco TOKYO from 11am to 11pm Monday to Thursday and until 1am Friday to Sunday; tourist information on the 1st floor from 10am to 7pm. A Sanrio characters exhibition runs on the 4th floor for a limited time, 10am to 6pm from 1 November 2026. The catch: it's busy and loud at night, and the floors above the food hall include a hookah bar and a casino-style games room, which aren't for everyone.
The 2nd-floor food hall is open almost round the clock, and you order from the stalls yourself: a late-night option where you pick the stall yourself.
Hanazono Shrine, on the district's eastern edge, is the calmest place in the area, a short walk from the neon. It's about 3 minutes on foot from Shinjuku-sanchome Station (Marunouchi, Fukutoshin and Toei Shinjuku lines) or 7 minutes from JR Shinjuku's east exit.
Go in November: Hanazono's Tori-no-ichi, a fair where stalls sell decorated bamboo rakes (kumade) for luck in business, falls on 7 and 19 November in 2026, with an eve festival on the day before each (6 and 18 November), according to the Shinjuku Tourism Promotion Association. The catch: the event listing doesn't give times, so confirm them before you go.
About 3 minutes from Shinjuku-sanchome Station, or 7 minutes from JR Shinjuku's east exit. Phone 03-3209-5265.
Golden Gai, between Hanazono Shrine and Kabukicho, is a block of around 280 tiny bars in low wooden row houses, most opening around 8pm. Here you choose the bar yourself, you can ask the charge before you sit, and the shopkeepers' associations publish house rules; the usual advice still applies, so don't follow anyone who approaches you on the street. Most bars add a seat charge of ¥500 to ¥1,500 on top of drinks. The bars that welcome visitors, their charges and the photo rules are on our Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho page.
For other late-night options nearby, late-night food in Tokyo has ramen and food halls that stay open after the last train, and Tokyo nightlife covers clubs, karaoke and bar districts. Kabukicho also has a 24-hour hot-spring spa, Thermae-Yu, on its eastern edge.
The bars, charges and house rules are on our Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho page.
Kabukicho Koban is the district's police box: a four-storey building, built in 1993, which the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department says covers almost the whole of Kabukicho (1-chome 2 to 30). It's on the north side of the district, near the Tokyu Kabukicho Tower. Go there if you need help on the spot, have lost something, or can't phone.
One thing to know: a police box isn't a police station. The Australian Embassy, in its advice on drink spiking, says a formal report has to be made in person at the police station covering the area where it happened; for Kabukicho that's Shinjuku Police Station, which handles the district's bar complaints (03-3346-0110).
Go here for help on the spot, lost property or directions. A police box is not a police station: to report a spiking or fraud formally, go to Shinjuku Police Station.
The pattern. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department says street touts, including non-Japanese touts and women who approach men, lead passers-by to bars they work with. There, victims are given very strong drinks, become dazed, and are charged huge bills or have their credit cards used for large purchases. Its warnings describe people waking up the next morning with an empty wallet, no memory and a misused card, and in other districts, bars that took intoxicated customers to an ATM to withdraw cash. The UK Foreign Office says reports of drink spiking and card fraud are rising, that losses run from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds, and that most British victims report being targeted in Kabukicho, approached in English by touts it calls kyakuhiki.
Other versions. The police also warn about people met on dating apps who suggest a bar, then disappear and leave you with the bill, and about touts offering women or 'shows' who demand a deposit up front and never deliver. The UK warns that touts misrepresent what's on offer, and that if you go in on the promise of a free drink or 'just a look', you may be charged an entry fee and not be free to leave.
It's illegal, but it happens. Shinjuku Police Station says street touting is banned in Shinjuku City, and the police run crackdowns. The UK notes that prostitution and street touts are illegal but commonplace in the high-risk areas, which the Japanese police list as Kabukicho, Roppongi, Shibuya and Ikebukuro.
Don't follow anyone from the street. It's the one rule the police, Shinjuku Police Station and the UK all repeat: whatever the offer, cheap drinks, a show, a 'friendly bar', say no and keep walking. Choose bars yourself, and Shinjuku Police Station suggests reading a bar's online reviews before you go.
See the prices first. The UK says to see a menu with prices before you enter a bar or restaurant, keep track of what you order, and confirm a club's entry price at the door. Shinjuku Police Station adds that on an all-you-can-drink deal, some drinks may not be included, so check which ones are.
Protect your drink and your cards. The UK's advice: don't accept drinks from strangers, don't leave drinks unattended, secure your accounts against fraudulent transactions, and carry only what you need, leaving spare cash and cards at your hotel. It also warns that British nationals have been arrested after arguments with bar staff over bills, so if a bill is wrong, call the police rather than fighting it out at the door.
Pick places that publish their prices. The food hall in Tokyu Kabukicho Tower lists its stalls and hours on the tower's site, and most of the bars on our Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho page publish their own charges.
Call 110 for the police, 119 for an ambulance. Say 'English' to be put through to an interpreter, the Australian Embassy advises, and make sure you can make phone calls: a data-only SIM can't reach Japan's emergency numbers. For a non-emergency, the Tokyo police take calls on #9110, with English available. If you can't phone, go to the nearest police box (koban), such as the Kabukicho Koban; Shinjuku Police Station's number is 03-3346-0110.
If you think your drink was spiked: get medical help. The Australian Embassy points to Himawari, the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Medical Information Center (03-5285-8181), for an English-speaking hospital. Then call your bank to report the transactions and block the card, and call your travel insurer to ask what paperwork it needs.
To make a report, go in person to the police station covering the area, not a police box. The Australian Embassy warns that police may not open a formal investigation if you can't remember details or are about to leave Japan; they may give you a consultation number (sodan bango) rather than a written report. Your embassy can help too.
Planning your trip? Save Kabukicho's sights into a day-by-day plan with Tourli, the app that turns travel guides into actionable itineraries.
Stop reading lists.
Start the trip.
Tourli turns any guide into an actionable day plan — pinned to a map, walking directions and offline access included. One tap to save every place on this page.