Originally Posted by
Nagasaki Joe
Your posts are always a trip down memory lane with much to comment about.
Shinjuku was also a stomping ground of mine in the mid-70s during occasional visits to Tokyo from Shizuoka Pref. Shinjuku had movie theaters, foreign book stores, food stores with imported food, and lots of hole-in-the-wall eateries.
Now you're making me all nostalgic. Still there, and still cooking, is the Kinokuniya honten, which has (had?) the top floor for foreign books and magazines. Would spend many a weekend day there browsing and buying in the early 1990s.
As for food, still there, but in a different, fancier location, the famous Tatsukichi kushiage:
??????/ ?????????? The original location was this crappy little building in Sanchome, and their floor area mirrored the fortunes of Shinjuku and Japan in general. It started with a half a floor in the building, and eventually grew to two full floors by the end of the bubble, before retreating to half a floor in the end. With the Koizumi tailwind, it moved to a much larger and nicer location nearer to the 3-chome crossing, where it remains to this day, plus opening branches in Akihabara and Hibiya. And packed as always.