The shops and library by Odakyu Tsurukawa Station, with the hillside homes of Nogaya to the north and Buaiso, the former Shirasu residence
Tsurukawa Station's building sits on the north side of the tracks—come out the north exit and you'll find a bus loop and a shopping complex in front of the station, with the city library right next door. The station name "Tsurukawa" is actually an old village name, and what people mean by "around Tsurukawa Station" is really Nogaya, just north of the station. Nogaya 1-chome through 7-chome is a residential area up on the hills, bordered to the north, east, and south by Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
In 7-chome you'll find Buaiso, the former home of Shirasu Jiro and his wife, essayist Shirasu Masako—the old thatched-roof farmhouse is now a memorial museum, about a 15-minute walk from the north exit. Closer to the station, in 2-chome, is Tsurukawa Kagoyama-en, just 4 minutes from the north exit. This was originally a moxibustion clinic founded in 1794; the city took over the main building and garden built in 1906, and opened it to the public in 2025. Based on our street photos, greenery here ranks 39th out of 174 neighbourhoods in Tokyo—the best of the seven categories for this neighbourhood. The streets are also clean, ranking 47th for cleanliness.
Neither the Rapid Express nor the Express trains stop at Tsurukawa, so public transport here ranks just 164th out of 174 neighbourhoods. There are a few supermarkets in front of the station, but daily shopping only ranks 168th—if you live further up the hills from the station, you'll have a bit of a walk to pick up groceries. Tsurukawa Kaido, the street north of the station, carries a lot of traffic and sits close to a major intersection, so it tends to get congested.
Legend has it that during the Kamakura period, four people from Kishu came here to cultivate the land, forming the first settlement. In 1889, Nogaya merged with seven nearby villages to form Tsurukawa Village. All eight villages lay along the Tsurumi River, which is how the name Tsurukawa came about. In 1942, the Shirasu couple bought an old farmhouse here, moving in the following year to take up farming. After the war, Shirasu Jiro represented the government in negotiations with the Allied occupation headquarters. The house's name, Buaiso, refers to its location on the old border between Musashi and Sagami provinces, and is also a homophone for the Japanese word meaning "cold" or "unsociable". In 1958, Tsurukawa Village was absorbed into Machida City. Buaiso opened to visitors in 2001, and was designated a Machida City historic site the following year.
The station is being rebuilt with a new station building spanning the tracks, alongside a new north-south connecting passage about 10.5 metres wide and 120 metres long. According to the schedule Machida City announced in September 2026, the connecting passage is expected to be completed in fiscal year 2027, and the new station building in fiscal year 2028 (Japan's fiscal year runs through March of the following year). The south exit's transit plaza and access roads, on the south side of the station, have been pushed back to open in March 2030.
Compared with the 174 Tokyo neighbourhoods in this guide (scores 0–10)
70 blocks · Curated boundary · Data version 2026-10-04
Compared against the Tokyo neighbourhoods 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.
TidyMap rates the street environment and everyday convenience. It does not assess the home itself, safety, noise or actual living experience. About data limits
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How to read it: yellow = poor, blue = good; grey = not enough data
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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