Hirai, an "island" framed by two rivers, where the old temple Hirai Shoden still keeps a Rokumeikan chandelier
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
Hirai is surrounded on the north, east, and west sides by the Arakawa and the Kyu-Nakagawa, connected to Komatsugawa only on the south side—this "island" was only enclosed after the Arakawa was dug out in the early Showa period. On one side of the station's north exit is Hirai Shoden (Tomyoji temple), about a 5-minute walk from the station, one of the three great Shoden temples of Kanto. The temple still has a chandelier that was sold off when the Rokumeikan was demolished in 1940, and it was still in use as of 2010.
The straight road extending south from Hirai Station is the Hirai Shinwakai shopping street, which had about 90 shops in 2022. In 1997 the section in front of the south exit was widened, but once past the traffic light it's still the old width of the road, with shops lined up tightly on both sides.
Beside the shopping street, there's a Seiyu at the north exit, and inside the station and in the two-story building next to it there's also Shapo loco Hirai, a shopping complex that opened in 2018. The redevelopment of the block in front of the station, 5-chome, was completed in January 2025, adding about 374 housing units along with shops and childcare facilities.
The neighborhood's town boundaries also include two sections of the Arakawa riverbed, with sports fields and water surface totaling about 34 hectares. For those cycling to the station, both the north and south exits have underground bicycle parking.
Hirai Station only stops Local trains on the Chuo-Sobu Line, and the scale of the bus terminal and shops in front of the station is smaller than at the neighboring stations of Kameido and Shin-Koiwa. For convenience of daily life, it ranks 322nd among 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo.
Looking at our street photos, buildings rank 364th, the lowest-ranked item in this neighborhood. Because of ground subsidence around the station area, it has become a zero-meter-above-sea-level zone, with the station itself at about negative 2 meters above sea level.
In the past, to get from the city of Edo to Hirai, one had to take a ferry across what is now the Kyu-Nakagawa; the Hirai ferry crossing to the north became lively right in front of the gate of Hirai Shoden. In the mid-Edo period, the monk Keiyu revived Tomyoji temple and brought in Shoden to build a hall, and from then on it became famous for its Shoden devotion.
In 1899, Hirai Station on the Sobu Railway opened, becoming the first station within what is now Edogawa City. Later development centered around the straight road connecting the station to public facilities, which is today's shopping street. In the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 10, 1945, the Komatsugawa and Hirai area suffered devastating destruction, and the station was also burned down.
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.
Maps show the shops and the sights. What a street is like, you only know by walking it. TidyMap uses AI street imagery analysis and public facility data to turn each area's street environment and everyday convenience into something you can compare. Search an address and look at the street outside first.
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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