page_title: Koreatown
section_title: Tokyo
hierarchical_section_title: Koreatown / Locations / East Asia / Japan / Tokyo
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 枝川のコリアタウン
context_page_description: A Koreatown, also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula.
context_section_description: According to official statistics in 2002, the Korean population in Tokyo amounted to 80,000, which was the second largest following that of Osaka.
  Tokyo's Korean-oriented commercial centre is located in the district of Okubo around the area of Shin-Okubo Station and Okubo Station in Shinjuku Ward. Shinjuku Ward itself has over 14,201 registered Korean residents, representing over 20% of the registered Korean residents in Tokyo.  Unlike other Japanese Koreatowns, the Okubo Koreatown developed after World War II and is dominated by "new-comers" - recent immigrants from South Korea who have retained their ethnic and cultural identity, as can be seen from the ubiquitous signs written in hangul.
  One of the contributing factors in the development of Okubo into a Korean area was the low rents. The low rents and willingness of landlords to accept foreign tenants attracted Korean and other Asian migrants to the area. These businesses cater to the migrant community and increasingly Japanese who come to experience ethnic cuisine. Other immigrants from China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and various other nationalities make this one of the most colourful and multicultural areas in Tokyo.
  The area around Mikawashima station on the Jōban Line, to the north of the city, is a Koreatown dominated by Zainichi immigrants from Jeju island.
  Also noteworthy is a smaller-scale Zainichi Korean quarter to the southeast of Ueno station, and to the southwest, a community of South Korean "new-comers".
caption: Edakawa Korean Town, Koto, Tokyo in 1953
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