Tokyo "Chuo Line" Culture Blog

The first thing you should know about Asagaya is that it is the geographical center, and therefore the government center of Suginami ward. It holds the ward and tax office, police station and fire department.

A big street surrounded by zelkova trees from north to south adds a vibrant green to this ‘governmental’ town.

There seems to be nothing special in this town compared with other Chuo-line towns, like Koenji or Nakano. I can frankly say that I hardly walk or drink around it, just pass through.

And after researching the city for this blog, I found out that Asagaya is not for the youth (yes, I’m just a 22 ordinary lad) but for the older crowd.

In addition to its governmental functions, Asagaya used to be like a Japanese Grub Street where the somebodies and nobodies of literature like Masuji Ibuse or Osamu Dazai (you can get English translated books of the latter) gathered and enthused about literary every day and night.

One of legends in Japanese Manga history, Shinji Nagashima (if you wanna read his Manga, you must learn Japanese!) also lived in this town, and even now his worshipers come to the town to follow his trail, and as it already might come to mind, drink a lot and enthuse about their passions for Manga!!

This was mainly because Asagaya has once been,and still is,one of the most concentrated areas of Izakaya (Japanese pub) in Tokyo, especially in the narrow street called‘Star Road’where there are loads of tiny Izakaya giving off the nostalgic Showa aura in the twilight.

Lastly I'd like to finish off this blog to by telling you about the place called‘Susukien’(寿寿木園), which is one of the few small fish ponds in Tokyo, and has been for more than 80 years an oasis for the local people. You can fish for gold fishes and carps, there are maximum of three can be brought back, and eaten at home if you have that sort of challenging spirit.

Asagaya doesn't show her attraction with just a visit. But as with the people who moved from Koenji to this town when getting older, this town gradually permeates your body and mind, and you find yourself living in this town.

The Japanese ‘king of subculture’ Jyun Miura once said Koenji is ‘Japanese India'. at just one stop from Nakano, you can the feel ethnic atmosphere.

Walking around the town, you can find many shops with Southeast Asian goods (personally I used to work for one of them!), Indian curry houses and people who have dreadlocks or wear ethnic clothing, all of which make the town smell of Chandan incense.

Furthermore this town has loads of secondhand clothing, record and book shops and small live venues which play all sort of underground music. And some lively and cozy shopping streets that help young people who can barely make ends meet.

As can be imagined through such description, Koenji is always attracting young people, and as for recent years they have created new aspects of this town such as modern style cafés, bars or unique clothing shops.

There surely exists some nostalgia as these new areas push the older parts of the town aside and make it similar to other big towns like Shibuya or Daikanyama. And although the number of uninteresting shops that are essential in today’s modern world are increasing, it is good to see that Koenji still keeps its own unique mood and much of the Chuo culture.

I personally believe, this is because of its temples and shrines, one of which this name of the town is derived from. (‘ji’ means ‘temple’ in Japanese).

Every summer the town has a massive ‘Awa-Odori’ (one of the traditional local dances from Tokushima) festival which attracts more than million people just for a couple of days. Both temples and this festival seem to keep the old face of the town and the new development to a minimum.

Some say,‘If you wanna get rich, don’t live along Chuo-lone’.

Koenji strongly represents such a word. Thanks to cheap living cost, scents of India, cozy people and lots of sub culture, once you live in Koenji and experienced such simple life, you would never want to move ever again.

Located one stop by train on the Chuo line (about 4 minutes) from Shinjuku is a town called Nakano.

There are has 2 exits in Nakano station, north and south.

The north side is the main downtown area where many “IZAKAYA” (Japanese pubs) and shops line the streets of the shopping district. The south side is home to a department store and a few stores as well. Peaceful residential areas follow to either side of the station.

Now days, Nakano has become an interesting town in which many students gather due to its many technical colleges. In addition it can be said to be a melting pot for homosexuals, variety show entertainers and many “MANGA” artists (cartoonists) of the Showa 30s era (~1960s). Of course, average people also live there and it is a leading high population zone in Tokyo.

The places in which people immediately think “this is Nakano”, in particular the area around the train station are the Nakano Sun Plaza, located just out of the north exit, visible to the immediate left, a huge white building with unique architecture, home to convention halls, a swimming pool, and more.

And the “Sun Mall” which continues straight into the Broadway shopping center and has many small streets and “ROJI” (alleys) in which there are many bars.

In Broadway there is a famous shop called “MANDRAKE” which is said to be a palace for “OTAKU”. There you can get used “MANGA” (comics), animation goods, toys, video games etc.

Mandrake isn’t just one shop, but a series of specialty shops catering for different Otaku and maniac subcultures, such as MANGA mandrake, video game mandrake, old toys mandrake, “COSPLAY” (comic and game character costumes) mandrake, card collection mandrake, and much more. These shops are spread throughout the four floors of the Broadway building.

And of course, the now popular craze of “MAID – KISSA” (girls dressed in maid costumes serving drinks and food) has made it to Broadway and also the surrounding area outside of the mall.

When you take one step in a Mandrake shop, you will be overwhelmed by the Otaku atmosphere. So the Broadway and, to a lesser extent, Nakano has also been called little Akihabara. These days, people who visit Japan from around of the world to buy Otaku things, such as animation and games are increasing in number.

There are a hundred IZAKAYAs, ramen shops, karaoke places, and other shops, that line the streets of the ROJI that extends from the North exit. And it is crowded with lots of businessman, students, residents of Nakano, etc every day.

There are many shops where the prices are reasonable and you can eat and get drunk with only 1000 to 2000 yen. Of course, there are many choices of Izakayas and restaurants that are famous for their delicious fish or having great tasting sake, bars which have been in business for 40 years or more. In fact, there is a famous Ramen shop called “Aoba” which is rated as one of the top 5 ramen shops in Tokyo.

People say that the crowded and interesting ROJI are one of the great assets of Nakano.

Recently, foreigner residents have increased in Nakano city. We believe that Nakano will become a more interesting and lively place in the future with a great variety of people and cultures.