Where the name Shin-koiwa 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.
Shin-koiwa is a rare example of a neighborhood that took its name from a railway station rather than the other way around. When Shin-koiwa Station opened in 1928, the surrounding settlements were called Kami-Komatsu and Shimo-Komatsu. A proposed station name was Shimosa-Komatsu, but the railway instead chose Shin-koiwa, meaning New Koiwa, after the nearby Koiwa Station, which had opened in 1899. The official neighborhood name Shin-koiwa was not adopted until 1965.
Walk south from the station into the shopping streets and you will notice the remarkably flat ground. During the Edo period, this was agricultural land belonging to the Komatsu settlements. The older name was part of a wider group of place names in eastern Tokyo, including Komatsugawa. To the west, the broad river landscape of the Arakawa and Nakagawa systems shaped the surrounding lowlands.
After the railway arrived, factories and housing gradually replaced fields. In 1944, a north entrance was added to the station to serve workers commuting to the growing industrial district. Today Shin-koiwa is the better-known name, but the history of Kami-Komatsu and Shimo-Komatsu lies beneath the modern streets.
→ Explore the shopping streets south of Shin-koiwa Station, then cross to the north side and walk toward Shin-koiwa Park. Notice the flat terrain of Tokyo's eastern lowlands. The former farming settlements of Kami-Komatsu and Shimo-Komatsu gradually disappeared as railways, factories, and housing reshaped the district.
Sources (in Japanese): 葛飾区史「新小岩・地名の由来」, 葛飾区史編さんだより「新小岩駅の歴史」
Walk north from Shin-koiwa Station and you will reach Shin-koiwa Park, a spacious green area with lawns and trees. Until the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, this land was occupied by a large steelworks belonging to Daido Steel, the predecessor of today's Daido Steel company. Part of the former industrial site was transformed into the public park. To the west, the Arakawa and Nakagawa rivers border the flat lowlands where factories developed.
During the Edo period, the district consisted of agricultural settlements called Kami-Komatsu and Shimo-Komatsu. Industrial development accelerated in the early twentieth century. Shin-koiwa Station opened in 1928, initially with an entrance only on the south side. In 1944, a north entrance was added to make commuting easier for factory workers.
After World War II, shopping streets expanded south of the station, and a grade-separated road crossing opened in 1962. As industry changed, former factory land was gradually redeveloped for housing and public open space. Walk across the park toward the rivers and look back at the railway. The landscape tells the story of Shin-koiwa's transformation from farming villages to an industrial district and then to a residential and commercial center.
→ Leave Shin-koiwa Station by the north exit and walk across the open lawns of Shin-koiwa Park. A large steelworks once stood here. Continue west toward the Arakawa and Nakagawa rivers. The flat ground, railway tracks, and river corridor help explain why this area became an industrial district.
Sources (in Japanese): 葛飾区史「新小岩駅と周辺の変化」, 国立国会図書館レファレンス協同データベース「新小岩駅の変遷について」
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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).