Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood has just about the densest concentration of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, and other entertainment options in the city. Shinjuku Station is also the busiest rail stop in the entire world, though, so if you’re rendezvousing with friends or a date, meeting inside the station is a pretty bad idea.
Instead, you’ll want to meet at one of the landmarks outside the station, and the most useful has been the Shinjuku Alta building. Immediately recognizable by its giant video screen, “in front of Alta,” or Aruta mae if you’re speaking Japanese, has been the go-to answer for “Where in Shinjuku should we meet?” for decades.
It’s time to start scouting out new meeting places, though, because Shinjuku Alta’s days are numbered. The building’s management has posted a notice on its official website that Shinjuku Alta, which opened in 1979, is closing down.
The closure marks the end of the multi-level shopping center inside the building, which has long been a center of young women’s fashion trends, and also the Studio Alta television studio on the seventh floor, which famously served as the live-broadcast location for hit comedy variety show Waratte Iitomo from 1982 to 2014.
“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our customers who have supported us over these many years, and to deeply apologize for the disruption and inconvenience the closing may cause,” while also thanking in advance those who will be visiting the building prior to its closure date, which will be February 28 of next year.
The announcement makes no mention of why Shinjuku Alta is closing, but shifting economic realities are the most likely cause. By contemporary Shinjuku standards, the Alta building is small, with the limited floorspace provided making each level a cramped collection of a handful of small tenants. With a number of new high-rise entertainment complexes and other redevelopments projects going on in Shinjuku, Alta has been increasingly overshadowed in recent years, and just like with the building that housed Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks slightly in the Shibuya area slightly to the south, it’s likely that Alta’s management feels the time has come for a large-scale renovation or rebuilding.
It’s unclear whether the closure means the current building will be torn down, but its prime location, right across the street from Shinjuku Station on the rail stop’s east side, means there’s zero chance of the land sitting empty. Whether what comes next will also carry the Alta name or will be an entirely separate entity remains to be seen, but the advance notice means there’s still time to squeeze in a few more in-front-of-Alta visits before it’s time to say goodbye to an iconic Tokyo landmark.
Source: Shinjuku Alta via Daily via Jin
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13 Comments
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Cheradenine Zakalwe
Lots of memories as I am sure other expats in Japan have.
'Time' by Hans Zimmer is a good track to reflect.
Hopefully it will not be replaced by another soulless Mori et al creation filled with empty boutiques with bored staff and posh brands catering to mostly foreign tourists now.
Alfie Noakes
To be fair, apart from the Okadaya shops the brands on offer are neither popular nor inspiring so it's hardly a surprise.
That's almost exactly what it will be.
SDCA
A great place to meet celebrities as well. I was waiting to meet my friend and to my surprise I saw Stephen Curry come out with his body guards walking towards a van. No one seemed to recognize him and so it took me a little bit to realize who it was. Good times.
DanteKH
So instead of Alta, is going to be the 3D cat screen area. Same thing.
So which buildings are going to be put down exactly?
kohakuebisu
There is a similar screen in Umeda, Osaka called the Big Man. Its the classic meetup spot and the start of what I still hope are many good nights out.
HopeSpringsEternal
Shinjuku's becoming too edgy and criminal for many, as the rapidly aging society with so few kids increasingly, feels out of step with the dark environment there.
rosujin
Man, this hits me hard. Back when I was in college (in 2001) , I was prepping for summer study abroad at Waseda. Back then, there weren’t many live cameras, but there was a cameras on top of Shinjuku station pointed at Shinjuku Alta. If you logged on you could control it remotely for about a minute. It was my only view of Tokyo ahead of my trip and I probably logged on hundreds of times wondering what Tokyo would be like when I got there.
When I finally got to Japan that summer, my Japanese friends asked me where I wanted to go first, and I said “Shinjuku Alta!” One of the first pictures I took in Japan was in front of Alta and it felt like a dream come to life.
Since finishing study abroad, I lived and worked in Japan for 3 years, became fluent, passed JLPT level 2 and have been going back and forth for at least once a year for 20 years. Whenever I’m in Shinjuku, I make it a point to pass by Alta and it brings me back to that time in my life. Gonna miss this place.
Mr Kipling
I met my wife for the very first time outside Alta about a zillion years ago.
factchecker
Dubliners shut down too which is more of shame. Everyone knew how to find it.
Mr Kipling
Shinjuku? I walked past yesterday... Or did I just not notice it was gone?
Get a grip
I wonder what is going to put in its place?
TokyoLiving
It's unfortunate, but just as landmarks in Tokyo disappears, new ones appear or reappear..
GO TOKYO!!..
Mr Kipling
Yes, I did. its no more.