Behind the high-rises on Ome Kaido lie residential lanes — Tokugawa Yoshimune's elephant was once kept around here
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
The three redevelopment area high-rises at the Nakano-sakaue intersection were built one after another between 1996 and 1999. Along Ome Kaido are office buildings, shops, and apartments; turn behind them and you're in residential lanes. The elephant that Tokugawa Yoshimune brought in from Vietnam was later entrusted to farmers here in Honcho to raise, and Asahigaoka Park has an explanatory sign about it.
Honcho is split between the upland plateau and the south-facing slope down toward the Kanda River, with housing on both sides. East of Honcho, across the Kanda River, is Nishi-Shinjuku in Shinjuku City; take the Marunouchi Line and it's two stops to Shinjuku.
In the lanes, single-family houses, apartment buildings, and small apartments are mixed together, with young people living alone. In 2020, nearly seven out of ten households in this neighborhood were single-person households, higher than Nakano City's overall rate of six in ten; those aged 25 to 39 made up about 28%.
From our street photos, the neighborhood environment ranks 4th out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, sidewalks rank 6th, and greenery ranks 5th.
Asahigaoka Children's Center in Honcho 2-chome is a 3-minute walk from the station, right next to Asahigaoka Park.
Beyond the two subway lines, the bus stop at Nakano-sakaue also has routes to Shinjuku Station West Exit and Shibuya Station. The Marunouchi Line splits into two branches at this station, and the branch line to Honancho departs from here.
The terrain isn't flat: the intersection sits at an elevation of 34 meters, with the surrounding area eight or nine meters lower; some slopes are fairly steep, and some sidewalks are built as stairs.
The Oedo Line platform is on B4, built together with the Shuto Expressway tunnel, and the escalator down from the ticket gates is very long.
The station name comes from Nakano-zaka, a slope on Ome Kaido: heading west from Shinjuku, after crossing Yodobashi Bridge, climbing the slope brings you to Nakano-sakaue.
From the Meiji to Taisho eras, the flour-milling industry flourished in Nakano-sakaue. Millstones can still be found on the streets today: Hosenji Temple has a millstone mound memorializing old millstones, and Harmony Square, completed in 1997, also uses millstones as seats.
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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How to read it: yellow = poor, blue = good; grey = not enough data
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