Shiinamachi, a 1930s artists' colony of studios, where the station-front shopping street turns pedestrian-only in the evening
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In the 1930s, rental housing with painting studios was built on the north side of the station, and painters and poets gathered there, turning it into an artists' studio village. The Shiinamachi Sun Road shopping street extends out from the station front, roughly following the former course of the Yabata River. In the evening there are many shoppers, and the stretch of road in front of the station turns into a pedestrian paradise.
The shopping street spreads out from the station front in all directions, connecting with the residential area; among the houses around the north exit, there are still quite a few narrow lanes and old wooden houses. About 65% of households in this neighborhood live alone, similar to Toshima City overall; the share of private rental housing is a bit higher than the City as a whole. Minami-Nagasaki was once part of Mejiro Bunka Mura, and spacious houses can still be found there today.
Healthcare ranks 35th out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, the strongest ranking in this neighborhood; daily shopping ranks 72nd. For children's schooling, Minami-Nagasaki 1-chome has Fujimidai Elementary School, and Nagasaki 2-chome has Nagasaki Elementary School.
The shopping street also has its own yearly rhythm: in early September, the two-day Nagasaki Shrine festival fills the station front with stalls; at the end of November, Sun Road treats people to free imoni (taro stew). For commuting, Shiinamachi is served only by Local trains, with Ikebukuro the previous stop; Express and Semi Express trains both pass through without stopping.
The area around the north exit is a district dense with wooden housing, and Toshima City's policy is to promote the demolition and rebuilding of old houses and gradually widen the narrow lanes. The section of Auxiliary Road No. 172 running through Nagasaki 1- to 5-chome was originally scheduled for completion in fiscal 2020, but as of the end of fiscal 2025 it is still under construction, with completion now planned for the end of fiscal 2030. Looking at our street photos, street cleanliness ranks 357th, the weakest point in this neighborhood; sidewalks rank 310th.
This area was called "Ikebukuro Montparnasse". From 1939 to 1966, what are now Minami-Nagasaki and Mejiro 4- and 5-chome were all called Shiinamachi; today the name is still used for the station, the elementary school, and the shopping street.
In the Showa 30s, the Nagasaki area saw many more wooden apartments built for young people coming from other parts of Japan. Outside this neighborhood, in Minami-Nagasaki 3-chome, the Tokiwaso Manga Museum opened in 2020, recreating the wooden apartment building where manga artists such as Tezuka Osamu lived in their early years.
Tokyo's plan is to review the redevelopment of the dense block around the north exit in step with the Auxiliary Road No. 172 construction. Toshima City's policy, meanwhile, is to make only minor changes to the existing street layout, proceed slowly, and preserve streetscapes like Sun Road where shopfronts line up one after another.
Compared with the 395 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, parks of 1 ha or more, and large shopping malls and department stores. Many Tokyo junior high students attend private schools, so junior high catchments are only a guide.
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