, commonly known as Jinbōchō or Jimbōchō, is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, known as Tokyo's center of used-book stores and publishing houses, and as a popular antique and curio shopping area. The center of Jinbōchō is at the crossing of Yasukuni-dōri and Hakusan-dōri, above Jimbōchō Station on the

Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line The is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by Tokyo Metro. Overview The 16.8 km line serves the wards of Shibuya, Minato, Chiyoda, Chūō, Kōtō, and Sumida. Despite being shorter in length than nearly all other Tokyo su ...

Toei Mita Line The is a subway line of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei) network in Tokyo, Japan. The line runs between Nishi-Takashimadaira in Itabashi and Meguro in Shinagawa. Trains continue with direct service into the Meguro Line ...

and

Toei Shinjuku Line The is a rapid transit line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei). The line runs between Motoyawata Station in Ichikawa, Chiba in the east and Shinjuku Station in the west. At Shin ...

. The prestigious Tokyo Book Binding Club and Literature Preservation Society are located in Jinbōchō, and the area is within walking distance of a number of major universities, including

Nihon Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Senshu, Meiji, Hosei and Juntendo. Jinbōchō is officially known (in addresses, etc.) as , and is part of the former ward of

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People * Kanda (surname) *Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places * Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan **Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo * Kanda River, a ri ...

History

Jinbōchō is named after a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, who is member of , who lived in the area at the end of the 17th century. During the late nineteenth century when Japan underwent modernization, foreign studies schools opened in the area such as Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for Research of Foreign Documents) and Tokyo Gaikokugo Gakko (Tokyo School of Foreign Languages) which would later become the University of Tokyo and Hitotsubashi University. Many bookstores opened in the area, and it became established as a book town. In 1913, a large fire destroyed much of the area. In the wake of the fire, a former teacher named

Shigeo Iwanami was a publisher in the early Shōwa period Japan, and founder of Iwanami Shoten. Biography Iwanami was born in what is now part of Suwa, Nagano, into a farming family. His father was a village headman, but he died when Iwanami was age 15, and I ...

opened a bookstore in Jinbōchō which eventually grew into today's

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' ...

publishing house. In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake caused a fire destroying much of the former Kanda-ku including the Jinbocho library and campus of the University of Tokyo, which was subsequently relocated to Bunkyo-ku. Over time, the area became increasingly popular with university students and intellectuals, and many more small bookstores and cafes opened there. More recently, the Chiyoda municipal government sponsored a major redevelopment project in Jinbōchō which led to three new high-rise office buildings being completed in 2003, further boosting the local economy. The Jinbōchō Theater was completed in 2007. File:Kanda-jinbocho -01.jpg, Kanda-Jinbōchō in 2011(Suzuran Street) File:Jinbo006.gif, Jinbōchō at Yasukunidori and Hakusan File:Jinbo007.gif, Jinbōchō Fall Book Fair

Companies

Many companies are located within Jinbōchō, including the headquarters of Tōkyōdō Shoten, a retail book chain and manga company

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

, known for the anthology manga magazine, '' Shonen Jump''.

In popular culture

*Jinbōchō is an important location in the ''

Read or Die is a Japanese light novel series written by Hideyuki Kurata, published under Shueisha's '' Super Dash Bunko'' imprint. ''Read or Die'' follows Yomiko Readman, codename "The Paper", an agent for the (fictional) Special Operations Division ...

'' light novel franchise, and is the area where protagonist

Yomiko Readman , also known as "The Paper," is the protagonist in the Japanese language, Japanese novel series ''Read or Die'' and its manga and original video animation (OVA) spin-offs. She is also a major player (but not the protagonist) in the sequel, ''R.O ...

resides. *Studio Ghibli film

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI. It was rele ...

depicts the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and subsequent fire destroying the former Jinbocho campus of

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. *Manga series

Dropkick on My Devil! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiwo. The series began serialization in Flex Comix's ''Comic Meteor'' web magazine in April 2012. Twenty volumes have been released as of December 2022. An anime television series ada ...

used Jinbōchō as the area where main characters Yurine Hanazono and Jashin-chan reside, the district name was also featured in the plot, episode titles, and lyrics of feature songs.

Education

operates public elementary and junior high schools. Ochanomizu Elementary School (お茶の水小学校) is the zoned elementary school for Kanda-Jinbōchō 1-3 chōme. There is a freedom of choice system for junior high schools in Chiyoda Ward, and so there are no specific junior high school zones.

References

External links