Hatagaya

What to see

Hatagaya is two stops from Shinjuku on the Keio New Line, and the station sits underground beneath Koshu Kaido, the old highway west that the Shuto Expressway now runs above. Come up the stairs and the scale drops straight away. You'll find two- and three-storey buildings, a shotengai running north from the station, and residential lanes that curve off it with no particular logic. Nishihara, the neighbourhood to the north, is where the coffee and small counters cluster. Treat the whole pocket between Hatagaya and Sasazuka as one walkable district.

There's no set-piece sight, so you'll do the seeing on foot. Walk the fifteen minutes west along the tracks to Sasazuka Station, or the thirty minutes east through the backstreets toward Yoyogi Park. The route itself is the point, with laundries, tiny bakeries, a shrine wedged between apartment blocks and bicycles everywhere. Daniel treats Hatagaya as the second half of his home neighbourhood, and it looks like the Tokyo most residents live in.

Where to eat and drink

Koya Hatagaya is the counter to build the evening around. It sits about eight minutes from the station, north of Koshu Kaido and midway toward Sasazuka, a loud Shanghai-style Chinese izakaya that locals love for its thick handmade gyoza, long dim sum list and big plates meant for the table. The fried gyoza come first, huge and chewy. Don't order it all at once. Go in waves. It stays open until 4am most nights, so it's the neighbourhood's late kitchen as much as its dinner spot.

Around it, the shotengai and the Nishihara lanes hold the counters that Tokyo food magazines keep rediscovering. Young chefs' first restaurants, small coffee roasters, a few standing bars. Sanita, run by Kenny, was one of Daniel's regulars in this stretch between the two stations, the sort of local that only regulars find. Eat early at a counter, walk, then finish back at Koya Hatagaya for a late plate. Nothing here needs a reservation, and there's no queue of tourists anywhere.

Where to stay

Hatagaya doesn't have much accommodation of its own beyond the odd apartment rental. The smart base is the west side of Shinjuku, two stops and about five minutes away on the Keio New Line, where business hotels cluster around the station's west exit. Hatsudai, the stop in between, and Yoyogi-Uehara to the south add a few more options within walking distance. If you're renting for a longer stay, the blocks north of Koshu Kaido are quiet, low-rise and close to both Hatagaya and Sasazuka. Pick it if you want a residential neighbourhood as your evening default, with Shinjuku's transport a few minutes away.

How to do it in a day

Hatagaya works best as the end of a west-side day rather than a destination on its own. Spend the morning at Yoyogi Park or Meiji Shrine, then walk west through the backstreets, about thirty minutes, and arrive in Hatagaya as the shops open for the afternoon. Browse the shotengai north of the station, drift up into the Nishihara lanes for coffee, then take the fifteen-minute walk along the tracks to Sasazuka Station for an early evening at Sushi Sumibi or Mil Tacos. Then reverse it. Walk back to Hatagaya and settle in at Koya Hatagaya for gyoza and dim sum, ordering in rounds with a beer between each one. It's open until 4am, but the Keio New Line into Shinjuku takes about five minutes, so you don't need to watch the clock.