It's no secret Tokyoites are masters of making the most of space. Take the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district: Tucked between the Kabukicho entertainment district and Hanazono Shrine, nearly 280 bars and restaurants are squeezed into an area about the size of half a soccer field. The Golden Gai is a sliver of old Tokyo in a modern metropolis filled with endless gleaming buildings. It's a one-of-a-kind tourist attraction, for sure. But it's also a place for a few drinks and friendly chatter among exhausted workers known as “salarymen”. Everything is smaller and narrower in this warren of shacks. Most bars seat seven or eight with little room to move. Some foreigners jokingly pose for photos that exaggerate their struggles with small doors and narrow staircases. Here: People walk through narrow alleyways clustered with tiny bars and restaurants at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 28, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





Tourists form a line along a narrow passageway outside a ramen restaurant at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 26, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





Tourists, right, stand outside a bar donned with signs at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 28, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A sign is posted on the wall clustered with bills from various countries in a bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A man walks down a narrow staircase sideways after having a bowl of ramen at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A couple smokes cigarettes in a parking lot adjacent to the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 28, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A man, right, makes his way through a narrow passageway between two buildings at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





Bar owner Marie Yoshida, far left, chats with a patron in her bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 28, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Sunday, July 28, 2019, photo, two musicians entertain patrons in a tiny bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A woman, left, peeks into a packed izakaya-style restaurant at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 28, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A group of Japanese women are crammed around a table as they eat their dinner in a bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A bartender fixes a drink in a bar decorated with thousands of messages written by patrons at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 26, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A man walks down the steps of a bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A bartender, in costume, prepares a drink for a patron in a bar at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 26, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





A man strolls through a narrow alleyway clustered with tiny bars and restaurants at the Golden Gai in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, July 17, 2019. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)