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

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. It is known for its extensive Korean community, and is often called Tokyo Koreatown.^[1]

Among Korean communities in Japan, Ōkubo is relatively unique for hosting Koreans who arrived relatively recently, beginning around the 1980s. By contrast, many other Koreans in Japan arrived during or are descendants of people who went to Japan during the Japanese colonial period; these Koreans are called Zainichi Koreans.^[2] Business significantly increased after the rise of the Korean Wave beginning in the late 1990s. 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]}

History

Koreans first began settling in the area in significant quantities around 1983, shortly after Japan began allowing exchange students and more foreign workers due to a labor shortage. More immigrants arrived beginning in the late 1980s, when South Korea lifted its restrictions on foreign travel.^[5][6] The area had relatively lower rent fees, making it popular with immigrants.^[5] It became significantly associated with Korea in the 1990s.^[5]

Until the mid-1990s, there weren't many Korean businesses in the area. However, around 1995, there was a sudden increase in their quantity. Non-Korean visitors to the area spiked a number of times in the following years, following a number of Korean popular media booms in Japan. One such boom was around 2000, after the release of the action movie Shiri. Another boom occurred after the release of the 2002 drama Winter Sonata.^[5] The area came to be popularly called "Koreatown" around the time of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which South Korea and Japan jointly hosted.^[5]

The area has become a center for Japanese people interested in Korean culture. Lee Seung-min, chair of a Korean association in the area, World OKTA (Korean: 월드옥타), said in 2014 that his Korean language learning school had had more than 10,000 students since 1996.^[7]

On January 26, 2001, a 26-year old South Korean man named Lee Soo-hyun and a Japanese man Shiro Sekine made headlines after they died while trying to rescue a drunk Japanese man who had fallen onto the tracks of Shin-Ōkubo Station. The pair were hailed as heroes in both Japan and South Korea. Lee's ancestors had previously worked as forced laborers in Japan during the colonial period, which contributed to Lee's public reputation of selflessness.^[8][9] Prime Ministers Yoshiro Mori and other government officials bowed at a memorial for Lee on January 29, 2001.^[9] Lee's life was semi-factually portrayed in a Japanese film entitled 26 Years Diary in 2007;^[10] the film was famously viewed by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.^[5] Donations from both Japan and South Korea were sent in significant quantity to Lee's parents. They used the funds to create the Lee Soo-hyun Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which was to provide scholarships for students across Asia to study in Japan.^[11][12] By 2021, the fund had assisted 998 students.^[12]

In 2013, it was reported that business in the area had doubled since 2008.^[13]

In 2001 the Federation of Korean Associations, Japan is created.

Around May 2013, it was reported that there were around 12,000 Korean residents in Shinjuku.^[5] By July 2013 several nationalistic anti-Korean demonstrations done by right-wing Japanese have occurred in Ōkubo.^[1]

By 2018 restaurants of other ethnicities opened in Okubo; a concentration of them opened in "Muslim Town". There is also a "Little Chinatown".^[14]

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

35°42′05″N 139°42′00″E / 35.701289°N 139.700049°E / 35.701289; 139.700049