A quiet residential area ringed by a cemetery and park greenery; the station was once called Tama-Bochimae, "in front of Tama Cemetery"
The area around Tama Station is a quiet residential neighborhood surrounded by green spaces like Tama-Reien and Musashino-no-Mori Park. When the station opened in 1929 it was called Tama-Bochimae ("in front of Tama Cemetery"), because right next to it was one of Japan's largest public cemeteries at the time. With the cemetery right there, temples of various sects and stonemasons gathered here; back then there was almost nothing in the area besides them, and it was surrounded by pine forest. After the war, housing gradually increased, and now Momijigaoka, west of the station, is a residential area. In front of the station there's a shopping association and a few convenience stores, and nearby are Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the American School, giving it a bit of an academic neighborhood feel.
Senryu-ji Temple in Momijigaoka 2-chome is one of the temples that gathered here, about a 7-minute walk from the station. It was founded in 1471 in Honjo, Sumida Ward, moved its cemetery to Tama-Reien in 1928, and the whole temple relocated here after being burned down in air raids in 1945. The community hub for Momijigaoka is the Momijigaoka Cultural Center, which serves all of Momijigaoka. The centre is a 12-minute walk from the station, and inside are a community hall (kominkan), a children's hall, and a welfare hall for the elderly. Musashino-no-Mori Park and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, east of the station, are outside the neighborhood, on the former site of the US military's "Kanto Mura". In December 2020 the station switched to a new building above the tracks with a public passageway, and the bus terminal is at the east exit.
For everyday shopping, it ranks 218th out of 219 neighborhoods in Tokyo, with convenience stores being the main option in front of the station. For greenery it ranks 108th, which is mid-range, but this is actually the best-ranked category for this neighborhood. The Seibu Tamagawa Line is a single-track, isolated line with 4-car trains; you need to ride to Musashisakai to connect with the JR Chuo Line.
The Tama Railway was originally built to transport sand and gravel from the Tama River, running from Musashisakai to Kita-Tama starting in 1917. Tama-Bochimae Station opened in 1929. In 1941, the Army's Chofu Airfield was built near the station in the Asahicho 3-chome area, which became the US military's "Kanto Mura" after the war, and was not returned until 1974. In the latter half of the 1990s, development plans for the former airfield site east of the station were finalized one after another, and nearby residents began to question having the word "cemetery" in the station name. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies relocated here in 2000, and in 2001 the National Police Academy and the Metropolitan Police Department's Police School also moved in, causing passenger numbers on the Tamagawa Line to increase significantly. In March of that same year, the station name was changed to Tama Station.
Compared with the 219 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.
61 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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