Artists Love Eastside Tokyo

15 Aug 2007 Category: Architecture, Features, Japan

Artists Love Eastside Tokyo

You didn't expect to see these in Tokyo, did you?! Colourful name cards for the geisha of Mukoujima in Sumida ward, eastern Tokyo.

The old quarters of many major cities have strong connections with art and the people living there. Obvious ones would be New York’s SoHo, London’s East End or Berlin-Mitte. But what did you know about the more or less similar scene on the east side of Tokyo? In the Mukoujima and Kyojima districts of Sumida ward, you won’t find many skyscrapers, giant TV screens or kids dressed like they just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Instead, you’ll meet real people who renovate houses to open galleries and cafés, thus living and creating works at their own pace. PingMag takes you on a tour to the east side to explore its charms!

Written by Chiemi
Translated by Natsumi

Peace and quiet just an 8-minute walk from Higashi Mukoujima Station: A bowl of water lilies and bright red goldfish found at the “Mukoujima Hyakka-en” flower park.

After a half-hour journey on the Hanzomon line from Shibuya, the train takes you across the Sumida River. The first thing you notice when you get off at Hikifune Station or Higashi Mukoujima Station is the colour of the sky! In this area where the cityscapes are untouched by skyscrapers, the blueness of the sky on a fine day will overwhelm you. Although gradual redevelopment plans are in the making, the area still makes you forget the fact that we are living in the year 2007!

A glimpse of Old Tokyo! You can still spot many old wooden and tin-walled houses on the east side of Tokyo.

Judging from the style of the window, this house must be pretty old - and still occupied.

Another idyllic feature of the area is the maze-like streets, many of which are narrow alleyways with only about 1 meter in width. No cars here…

If you take a walk around, you’ll notice several backstreet factories - another one of the town’s characteristics. While small factories no longer exist in Shibuya or Shinjuku, they are still dotted throughout this area. Most of the small parts manufactured here go on to be assembled with other parts from another factory nearby. So the sight of elderly workmen pushing carts full of bits and bobs can frequently be seen in the streets.

A big machine of some sort was sitting inside a building we found in the Kyojima 3-chome quarter.

A backstreet factory with its sign saying “Stainless-steel Parts.”

Elderly workmen pushing a small cart together.

The Mukoujima and Kyojima areas are also still known for their many traditional Japanese terraced houses. In the Edo Period, detached houses were extremely expensive, so most commoners lived in terraced houses on back streets. The “Full House” we found in Higashi Mukoujima must be the best representation of the wonderful relationship between the traditional terraced houses and today’s artists.

The entrance of the Full House is the same today as when the building was used for dyeing fabric. Its owner, Mr. Furuhashi, kindly welcomed us when we dropped by unannounced.

Full House is both home and event space in one: A terraced house roughly 85-100 years old renovated by Mr. Furuhashi, an artist by occupation. The facility serves also as an information centre about community rebuilding and artistic activities in Mukoujima.

The ground floor is also used as an event space. The age of the building gives it a special charm.

Beside the Full House, there are many other artistic spaces in the area, such as the Contemporary Art Factory, a gallery in a former factory, the gallery café Koguma, in a building constructed in 1927, and Spice Café, serving up spicy curry and art in an old apartment. Instead of simply being demolished and replaced with new buildings, these newly refurbished spaces seem to radiate the gentle warmth of wood that encompasses the visitors.

Just a 9-minute walk from Hikifune Station: gallery café “Koguma” in a renovated 80-year-old house, located in the Hatonomachi shopping area.

The interiors of “Koguma,” currently with an exhibition of contemporary Mukoujima artists until September 3rd.

Cosy! The entrance of “Spice Café” in Bunka 1-chome.

We also made a stop over at the café and gallery Tenshinan near “Spice Café” and asked the owner, Mr. Nomura, about how he came to open this shop.

He says: “Originally I lived in Ikebukuro when I happened to visit the Spice Café with an artist called Masu Taka, who had an atelier in this area. We came across this property and thought about opening a shop resembling those good old cafés in Shanghai.”

Mr. Nomura, owner of café and gallery “Tenshinan” in Bunka 1-chome.

Inside “Tenshinan” – almost as if time had stopped!

“Tenshinan” – the upper floor serves as gallery space.

During our visit to Tenshinan, we met another guest who is from the area. We asked him what he found so fascinating about the east side of Tokyo, and he smiled back and promptly answered that it is the only place where the old scenes of Tokyo remain to this day.

A pet shop on the way to the Kirakira Shopping Mall in Kyojima.

Sweet and colourful old-school signs are found throughout the area.

A café sign on Kenban street in Mukoujima.

These washing machines at a launderette aren’t the newest models either.

“Mukoujima 2-6” – the quarter’s sign on Kenban street.

If you walk from Hikifune Station to the Hatonomachi Shopping Mall and take a turn towards the Sumida River, you end up at Mukoujima 2 and 5-chome - two districts known for their traditional restaurants. In fact, along with Shinbashi, Akasaka, Kagurazaka, Yoshicho and Asakusa, Mukoujima is one of the six Hanamachi of Tokyo, the geisha districts: Every day at approximately 5pm around Kenban street, running from North to South between Bokutei street and Route 6, you can catch the sight of many geisha on the way to their appointments!

A street with one traditional Japanese restaurant next to the other.

Traditional establishments…

Close by we met Mai, a Mukoujima geisha, at a Kyoto-style fancy goods shop on Kenban street. She was just on her way to an appointment…

In the Sumida ward, the staggering 610-meter-high New Tokyo Tower is due to be completed in 2011. This is likely to mean the the eastern area will receive much more attention and could undergo considerable changes. However, if the artists living and working there can further enliven the area, we have a chance to continue enjoying the same streets and houses for many years to come.

Sumida River as seen from the Mukoujima side.

Many thanks to the folks in Mukoujima and Kyojima for their kind cooperation! See more about eastern Tokyo on our Flickr site!

PingMag wants to support art on Tokyo’s east side! So, please drop us a line about coming exhibitions and events through our contact form!

63 Comments

  1. Shitamachi patina, wooden houses and grassroots initiatives! What could be better?

    Posted by: Momus on August 15th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

  2. Aaah.. I wish I could live there for a couple of months : )

    Posted by: Julio on August 15th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

  3. Yah, it’s weird - almost no one in Japan wants to live in old houses. Apparently, after you live in a house the value goes down dramatically. Old houses like these have such character and fantastic wooden beams. I would like two of them o~o

    Posted by: gnoble on August 15th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

  4. I love the pic of the old house with the huge machine peeking through the door. I remember seeing a place like that in Tokyo, I was walking along and I heard a huge din coming out of a decrepit old building. As I went past the open doors, I could see a worker operating a huge stamping machine, cutting out shoe soles from sheets of leather.
    I recall thinking that this was a symbol of Japan’s true greatness, there is manufacturing capacity shoved into every little shed throughout the country.

    Posted by: Charles on August 16th, 2007 at 1:25 am

  5. I see a lot of areas like that in Nagoya. It’s nice to see neighborhoods like this in Tokyo, too.

    Posted by: Hebi-kai on August 16th, 2007 at 1:38 am

  6. I want to travel to Japan so bad now.T_T This is the stuff I want to see personally.

    Posted by: glyph on August 16th, 2007 at 3:15 am

  7. I havent been to that area yet during my travel to Japan !
    I hope i can go back to Japan again and spend more days in Tokyo !!!
    I can’t wait to see the new Tokyo Tower soon!!!!!!

    Posted by: evon on August 16th, 2007 at 8:47 am

  8. Asakusa and the shitamatchi are fantastic . . . ironic that the areas worst hit by the Kanto earthquake and the WW2 bombing raids are now the only remaining bits of old Tokyo.

    Posted by: tony on August 16th, 2007 at 9:27 am

  9. another example of tokyo’s divesity, beautiful area, i cant wait to visit it.

    Posted by: mac on August 16th, 2007 at 10:26 am

  10. It’s rare to see places that are left as they were long long ago..
    I hope that some of the old buildings are preserved because, once lost, you can’t ever recreate it the same again.

    Posted by: mindy on August 16th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

  11. [...] Tokyo’s artistic district [...]

    Posted by: renaissance chambara | Ged Carroll » Blog Archive » Links for 2007-08-15 [del.icio.us] on August 16th, 2007 at 7:37 pm

  12. the pix are great, and i will def check it out next month when i am there. however, it is easy to wax nostalgic about an area that often has building without modern plumbing, and that in the next major earthquake would most likely be your coffin. for artists and muscians also check out the neighborhoods of Suginami-ku.

    Posted by: jack on August 17th, 2007 at 4:26 am

  13. [...] http://pingmag.jp/2007/08/15/tokyo-east-side/  [...]

    Posted by: Mukoujima and Kyojima districts of Sumida ward, east side of Tokyo on August 18th, 2007 at 10:34 pm

  14. These pics really take me back to the good old days. Fantastic photos and Yes! The great blue sky. Kudos for supporting the art scene at Tokyo East!

    Posted by: maki on August 19th, 2007 at 5:55 am

  15. hi i enjoyed the read

    Posted by: Mariam on August 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

  16. we lived in kyojima for 10 weeks in 2003- as artists in residence at a place called rice+. Last i heard it got knocked down- would love to hear if that is true and get back to the area

    Posted by: nina and alex on March 8th, 2008 at 9:16 am

  17. great article on the shitamatchi- we spent 9 weeks there as artists in residence. Lets hope it still keeps its character

    Posted by: yoke and zoom on November 6th, 2008 at 10:20 am

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