Shinjuku was nothing much from the Edo period up to the mid-Meiji era. But when, in 1889, a railway opened to the west towards Tachikawa, about 40 km from central Tokyo, the area grew exponentially. It suffered heavy damage during the 1923 earthquake, but with a booming economy and ever-growing urban population, it recovered rapidly. Old shops were transforming themselves to cater to the tastes of the sophisticated and literate public that had to pass through the neighborhood every day. It came to imitate a Western city, though it lacked some of Ginza's sophistication.

Shibuya, which used to be laid back and only known for its tea, developed rapidly from the 1880s as one of Shinjuku's main rivals in modernity.