, commonly known as Jinbōchō or Jimbōchō, is a district of

Chiyoda, Tokyo , known as Chiyoda City in English,
." ''City of Chiyoda''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008. is a S ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Jimbōchō Book Town and also known as , is a book town located in the district of Jinbōchō, Tokyo, Kanda-Jinbōchō in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The area is known for its high volume and concentration of used bookstores. It additionally houses the hea ...

is known as Tokyo's center of used-book stores and

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

houses, and as a popular antique and curio shopping area. The center of Jinbōchō is at the crossing of Yasukuni-dōri and Hakusan-dōri, above

Jimbōchō Station is a subway station located at the Jimbōchō intersection of the Hakusan and Yasukuni streets in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The station is operated jointly by Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei). Because it is the n ...

on the

Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line The is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by Tokyo Metro. Overview The line serves the wards of Shibuya, Minato, Chiyoda, Chūō, Kōtō, and Sumida. Despite being shorter in length than nearly all other Tokyo subway lines, ...

Toei Mita Line The is a rapid transit, subway line of the municipal Toei Subway network in Tokyo, Japan. The line runs between Nishi-Takashimadaira Station, Nishi-Takashimadaira in Itabashi, Tokyo, Itabashi and Meguro Station, Meguro in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Shi ...

and

Toei Shinjuku Line The is a rapid transit line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the municipal Toei Subway. The line runs between in Ichikawa, Chiba in the east and in the west. At Shinjuku, most trains continue as through services to on the ...

. The prestigious Tokyo Book Binding Club and Literature Preservation Society are located in Jinbōchō, and the area is within walking distance of a number of major universities, including

Nihon Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in th ...

, Senshu, Meiji, Hosei and Juntendo. Jinbōchō is officially known (in addresses, etc.) as , and is part of the former ward of

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People *Kanda (surname) * Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places *Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan ** Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo *Kanda River, a riv ...

History

Jinbōchō is likely named after a member of the , possibly (神保長治) who lived in the area at the end of the 17th century. During the late nineteenth century when Japan underwent modernization, foreign studies schools opened in the area, such as Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for Research of Foreign Documents) and Tokyo Gaikokugo Gakko (Tokyo School of Foreign Languages) which would later become the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and

Hitotsubashi University , formerly known as , is a national university, national research university in Tokyo, Japan. Often regarded as Japan’s foremost institution for the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociolog ...

. Many bookstores opened in the area, and it became established as a book town. In 1913, a large fire destroyed much of the area. In the wake of the fire, a former teacher named

Shigeo Iwanami was a publisher in the early Shōwa period Japan, and founder of Iwanami Shoten. Biography Iwanami was born in what is now part of Suwa, Nagano, into a farming family. His father was a village headman, but he died when Iwanami was age 15, and I ...

opened a bookstore in Jinbōchō which eventually grew into today's

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' ...

publishing house. In 1923, the

Great Kanto Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

caused a fire destroying much of the former Kanda-ku including the Jinbocho library and campus of the University of Tokyo, which was subsequently relocated to Bunkyo-ku. Over time, the area became increasingly popular with university students and intellectuals, and many more small bookstores and cafes opened there. More recently, the Chiyoda municipal government sponsored a major redevelopment project in Jinbōchō which led to three new high-rise office buildings being completed in 2003, further boosting the local economy. The

Jinbōchō Theater is an arts complex comprising a Theatre (structure), theatre, cinema and rehearsal space in the Jinbōchō, Tokyo, Jinbōchō neighbourhood of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Opened on 7 July 2007, the theatre is owned and operated by publishin ...

was completed in 2007. File:Kanda-jinbocho -01.jpg, Kanda-Jinbōchō in 2011(Suzuran Street) File:Jinbo006.gif, Jinbōchō at Yasukunidori and Hakusan File:Jinbo007.gif, Jinbōchō Fall Book Fair

Companies

Many companies are located within Jinbōchō, including the headquarters of Tōkyōdō Shoten, a retail book chain, and manga company

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

, known for the anthology manga magazine, '' Shonen Jump''.

In popular culture

*Jinbōchō is an important location in the ''

Read or Die is a Japanese light novel series written by Hideyuki Kurata, published under Shueisha's '' Super Dash Bunko'' imprint. ''Read or Die'' follows Yomiko Readman, codename "The Paper", an agent for the (fictional) Special Operations Division ...

'' light novel franchise, and is the area where protagonist

Yomiko Readman , also known as "The Paper," is the protagonist in the Japanese novel series ''Read or Die'' and its manga and original video animation (OVA) spin-offs. She is also a major player (but not the protagonist) in the sequel, '' R.O.D the TV''. She als ...

resides. *Studio Ghibli film

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki based on his 2009 manga of the same name. Produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho, the film stars the voices of Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, ...

depicts the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and subsequent fire destroying the former Jinbocho campus of

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. *Manga series

Dropkick on My Devil! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiwo. The series began serialization in Flex Comix's ' web magazine in April 2012. Twenty-five volumes have been released as of June 2025. An anime television series adaptation by ...

used Jinbōchō as the area where main characters Yurine Hanazono and Jashin-chan reside, the district name was also featured in the plot, episode titles, and lyrics of feature songs.

Education

operates public elementary and junior high schools. Ochanomizu Elementary School (お茶の水小学校) is the zoned elementary school for Kanda-Jinbōchō 1-3

chōme The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. When written in Japanese characters, addresses start with the largest geographical entity and proceed to the most specific one. The Japanese system is complex, th ...

. There is a freedom of choice system for junior high schools in Chiyoda Ward, and so there are no specific junior high school zones.

References

External links