The main gate of Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Tech) is right outside the station, with a whole row of cherry trees just inside
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
Come out of Ookayama Station, and right in front of it is the main gate of Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology). Through the gate, you're greeted by a whole row of cherry trees.
The cherry trees on campus are led by the old trees in front of the main building, planted as tree-lined avenues along the various paths. Besides students and faculty, the local residents have always loved them too.
The station and the surrounding shopping streets are mostly in Kita-senzoku, Ota City, so this area, which straddles Ota City and Meguro City, is often called Ookayama as a whole. The names of the Kitaguchi shopping street and the Minamiguchi shopping association come from the two exit staircases from when the station was still at ground level.
Looking at our street photos, greenery ranks 38th out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, the highest-ranking item for this neighborhood. Shimizukubo Benzaiten in Kita-senzoku 1-chome has a spring, listed among the 57 Famous Springs of Tokyo. This spring water still flows into Senzokuike outside the neighborhood today.
Directly above the station building is Tokyu Hospital, which moved here in 2007, the first hospital in Japan built directly above a train station. The station is where the Meguro Line and the Oimachi Line meet, and the two lines heading the same direction transfer across the same platform. Trains heading toward Meguro go to Akabane-iwabuchi and Nishi-takashimadaira.
Public transit ranks 252nd, the lowest-ranking item for this neighborhood; daily shopping ranks 196th. The southern part of Ookayama 2-chome is the campus, while the housing on the Meguro City side of Ookayama is mainly in the north. In 2020, this neighborhood had about 185 people per hectare.
There are two theories about the origin of the place name: one says it comes from the large landowning Okada family, the other says it's because the area has many small hills and valleys. During the Taisho era, Den'en Toshi Company, led by Shibusawa Eiichi, developed and sold residential land here.
In 1923, the Meguro-Kamata Line opened a station here. In 1924, Tokyo Higher Technical School, the predecessor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, moved here from Kuramae. The move was brought about by Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway, the predecessor of Tokyu: it wanted to develop Ookayama into a gakuen toshi (university town), so it did an equal-value land swap between Ookayama and the school's land in Kuramae.
Today, the railway from Ookayama Station toward Okusawa runs flanked on both sides by the campus of Institute of Science Tokyo. In October 2024, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University merged to form Institute of Science Tokyo.
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.
Content is for personal browsing. Official TidyMap neighborhood cards may be shared as generated; anyone using one commercially is responsible for their own compliance (sharing guidelines). Bulk extraction, APIs and dataset redistribution require a data licence — email us. This site uses Google Analytics and Cloudflare Analytics.