Next to Ueno, with Asakusa-dori lined with specialist shops for Buddhist altars, prayer beads and festival palanquins
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
The western boundary of this neighborhood is Showa-dori; cross the street and you're in Ueno. Asakusa-dori cuts across the middle of Higashi-Ueno, lined with specialty shops selling Buddhist altars, Buddhist ritual items, and mikoshi festival equipment - everyone calls it Butsudan-dori, and the shops extend beyond the neighborhood into the Tawaramachi area. The shops sell everything from prayer beads and incense sticks to taiko drums and lanterns.
Along Showa-dori it's still considered part of the Ueno bustling district; in the Higashi-Ueno area, homes and storefronts are mixed together. In 2020, about 20,000 people lived here.
Shitaya Shrine in Higashi-Ueno 3-chome is said to be the oldest Inari shrine in Tokyo. In summer, mist sprays within the grounds, and people gather there to cool off.
For convenience of living, this neighborhood ranks 6th out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, 10th for public transit, and 6th for everyday shopping.
Inaricho Station sits right in the middle of the neighborhood; beneath Showa-dori there's also an entrance/exit for the Ginza Line's Ueno Station, and beneath Kasuga-dori at the southeast end of Higashi-Ueno there's Shin-Okachimachi Station. Taito City Office is also in Higashi-Ueno.
At the Ginza Line rail yard in Higashi-Ueno 4-chome, there's a railroad crossing where the tracks cross a road - the only one of its kind on a Japanese subway line. Here, cars and pedestrians have priority, and the train has to stop and wait.
From our street photos, greenery ranks 374th out of 395 neighborhoods - the weakest aspect of this neighborhood; buildings rank 231st, in the lower-middle range.
In 2020, about 224 people lived per hectare in this neighborhood. The main JR Ueno Station building is not within the neighborhood - it's about 150 meters outside the western edge.
Shitaya Shrine was originally located in what is now the Ueno Park area; after the Great Kanto Earthquake burned down the shrine hall, it moved here in 1928. Earlier, in 1798, the first-generation Sanshotei Karaku opened the first yose (a small theater for storytelling and traditional performing arts) within the shrine grounds, and the shrine now has a monument marking it as "the birthplace of yose".
Inaricho Station opened in 1927 along with the Ueno-to-Asakusa subway line; the station's name comes from the town name at the time, Minami-Inaricho - "Inari" refers to Shitaya Shrine. In 1964 the address was changed to Higashi-Ueno 3-chome, but the station name stayed the same; Exit 3 still looks the same today as it did when the station opened.
Around the intersection of Showa-dori and Asakusa-dori, a redevelopment preparatory association was formed in 2024 for about 1.0 hectare of land, with Tokyo Metro and Obayashi Corporation participating. As of its formation in 2024 it's still at the preparatory association stage, targeting completion in the mid-2030s.
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
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