Shinigami Realm

The Shinigami Realm is a barren, dry, and desolate land that is similar to Purgatory. The realm includes different landscapes and does not have human-like buildings. Shinigami tend to congregate in areas with bone and/or stone structures. There are also several areas with chains, most noticeably the Shinigami King's cave, where there are hundreds of chains with hooks on the end. There is at least one mountain or cave structure where Ryuk is living, which is shown in the one-shot special of the anime. This structure could also possibly be where the Shinigami King resides.

The realm is surrounded by deserts that have various strange objects. The spheres, which are shaped like concentric orbs, are littered about the surface. These artifacts have openings which let Shinigami see anywhere in the human world from a birds-eye view. These strange objects are what allow Shinigami to take human lives with Death Notes without traveling to Earth. When or how the objects were created is currently unknown.

The world that Shinigami reside in exists above the human world. For example, Ryuk has to travel underground in order to reach the entrance to the realm of humans underneath. Also, when Ryuk is first seen after leaving the Shinigami Realm, he is flying downward from a higher altitude than the skyscrapers.

There's also not much to do in the Shinigami realm. Shinigami usually gamble with one another, watch the events occuring in the human world through the speres, or eat (although they don't need to). This is also Ryuks primary reason for dropping his death note into the human world.