Known as Japan's biggest Koreatown, with eateries from across Asia and homes side by side
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
Known as Japan's largest Koreatown, Okubo is basically still a residential area. The restaurants and grocery stores along its streets aren't just Korean—they're also Chinese, Thai, Burmese, Indian, and in recent years there are more shops from Islamic countries too. The Korean shops on Shokuan-dori and Okubo-dori are basically there for residents living in this area to buy everyday necessities.
As of October 2026, about 30% of residents in this neighborhood are foreign nationals, twice the ratio for Shinjuku City as a whole; in Hyakunincho 1-chome and 2-chome it's around 40%. From Shin-Okubo Station on the Yamanote Line and Okubo Station on the Chuo-Sobu Line, it's just one stop to Shinjuku.
Daily shopping ranks 43rd out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, the top-ranking item for this neighborhood. Public transit ranks 55th, and healthcare ranks 44th, both also near the top.
Hyakunincho 3-chome and 4-chome went through a round of disaster-prevention upgrades: wooden houses were rebuilt, narrow alleys were widened, and the former site of a building research institute was turned into a City-run disaster-prevention park. Hyakunincho also has quite a few ordinary residences and various specialized schools.
From our street photos, buildings rank 322nd out of 395 neighborhoods, the weakest item for this neighborhood. Cleanliness ranks 305th, also near the bottom.
In the Edo period, the residence of the Iga-gumi Hyakunin Teppotai (the Hundred-Man Matchlock Gun Unit) was located here, which is how Hyakunincho got its name. The troop members grew azaleas as a side job; when Hibiya Park opened in 1903, most of the azaleas were sold off to be planted there, and after that the pace of housing construction picked up.
From the Taisho era through the prewar years, Okubo was a neighborhood of mansions belonging to the kazoku nobility and businessmen, and writers such as Koizumi Yakumo and Shimazaki Toson lived there, so it came to be called the "Okubo Writers' Village". During the Great Tokyo Air Raids, the area was almost entirely destroyed.
After the war, people demobilized from the front opened musical instrument repair shops near Shin-Okubo Station, and Hyakunincho was for a time known as "the town of musical instruments". From the late 1980s, new Korean residents began to increase, and from the 1990s onward, shops from various Asian countries, apartments for international students, and Japanese language schools increased along with them.
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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