Shu's place was centrally located, very close distance to Goldan Gai, and several other popular venues in Shinjuku. Safety was not and issue, it was easy to navigate to and from. If you are using a JR Railpass make sure to use the Shin-Okubo station which is a minute or two walk straight to Shu's place. Much better then the 10 minute walk from Shinjuku Station which is large and confusing/overwhelming at first. Shu was kind enough to show us around the area and give us a personal tour, he was very welcoming and the space was clean and more then enough.