Ōkubo, Tokyo

Ōkubo (大久保), also known as Shin-Ōkubo (新大久保), is a neighborhood in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The neighborhood is built around Shin-Ōkubo Station, accessible on the Yamanote Line, and is known for its extensive Korean community.[1] Shin-Ōkubo is home to both Korean residents in Japan as well as Korean immigrants,[2] and has seen an upsurge in popularity due to the Hallyu Korean pop-culture boom. In recent years the area has also attracted many Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants, with many international restaurants and stores opening up in the neighborhood as a result.[3] [4]

Downtown Shin-Ōkubo during daytime. Note the trilingual signs across the street.

History

Shin Sang-yoon, the director of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, stated that Koreans began coming to Shin-Ōkubo around 1983 because at that time it was one of the most inexpensive areas of Tokyo. In 2001 the Federation of Korean Associations, Japan is created. By July 2013 several nationalistic anti-Korean demonstrations done by right-wing Japanese have occurred in Shin-Ōkubo.[1]

By 2018 restaurants of other ethnicities opened in Shin-Okubo; a concentration of them opened in "Muslim Town". There is also a "Little Chinatown".[5]

Economy

As of July 2013, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan stated that Shin-Ōkubo had 500 businesses, including around 350 restaurants.[1]

References
  1. Ryall, Julian. Big trouble in Little Korea: spiral of race hate grips Tokyo. South China Morning Post. 3 July 2013. Retrieved on 5 July 2013.
  2. 'We have to get along': Japan's Korean residents at sharp end of diplomatic row Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 29 September 2019
  3. Migrants look to Asia, the new land of opportunity: More workers turn east as US and Europe shut their doors IORI KAWATE, Nikkei, March 31, 2018
  4. [https://www.gotokyo.org/en/destinations/western-tokyo/okubo/index.html
  5. Kobayashi, Hiroyuki; Takao, Yasuaki (2018-02-18). "Tokyo's Shin-Okubo district offers a taste of the world". Nikkei Shimbun. Retrieved 2022-11-08.

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