. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo 江戸の名所 . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ikebukuro district 池袋 "pond bag"
Ikebukuro mura 池袋村 Ikebukuro village
Toshima 豊島区 池袋本町 Ikebukuro Honcho, 池袋 Ikebukuro, 西池袋 Nishi-Ikebukuro, 南池袋 Minami Ikebukuro .
. Toshima ward and 巣鴨 Sugamo .
In the Edo period, Ikebukuro mura was a farmer's area outside the main city. It was only incorporated in 1818.
There were many ponds and wide forests, with foxes voices to be heard. There even lived a white snake in the pond.
There was also a meandering river with many ponds like bags surrounding it.
The ponds have all been filled with the arriving of modern times.
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Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan.
Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits.
At the center of Ikebukuro
is the train and subway station, a huge urban gathering shared by the JR East lines, the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and the Tōbu Tōjō Line. It is one of the main commuter hubs in the western Yamanote area of Tokyo.
Ikebukuro Station is the third-busiest station in Japan, and the world.
Around the station
are the Seibu and Tōbu department stores. Seibu, written with the characters for "West" and "Musashi (province)" 西武, is on the east end of the station and Tōbu, written with the characters for "East" and "Musashi" 東武, is on the west end. East of the station, on the site of Sugamo Prison, stands Sunshine 60, which was Tokyo's tallest building at the time of its construction. The Sunshine 60 contains a large and popular shopping mall, which contains various attractions including an aquarium, a Pokémon Center, and cat cafes. Adjacent to Sunshine City, on Meiji-Dori, is the Toyota Amlux Building which houses the Toyota showroom. Otome Road, a leading shopping area for otaku products aimed at women, is located nearby. Marui and Don Quijote also have department stores in the area. The principal electronics retailer in Ikebukuro is Bic Camera. There is a small pleasure district located in Nishi-Ikebukuro, similar to Shinjuku's Kabukichō.
- map of Ikebukuro station
The old village of Ikebukuro
stood to the northwest of the station. Most of the area on which modern Ikebukuro is built was historically known as Sugamo. In the Taishō and Shōwa periods, the relatively low land prices attracted artists and foreign workers, who lent a somewhat cosmopolitan atmosphere to Ikebukuro.
Until October 1, 1932 when Toshima ward was established, the area was an independent municipality of Ikebukuro-mura (池袋村).
The kanji for Ikebukuro literally means pond bag.
Outside the west exit of Ikebukuro station near an entrance to the Fukutoshin Line is a small plaque explaining how the area used to have multiple lakes, hence the name.
There is a small statue of an owl
located near the center of the city called Ikefukurō-zō (いけふくろう像), meaning pond owl statue.
It is a play on words from the alternative meaning of "fukuro" as "owl" (although owl is pronounced with a long final "oh", rather than a short "o" in the word "fukuro" for bag). The owl statue has become a famous meeting place along the lines of the statue of Hachikō located outside Shibuya Station.
- - - - - Ikebukuro Tokyo Chinatown
Ikebukuro is home to many ethnic Chinese who arrived in the 1980s, leading to a variety of Chinese goods and services being provided in the district, which are popular among tourists interested in Chinese culture. However, the Ikebukuro Chinatown is smaller and less populous than Yokohama's Chinatown just to the south of Tokyo.
- source : wikipedia
- - - - - modern Ikebukuro - - - - -
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- - - - - Ikebukuro Chinatown - - - - -
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A New Chinatown Emerges in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro
Chinatowns have existed as ethnic enclaves in Japan since the nation opened its borders to the outside world in the mid-nineteenth century. More recently, as Japan and China build closer economic ties, a new Chinatown is taking shape in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro.
..... Japan’s three major Chinatowns are enclaves established by old overseas Chinese as they interacted with Japanese society over a long period of time. I wondered whether the growing number of new overseas Chinese were forming a new Chinatown in Japan.
- - - - - A Chinatown Takes Shape in Ikebukuro
The solution to this puzzle came in the words of a Chinese studying in Japan. Toward the end of the 1990s this Chinese student told me that Ikebukuro is a convenient place for Chinese, because there are plenty of part-time jobs and shops offering whatever a Chinese person might need.
Prompted by this statement, I began to explore the east and west sides of Ikebukuro Station, and eventually I discovered a concentration of Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, bookstores, Internet cafes, and travel agencies founded by new overseas Chinese on the north side of the station. This was visible confirmation that, as I had seen in other countries, a new Chinatown was being formed. In 2003 I named this area “Ikebukuro Chinatown.” At first, searching the Internet for “Ikebukuro Chinatown” would only bring up my website, but a similar search now will yield more than 100,000 hits. Ikebukuro Chinatown has been featured in television programs and newspaper and magazine articles, and many people have become aware of its existence.
- - - - - Japanese Language Schools and Reasonable Rents
- - - - - Out and About in Ikebukuro Chinatown
The gateway to Ikebukuro Chinatown is the north exit of Ikebukuro Station, a popular meeting place for many Chinese. Not one minute on foot from the north exit is Yangguangcheng, a Chinese supermarket with characteristic red signage. On the fourth floor in the building across the street is Chinese Foods Youyi Shangdian, the successor to Zhiyin Chinese Foods, whose shelves are stocked with a full range of Chinese foods. O the second floor of the same building is Wenshengtang, a Chinese bookstore.
Unlike Japan’s three major Chinatowns,
many of the Chinese businesses in Ikebukuro Chinatown are located on the upper floors or in the basements of multitenant buildings. The first floor is frequently occupied by a Japanese chain store or a Japanese business in existence for some time. Vacancies are few for those new overseas Chinese hoping to start a business on the first floor. Hence, the trick to walking about Chinatown is to keep your eyes directed upward.
As of June 2015, I have counted about 210 Chinese businesses to the north and west of Ikebukuro Station, of which some 60 are Chinese restaurants.
- source : Yamashita Kiyomi -
Chuka Ryori 中華料理 Chinese Food
Chinatown 中華街 in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki
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Kami-Ikebukuro 上池袋
Ocha-agare Jizo お茶あがれ地蔵 Jizo drinking tea
In the Genroku priod, the ghost of a woman who was not allowed to marry the man of her choice and had died appeared around the statue of Jizo every night and sighed:
お茶上がれーお茶上がれー
"Have some tea, have some tea".
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. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
................................................................................. Ikebukuro 池袋
ayashiki koto あやしきこと a strange thing
In 赤坂伝馬町 Akasaka, Denmacho, a strange something appeared every night, yes, every night.
Almost like Ikebukuro no Kai 池袋の怪 the Yokai from Ikebukuro.
One evening a villager left a brush and paper outside and next morning, it had written something on the paper.
岡本綺堂 池袋の怪 - 青空文庫 - Book by Okamoto Kido (1872 - 1939)
- Japanese Text -
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. kitsune densetsu 狐 伝説 fox legends .
The foxes from 野中 Nakano were eight siblings, and always played around human beings without any harm.
Most of them took the form of a beautiful man and got married. This is the same behaviour as 池袋村の狐 the foxes from Ikebukuro village.
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. ubugami 産神 "deity of birth" .
guardian deity of pregnant women, newborn babies and one's birthplace
If a woman was born in 池袋村 Ikebukuro village (former 練馬 Nerima district) and is disrespectful to the deity of her birthplace, her home will be hit with disaster and misfortune.
Therefore most women of this district looked for a wedding partner here and never ventured out.
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- reference : nichibun yokai database -
Ikebukuro no Onna - The Woman from Ikebukuro
池袋の女（いけぶくろのおんな）は、江戸時代末期における日本の俗信の一つ。
- reference source : wikipedia -
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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -
すこし酔ひ跣足で歩く池袋
sukoshi yoi hadashi de aruku Ikebukuro
a bit drunk
I walk barefeet
in Ikebukuro
岡田史乃 Okada Shino (1940 - )
池袋二丁目常の目刺出て
岡本眸 Okamoto Hitomi (1928 - )
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A Haiku poet named
- 池袋寛 Ikebukuro Kan -
昼の虫日向国府という田舎
hiru no mushi Hinata Kokufu to iuu inaka
insects at daytime -
a countryside named
Hinata Kokufu
. insects at daytime, hiru no mushi 昼の虫 .
kigo for autumn
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. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .
. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo 江戸の名所 .
. Doing Business in Edo - 商売 - Introduction .
. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- - - - - #ikebukuro #toshima - - - -
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