Shinjuku, Tokyo
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Shinjuku (新宿区 -ku) is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the busiest train station in the world (Shinjuku Station), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration center for the Tokyo Metropolis. The area around Shinjuku Station is home to a large concentration of department stores, specialist electronic and camera shops, cinemas, restaurants and bars. Many international hotels have a large presence here.
As of 2005, the ward has an estimated population of 305,352 and a density of 16,710 persons per km². The total area is 18.23 km².
Shinjuku has the highest numbers of registered foreign nationals of any community in Tokyo. As of October 1, 2005, 29,353 people with 107 nationalities were registered in Shinjuku. The top five nationalities are Korea (including North and South), China, France, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
Geography
Tokyo wards around Shinjuku are: Chiyoda to the east; Bunkyo and Toshima to the north; Nakano to the west, and Shibuya and Minato to the south. In addition, Nerima is only a hundred meters away. The highest point in Shinjuku is Hakone Hill, 44.6m, in Toyama Park east of Takadanobaba and Shin-Okubo stations. The lowest point is 4.2m in the Iidabashi area.Areas of Shinjuku include:
- Ichigaya: A commercial area in eastern Shinjuku, site of the Japan Defense Agency headquarters.
- Kabukicho: A district well-known for bars, restaurants and red-light district with street prostitutes, brothels, and other sexual commerce. Located northeast of Shinjuku Station.
- Nishi-shinjuku: Tokyo's largest skyscraper district. Several of the tallest buildings in Tokyo are located in this area, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, KDDI Building and Park Tower. Located west of Shinjuku Station.
- Okubo: Tokyo's best-known Korean district.
- Shinanomachi: On the southern edge of Shinjuku, close to the National Stadium, also known as Olympic Stadium, Tokyo and Meiji-Jingu Stadium (where the Yakult Swallows baseball team plays).
- Shinjuku Gyoen is a large park, 58.3 hectares, 3.5 km in circumference, blending Japanese traditional, English Landscape and French Formal style gardens.
- Shinjuku ni-chome: Tokyo's best-known gay district.
- Waseda: Surrounding Waseda University, one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan. Nearby Takadanobaba is a major student residential and nightlife area.
History
In 1634, during the Edo period, as the outer moat of the Edo Castle was built, a number of temples and shrines moved to the Yotsuya area on the western edge of Shinjuku. In 1698, Naitō Shinjuku had developed as a new (shin) station (shuku or juku) on the Kōshū Kaidō, one of the major highways of that era. Naitō was a daimyo whose mansion stood in the area; his land is now a public park, the Shinjuku Gyoen.Shinjuku began to develop into its current form after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, since the seismically stable area largely escaped the devastation. Consequently, West Shinjuku is one of the few areas in Tokyo with many skyscrapers.
The Tokyo air raids from May to August 1945 destroyed almost 90% of the buildings in the area in and around Shinjuku Station. [link] The pre-war form of Shinjuku, and the rest of Tokyo, for that matter, was retained after the war because the roads and rails, damaged as they were, remained, and these formed the heart of the Shinjuku in the post-war construction. Only in Kabuki-cho was a grand reconstruction plan put into action (Ichikawa, 2003).
The present ward was established on March 15, 1947, with the merger of the former wards of Yotsuya, Ushigome, and Yodobashi.
In 1991, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved from the Marunouchi district of Chiyoda to the current building in Shinjuku. (The Tokyo International Forum stands on the site vacated by the government.)
Government
Like the other wards of Tokyo, Shinjuku has a status equivalent to a city. As of 2005, the mayor is Ms. Hiroko Nakayama. The kugikai (ward council) consists of 38 elected members affiliated with the Liberal Democratic, New Clean Government, Democratic, Communist and other political parties, as well as independents. Its kuyakusho (ward headquarters) is at 1-4-1 Kabukicho.
Transportation
Shinjuku is a major urban transit hub: JR Shinjuku Station sees an estimated 2 million passengers pass through each day, with interchanges to three subway lines and two privately owned commuter lines, as well as the JR lines.Rail
- JR East
- *Yamanote Line: Takadanobaba, Shin Okubo, Shinjuku Stations
- *Chuo Main Line, Sobu Main Line: Yotsuya, Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Okubo Stations
- *Saikyo Line, Shonan-Shinjuku Line: Shinjuku Station
- Tokyo Metro
- *Marunouchi Line: Yotsuya, Yotsuya Sanchome, Shinjuku Gyoenmae, Shinjuku Sanchome, Shinjuku, Nishi Shinjuku Stations
- *Yurakucho Line: Ichigaya, Iidabashi Station
- *Tozai Line: Kagurazaka, Waseda, Takadanobaba, Ochiai Stations
- *Namboku Line: Iidabashi, Ichigaya, Yotsuya Stations
- Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation
- *Toei Shinjuku Line: Akebonobashi, Shinjuku Sanchome, Shinjuku Stations
- *Toei Oedo Line: Ochiai Minaminagasaki, Nakai, Nishi Shinjuku Gochome, Tocho-mae, Kokuritsu Kyougijou, Ushigome Kagurazaka, Ushigome Yanagicho, Wakamatsu Kawada, Higashi Shinjuku, Shinjuku Nishiguchi Stations
- *Toden Arakawa Line: Omokagebashi, Waseda Stations
- Odakyu Electric Railway Odawara Line: Shinjuku Station
- Keio Corporation Keio Line, Keio New Line: Shinjuku Station
- Seibu Railway Seibu Shinjuku Line: Nishishinjuku, Takadanobaba, Shimo-ochiai, Nakai Stations
Highways
- Shuto Expressway
- *No.4 Shinjuku Route (Miyakezaka JCT - Takaido)
- *No.5 Ikebukuro Route (Takebashi JCT - Bijogi JCT)
- National highways of Japan
- *Route 20 (Shinjuku-dōri, Kōshū Kaidō)
Education
Colleges and universities
- Chuo University graduate school
- Gakushuin Women's University
- Keio University Medical College
- Kogakuin University
- Mejiro University
- Tokyo Fuji University
- Tokyo Medical University
- Tokyo University of Science
- Tokyo Women's Medical University
- Waseda University
Schools
Public elementary and junior high schools in Shinjuku are operated by the Shinjuku Ward Board of Education. Public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education.People
- Bando Tsumasaburo: actor
- Mishima Yukio: author
- Natsume Soseki: author
- Sato Takuma: race-car driver
- Sugita Kaoru: actress
- Tamba Tetsuro: actor
- Tashiro Masashi: former television personality and actor
- Yamamoto Koji: actor
- Marty Friedman: guitarist
Sister cities
Shinjuku has sister-city arrangements with Lefkada in Greece; Tiergarten (now Berlin-Mitte) in Berlin, Germany; and Dongcheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.References
- [Shinjuku Ward Office, History of Shinjuku]
- Hiroo Ichikawa "Reconstructing Tokyo: The Attempt to Transform a Metropolis" in C. Hein, J.M. Diefendorf, and I. Yorifusa (Eds.) (2003). Building Urban Japan after 1945. New York: Palgrave.
External links
- [Shinjuku official website] in Japanese
- [Shinjuku official website] in English
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| Tokyo Metropolis |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wards: Adachi | Arakawa | Bunkyō | Chiyoda | Chūō | Edogawa | Itabashi | Katsushika | Kita | Kōtō | Meguro | Minato | Nakano | Nerima | Ōta | Setagaya | Shibuya | Shinagawa | Shinjuku (capital) | Suginami | Sumida | Toshima | Taitō | ||
| Cities: Akiruno | Akishima | Chōfu | Fuchū | Fussa | Hachiōji | Hamura | Higashikurume | Higashimurayama | Higashiyamato | Hino | Inagi | Kiyose | Kodaira | Koganei | Kokubunji | Komae | Kunitachi | Machida | Mitaka | Musashimurayama | Musashino | Nishi-Tōkyō | Ōme | Tachikawa | Tama | ||
| Districts and Subprefectures: Nishitama District | Hachijō Subprefecture | Miyake Subprefecture | Ogasawara Subprefecture | Ōshima Subprefecture |
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