Where the name Aoto comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
Aoto Station and the surrounding Aoto neighborhood have different Japanese spellings. The station uses the character for whetstone, while the neighborhood uses the character for a doorway or waterside landing. This unusual difference is linked to a legendary medieval judge named Aoto Fujitsuna. Stories placed his residence in the district, and his name popularized the alternative spelling. Katsushika City's history, however, explains that Fujitsuna is considered a fictional figure created in later times.
The original name Aoto is much older. One theory connects the character to, meaning a landing place, with the older word tsu, meaning harbor or port. A medieval document mentions a warrior named Aoto Jiro Shigeshige, who held land in the area. The district lay on low ground beside the Nakagawa River, where waterways were important for transport and daily life.
Walk east from the station toward the river. The terrain is almost completely flat, and farmland and canals once occupied the surrounding neighborhood. Aoto Station opened in 1928, but the official place name has consistently been written with the character for a waterside landing. The station name preserves a later legend layered over a much older riverside settlement.
→ Compare the Japanese characters on the Aoto Station sign with the neighborhood address signs. Then walk east toward the Nakagawa River. The flat waterfront landscape and the contrasting spellings reveal the difference between the old place name and the legend associated with the station.
Sources (in Japanese): 葛飾区史「青戸・地名の由来」, 葛飾区史「青戸と青砥」
Until the late 1940s, farmland began just a short distance from Aoto Station. Local families grew rice and vegetables, but they were also known for making traditional New Year's decorations during the quiet agricultural season. In Nishi-Aoto, corresponding largely to today's Aoto 7-chome and 8-chome, almost every farming household participated during the Meiji period. The district's small decorative straw rings, called Aoto Rinbo, were prized for their quality. Experienced makers could produce more than 500 in a single night.
These decorations were sold at year-end markets in Asakusa, Shiba, Kanda, and Atago. In Omote-Aoto, around present-day Aoto 6-chome, farmers also cultivated leafy vegetables for pickling. Fields, farmhouses, and drainage channels covered the flat land near the Nakagawa River.
Aoto Station opened in 1928. Industrial development followed, including a Toyo Ink factory established in 1937. In 1956, the Japan Housing Corporation built the Aoto housing complex, marking a major transformation from farmland to residential blocks. The elevated station was completed in 1986. Walking north from the station toward the housing estates reveals how a district known for handmade New Year's decorations became a modern suburban neighborhood.
→ Walk north from Aoto Station toward the Aoto housing estates. Their broad residential blocks occupy land once filled with farms producing straw decorations and pickling vegetables. Continue east toward the Nakagawa River to appreciate the flat landscape in which this agricultural community developed.
Sources (in Japanese): 葛飾区史「青戸・しめかざりづくり」, 葛飾区「青戸地区の歴史と市街地の変遷」
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).