Shimokitazawa — Shimokita to everyone who goes — is the bohemian quarter, and its great virtue is that the cars mostly stay out. The lanes are narrow, the rents once were low, and what filled them was vintage, vinyl, theatre and coffee.
There's no route to follow so much as a grid to lose yourself in. North of the station the second-hand shops cluster thickest — old denim, band tees, the rail of coats someone's grandfather wore better. The record shops are everywhere; duck into one for the listening posts alone. This was always a stage town, and the small playhouses and live houses around the Honda theatres still are.
What's new is the railway land. With the trains buried, two low-rise developments have grown on the freed ground: Reload, a white block of independent units north of the station, and Bonus Track to the south-west, a courtyard of bookshops, a brewery and the curry that locals queue for. End on a step there with a coffee, and walk the loop back to where you started.
