Shinjuku is Tokyo’s bustling, buzzing, somewhat crazy nerve centre. When people who have never been to Japan before picture Tokyo, this is usually the place they imagine – bright lights and soaring office towers; throngs of people wherever you go; forests of illuminated digital billboards flashing images and blaring music; stores, restaurants, bars and nightclubs everywhere you look. And lots of choices to make.

Best view

Sure, Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Tower get all the publicity, but when it comes to getting a sky-high view of the city, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building has a couple of things in its favour: unlike the other two, it’s free; and the crowds are not as oppressive. Sure, it might not be as high (but, hey, 243m is not exactly low) but up until 2007 it was actually the tallest building in Tokyo.

Best record store

Disk Union is not just a record store. It’s an institution. And Shinjuku is the centre for the famous chain. There are four separate Disk Union buildings within a three-block radius here, with 18 floors of vinyl, CDs and DVDs, each covering a different genre, including punk/hardcore, ’60s and ’70s rock, jazz, soul, hip-hop, dance, J-Pop and more. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, it probably doesn’t exist.

Best flagship store

Shinjuku is home to Tokyo’s newest flagship store. Uniqlo Shinjuku Honten (“honten” means “main store”) opened in late October to much fanfare due to its 4000 sqm space, which includes every item in the revered Japanese clothing retailer’s range, along with a coffee shop, flower shop, alteration services and more. It also features partnerships with other iconic Shinjuku businesses (Sekaido, Kinokuniya, etc), with their branding adapted to T-shirts and totes only available here.

Best design store

You can get lost for hours in Hands, a multi-level temple to Japanese design, crafts, stationery, homewares, cosmetics, gadgets, souvenirs and toys. The store’s motto is “create your own life in your own way”, and once you walk in, you’ll find yourself grabbing at things you never thought you needed, whether it’s the perfect gift for someone back home, or something that you simply must have for yourself.

Best park

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is one of Tokyo’s biggest and best-loved parks. Within almost 60ha of green space are three beautifully maintained gardens – Japanese, French and English. There are more than 20,000 trees here, and during “sakura” season (late March-early April) it’s one of the best places in the city for cherry blossom viewing.

Best drinking

The Golden Gai is a warren of tiny drinking establishments in a maze of alleyways in the Kabukicho section of Shinjuku. Most places sit only six to 10 people, and whether it’s Deathmatch in Hell (a death metal bar where all the drinks cost 666 yen) or Albatross G (chandeliers, disco balls, stuffed deer head) you’ll find something to suit your taste.

Best eating

What the famed Golden Gai district is to drinking, Omoide Yokocho (“memory lane”) is to eating. Sitting right next to Shinjuku Station is this lantern-lit string of lively izakaya (bar eateries). Prepare to eat shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow diners in a narrow space along a bar, prepare for plenty of smoke from sizzling yakitori on open grills, and prepare for a most memorable experience.

Best ramen

Ask 10 locals about the best ramen in Shinjuku and you’ll get 10 different answers. But if you want to combine a great bowl of fish-based ramen with an “in-the-know” dining experience, visit Ramen Nagi, up a steep flight of stairs in the middle of the Golden Gai.

Best jazz bar

Jazz kissa are bars devoted to listening to music on vinyl, with the records chosen and spun by the owner. Dug, which opened in the ’60s, is one of the best. The black-and-white photos on the wall of jazz greats like Miles Davis and John Coltrane were all taken by the original owner. His son now runs the place, maintaining the mood of a classic jazz joint.

Best food hall

Many big Japanese department stores have a depachika, or basement food hall. The depachika at Isetan in Shinjuku is out of this world – a cavernous space where everything is artfully displayed and meticulously packaged. It almost looks too good to eat. Almost.

The writer travelled as a guest of Fast Retailing.

How to get to Shinjuku, Tokyo

If you’re not staying in Shinjuku, it’s easy to reach by train – it has the biggest train station in Japan with 50 platforms and some 200 exits; 3.5 million people use it every day.