Quick notes and impressions of a neighborhood I’ve visited just once or twice. Let me quote myself:
Located near the southern border of Sumida-ku, almost halfway between the wide Sumida River to the west and the Arakawa River to the east, Kinshicho feels like it stands on more solid ground than other sections of Sumida-ku or Koto-ku to the south. The narrow canals, which set the tone in other sections of those two wards, take a backseat to the elevated Sobu Line tracks which run east-west across this section of the city. (Even so, one of those canals, the Yokojikkengawa 横十間川, runs north-south, crossing the Sobu Line just a few blocks to the east.)
JR Kinshicho Station has over 100,000 daily riders, which is comparable JR Meguro Station, a mid-sized Yamanote Line station.
Apparently my comment about Kinshicho’s nice attributes as true for the north side of the station only. Here’s an exchange I share with a Twitter user:
- Twitter: “the south side of Kinshicho was eye opening”
- Me: “How would you describe it?”
- Twitter: “seedy, dodgy, scary. People loitering, only time I felt unsafe in Japan”
- Me: “Thanks for that. I’ve only been to the north side. Much different feel, apparently!”
- Twitter: “North is fine”
Photos of Kinshicho Station from the 1950s and 1960s:
See also:
the tokyo files archives 東京ファイル 
[…] South of Sky tree is (C) Oyokogawa Water Park 大横川親水公園 trail, a 1.8 kilometer path that built over the remains of a section of the Ooyokogawa River 大横川. The river continues south a little past Kinsicho Station. […]