Kotto-dori, lined with boutiques and antique shops; Nezu Museum's garden hides four teahouses
Along both sides of Kotto-dori, boutiques, office buildings, apartments, and antique shops are interspersed. The street's official name is Minamimachi-dori; "Kotto-dori" is its nickname. From before the war through the postwar period, the Nezu Museum, the Ohara School of Ikebana's hall, and a cluster of antique shops gradually gathered along the street, and that's how the name caught on. The north end of the street meets Aoyama-dori, and Omotesando Station sits right in this area, where the Ginza Line, Chiyoda Line, and Hanzomon Line all meet. From the station to Kotto-dori and Miyuki-dori, and on to the Minami-Aoyama 3-chome intersection, boutiques, beauty salons, restaurants, and flagship stores of fashion brands stand one after another.
The Nezu Museum on Kotto-dori holds the Japanese and East Asian antiques collected by businessman Nezu Kaichiro, the first of that name, and opened in 1941 on the former site of the Nezu family's private residence. In 2009, a new main building designed by Kuma Kengo was completed, and in the roughly 17,000-square-metre garden behind it stand four tea houses. Nearby, the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum was the home and studio of the artist Okamoto Taro from 1953 until his death in 1996. The house was designed by Sakakura Junzo, and the concept for the Tower of the Sun at the Osaka Expo was conceived here. Based on our street photos, architecture is the strongest aspect of this neighborhood, ranking 12th among 193 neighborhoods; daily shopping also ranks near the top, at 41st.
Public transit ranks 106th among 193 neighborhoods, and healthcare ranks 110th—these are the two relatively weak points for this neighborhood. Around Minami-Aoyama 3-chome and 4-chome, the area still retains the look of the ordinary residential streets it once was.
In the Edo period, this area was a shimo-yashiki (secondary residence) of Aoyama Tadanari, a senior retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and that is the origin of the place name "Aoyama." From the Meiji era on, Aoyama first developed into a residential area for middle-class families. The subway opened in 1938, and Omotesando Station opened under the name Aoyama-rokuchome Station, located about 180 metres closer to Shibuya than it is now. The Nezu Museum opened in 1941, and the 1945 air raids burned down most of its exhibition rooms and tea houses. Around the time of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Aoyama-dori was widened, and the buildings along it gradually changed over to office buildings, apartments, and boutiques. In 1966, the residential address system was implemented, and old town names such as Akasaka Aoyama Minamimachi were merged into Minami-Aoyama 1-chome through 7-chome. The Chiyoda Line opened in 1972, and the station was renamed Omotesando Station; when the Hanzomon Line opened in 1978, the Ginza Line platform was also moved to its current location.
Compared with the 193 Tokyo neighborhoods in this guide (scores 0–10)
Hospitals with inpatient beds (2020 data), public elementary and junior high schools whose catchment covers this area, high schools and universities within 1 km, stations, and parks of 1 ha or more. Many Tokyo junior high students attend private schools, so junior high catchments are only a guide.
69 blocks · Curated boundary · Data version 2026-10-12
Compared against the Tokyo neighborhoods in this guide; metrics without enough data are not ranked. Shopping counts convenience stores plus the nearer of a supermarket or a traditional market (public and private retail markets); night markets, vendor zones and shopping-street shops are not counted. Transit is rail-first with a lower weight for buses.
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TidyMap rates the street environment and everyday convenience. It does not assess the home itself, safety, noise or actual living experience. Street environment scores use AI assessments of imagery; convenience scores use public facility data.
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