1.
Kabukicho; Tokyo's best-known nightlife quarter
The entertainment district east of Shinjuku Station, packed with bars, restaurants, cinemas, host and hostess clubs, and neon signs. The name is used as shorthand for a loud, late-night, slightly disreputable part of town.
A neighborhood of 新宿区 in Tokyo. The name comes from a post-war plan to build a kabuki theater there; the theater was never built, but the name stuck.
Common expressions
- 眠らない街: the city that never sleeps — a standard epithet for the district
- 歌舞伎町一番街: the main gate-marked street at its entrance
- ホストクラブ: host club — the business the district is most associated with
Cultural note
In conversation the name carries connotations of nightlife and of trouble: saying someone works or hangs around 歌舞伎町 implies a world of late hours and drinking. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with kabuki as a performing art — for that, see 歌舞伎.