is a neighborhood in

Setagaya is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orchid, and its tree is the '' Ze ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is located in the southwestern corner of the Kitazawa district, hence the name "Shimo-kitazawa" ( ''lower Kitazawa''). Also known as "Shimokita", the neighbourhood is well known for the density of small independent fashion retailers, cafes, theaters, bars and live music venues.

Independent retail

The neighbourhood is often compared with the backstreets of

Ura-Harajuku is the nickname of an area in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Ura-Harajuku, or Ura-Hara, is the common name given to the network of smaller Harajuku backstreets spreading perpendicular to Omotesandō, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya ward as ...

and Koenji; smaller shop units and restricted vehicular access has limited its appeal to larger domestic and international fashion merchandisers, enabling independent retailers to survive. The district consists of the streets immediately surrounding Shimo-Kitazawa Station, where the

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its '' Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company f ...

and

Keio Inokashira Line The is a railway line operated by the Japanese private railway operator Keio Corporation in the western suburbs of Edo, connecting in Tokyo with in Musashino, Tokyo, Musashino City. It is not physically connected to the Keiō Line, Keio Main ...

s intersect. The neighbourhood has long been a center for stage theater and live music venues; serves as a home to the historic Honda Gekijō theater and holds theatre festivals throughout the year. With numerous cafes, secondhand and vintage fashion and recorded music outlets, Shimokitazawa remains popular with students and followers of Japanese youth subcultures.

Redevelopment

In 2004, the Setagaya City Council released a plan to redevelop a large section of the city, including the construction of several high rise buildings, and extending Route 54 across the city. The streets are very narrow and highly intersected, with many small alleyways. Because many residents and visitors consider this to be part of the charm of Shimokitazawa, some controversy surrounds the development plan, which some saw as degrading and crassly commercialized. With the relocation of the Odakyu Line rail tracks underground in March 2013, new station entrances, along with fully doubled tracks in both directions, larger scale redevelopment of the immediate Shimo-Kitazawa Station area is ongoing. The infamous Odakyu rush hour crunch has been reduced to 150% of train load as of 2018 from nearly 200% previously.

In popular culture

Pre-redevelopment era Shimokitazawa featured as the setting for , a 2006 television comedy series starring Aya Ueto as a member of one of the many underground theatre troups found in the district. An episode revolving around a member of a Shimokitazawa theatre troupe also appeared in the television series '' Solitary Gourmet'', highlighting a well known Hiroshima-style

okonomiyaki is a Japanese ''teppanyaki'' savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients (mixed, or as toppings) cooked on a '' teppan'' (flat griddle). Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include ...

restaurant in the area. Shimokitazawa serves as the primary setting of the manga series ''

Bocchi the Rock! is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by . It has been serialized in Houbunsha's manga magazine '' Manga Time Kirara Max'' since December 2017. Its chapters have been collected in seven volumes as of October 2024 ...

'' and its anime adaptation. The popularity of this series has contributed to increased tourism in the area to the point the characters are appointed as ambassadors for the area to promote the activities such as Shimokitazawa Curry Fest.

References

External links

Shimokitazawa
(

JNTO The , JNTO, provides information about Japan to promote travel to and in the country. It was established in 1964 and its headquarters are in Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. The JNTO operates Tourist Information Centers (TICs) as well as a website. I ...

)
Go Tokyo Travel Guide

Shimokitazawa Music Festival (Japanese)
{{Coord, 35.66160556, 139.6665611, format=dms, type:city(20000)_region:JP-13_scale:30000, display=title Neighborhoods of Tokyo Setagaya