Now &Here – Stay and Play in Shinjuku

Update-Date: Nov 25, 2025

Author: Sydney Seekford

Shinjuku shows off every side of Tokyo, from its serene Japanese gardens to its modern thrills. Shinjuku’s newest destination opened September 25, 2025, highlighting one of a kind travel only Japan could offer. Best of all, this destination is no mere sight seeing spot – it’s a hotel built with guests in mind, a home away from home in the center of the city.

Sydney Seekford

Gourmet Creator

American living in Japan since 2022. Food writer and gourmet content creator for Japan’s most well known food media. Founder of menu translation and language support service MENUWIZ. Work history includes copywriting for booking platforms, video and media production and appearances, and consulting in F&B for household brands. Passionate about regional revitalization and slow tourism with a focus on local food culture.

Shinjuku puts natural serenity and urban excitement at your fingertips

Shinjuku is the largest station in the world. This city has many faces, from the relaxing greenery of Shinjuku Gyoen to the noisy, neon-lit streets of Kabukicho and Golden Gai. With the opening of &Here SHINJUKU, guests will have the best of the city just steps from their front door. No matter what kind of travel fits your itinerary, this area offers enough entertainment to spend days just exploring hidden nooks and crannies.

Relaxing nature in the heart of Tokyo at Shinjuku Gyoen

Across nearly 60 hectares of land, visitors will find 900 cherry trees, a Japanese garden, a Formal garden, and a Landscape garden all within Shinjuku Gyoen. Each area provides a variety of scenes where visitors can relax while enjoying the charms of the season.

Just beyond the gates, the bustle fades away, leaving plenty of room for meditation or simply walking around with friends. The garden, which costs about 500 yen to enter and has a border 3.5 kilometers around, is open year round. The closest Shinjuku Gyoen entrance is just a five minute-walk from &Here SHINJUKU.

The thrill of the city on Shinjuku’s streets

Pockets of subculture have also carved their way into Shinjuku. &Here SHINJUKU is located on the edge of Shinjuku Nichome, an area of Tokyo widely recognized as a lively space for the city’s LGBTQ community.

A few hundred meters away, Kabukicho and nearby Golden Gai are unmissable pieces of Shinjuku .As many as 200 tiny (usually independently owned) bars are crammed into a few blocks. Some stores have been operating there for over fifty years.

A paradise of shopping and dining

Shinjuku is home to a wide number of department stores. The Lumine, Isetan, and Marui complexes are filled with floors of shopping and dining that range from casual after-work eateries to top-floor dining rooms with views of the Tokyo cityscape.

Featured restaurants in the area

The area is full of restaurants of all different varieties, from bars to lunch places, casual to upscale. Some local recommendations are Yakiniku Ushigoro, a beloved yakiniku spot with premium wagyu steps from Shinjuku Sanchome station, and Amanohaku, an unagi restaurant just five minutes from &Here SHINJUKU that serves Kansai style unagi and hitsumabushi. Shinjuku is also a particularly great place to explore eateries like Koryoriya Warukunai, which don’t look like much from the street but hide excellent, authentic meals inside.

&Here SHINJUKU: A new hotel connecting city and nature

For visitors looking forward to staying in Shinjuku, a new hotel has opened within 5 minutes of Shinjuku Sanchome station. This new hotel, &Here SHINJUKU, is just far enough from the bustling Shinjuku JR station to relax without sacrificing access. The &Here hotel brand concept hinges on identifying and capitalizing on excellent locations. Especially true of the Shinjuku edition, the hotel provides convenient access not only to greater Tokyo, but to nearby sight seeing and entertainment.

Mid-high range stays defined by a sense of place and human connection

Local guide map curated by staff

&Here SHINJUKU acts as a conduit, connecting visitors to locals and people to places. Every interaction with the hotel offers something a little extra. It’s part of the company’s initiative to turn tourism into real support by injecting local neighborhoods with new vigor and interest. Helpful staff are all proficient in English and Japanese, and many of them speak multiple languages, including Indonesian, Taiwanese Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. They’re experts on the Shinjuku area, able to offer suggestions for the best restaurants and personal travel recommendations.

Check-in desk cum DJ booth

The community is a huge part of &Here’s service philosophy. From the moment guests arrive, art and photography by local artists are there to greet them. The lobby is decorated with a huge map of Shinjuku featuring local specialties and recommendations from the staff. On certain nights, independent DJs are invited to spin records on the front desk’s built-in sound system. Many guests are impressed at the original albums of Nujabes and city pop legends on display.

&Here hotel is more fun with friends

Suite with a dining table, kitchenette, and bunkbeds

One of the most striking features of &Here SHINJUKU is its complete focus on group travel. Its rooms are specifically designed to suit the needs of multi-generational travel or large parties of adults. Bunk-bed suites provide a dash of playful fun for family vacations.

85 in TV located in the Premier Theater Suite Room [Ginmaku]

The premier theater suite room, a whopping 70m that dwarfs many Tokyo apartments, sleeps up to six guests across two bedrooms. The space features a huge home-theater system centered on an 85 inch TV with divider curtains and lounging area. Other specialty rooms include one with a bar-style counter inside, which brings the lively nightlife of Shinjuku into a private hideaway, and a room featuring an in-door sauna and terrace seating.

Japanese-Western room featuring tatami and western beds

Many options include induction burners and microwaves, plus washing machines that make them ideal for longer stays. The distinctive space design is both mature and approachable. For visitors who want to experience an authentic Japanese room, certain plans with tatami-mat floors provide a touch of wa-sensibility. The &Here Hotel’s ability to create excitement and novelty while ensuring a comfortable sense of home is second to none.

Contemporary, comfortable amenities

©︎&Here SHINJUKU

Photographs, paintings, and prints adorn many of the public spaces and room accents, like this hanging by a celebrated artist made in collaboration with Shinjuku dyeing facilities in operation for nearly 140 years. The craft is part of local artisan history that dates back to at least the Taisho era. Unexpected, local touches like this represent Shinjuku from many points of view, both past and present.

Local and craft sake available for purchase in the hotel

Authenticity and art blends with focused utility throughout the hotel. The persian carpets emblazoned with the &Here ampersand cut a beautiful contrast against the state of the art coffee machine and accents of contemporary art in the lobby. Just inside the sliding terrace doors on the lobby floor, a fridge full of local craft beer, domestic wine, and even &Here’s own brand of sake waits for an unforgettable sunset aperitif.

Locations throughout Japan that bring culture to life

Collection of records in the lobby

&Here is equally suited to use as a hub while traveling on an extended stay, or as a luxurious space to relax after a long day of playing in Tokyo. With its emphasis on group travel, the &Here Shinjuku hotel provides a type of hospitality that, even in Japan, is more rare than one might expect. In addition to the Shinjuku location, there are also &Here hotels in Ueno and Namba, Osaka. Plans for a 2027 Fukuoka opening are underway.

Poufs and low table in the Japanese-Western suite

All of them have the same concept – creating a space for people to call their own and get familiar with the area through local eyes. By connecting visitors to the city and the spirit of Japan, &Here not only serves as lodgings, but as a jumping off point for unforgettable memories. For your next trip to Tokyo, consider staying here, in Shinjuku, where you can enjoy the pulse of urban life and the echoes of local culture everywhere you look.

Terrace and sunset scenery viewed from &Here

&Here SHINJUKU
Address: 2-15-14-2 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Access: 3 minutes walk from Shinjuku-sanchome Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, Fukutoshin Line, and Toei Shinjuku Line.

Disclaimer: All information is accurate at time of publication.

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