Nerima separated from Itabashi-ku
Districts and neighborhoods
History
In the Edo period, the area was mostly farmland producing daikon radishes, gobo burdocks, and potatoes. After the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, many people from central Tokyo moved to the area.On October 1, 1932, Nerima town, and Kami-Nerima, Naka-Arai, Shakujii and Ōizumi Villages were incorporated in Old Tokyo City. Prior to the creation of the ward on August 1, 1947, the area had been part of Itabashi. In 1952, the Japan Self-Defense Forces established a base there. The first division of the eastern group of the Ground Self-Defense Force has its headquarters there.  The United States Forces Japan already had a base, Grant Heights, which it returned to Japanese control in 1973. Grant Heights had been Narimasu airfield under the Imperial Japanese Army until the end of World War II. The runway is now the main street in front of the IMA department store in Hikarigaoka.