Jimbocho in Tokyo is the world’s coolest neighbourhood in 2025

35 comments

1. I like Jimbocho but that’s a bit ludicrous.

2. Yes absolutely, Chinese investors, buy properties in Jimbocho. 

3. I want some of whatever these list makers were smoking when they decided this

4. What’s their definition of “cool?”

   I personally love Jimbocho since I’m a book lover but when it comes to trendy shit or whatever, jimbocho doesn’t come to mind. Once the bookstores are closed, jimbocho is like a ghost town

5. Since I’m often there, that’s probably why.

6. It’s not even the coolest neighbourhood in Tokyo. Or even the coolest neighbourhood in Chiyoda.

7. I think Time Out also said that Chazawa Dori in Sangenjaya was in the top 10 coolest streets in the world.

   Now, I live near there, and the Seiyu is nice, but im not sure if I trust Time Out when they rate “cool”

8. I’m guessing they’ve finally realized that they can’t just keep recycling the same old neighborhoods endlessly for their lists so rolled the dice and came up with Jimbocho this time.

9. Next year, Jimbocho wins Galaxy’s coolest neighbourhood, make it happen !

10. I mean Jimbocho is alright but not even the best Tokyo Neighbourhood.

    It looks and feels a bit too cold.

11. Imho coolest neighbourhood is 100% Sugamo. No hate.

12. *Survey conducted in Jimbocho, in a local ramen shop, by 8 men, all over age 65.

13. Jinnan is cool nowadays. It’s replacing daikanyama since it’s already dead. Nakameguro next. Jimbocho is definitely not the coolest neighborhood

14. I used to work in one of the buildings in that photo. Jimbocho is *fine*, but not a place I would go for fun. I guess Timeout likes curry and dusty old books.

    That izakaya visible in the back, 魚金, was not half bad, but I’ve never had the staff of a restaurant forget/mix up my orders more often.

15. Thank you TimeOut for notifying me to never take your opinion on anything. 
    I actively avoid Jimbocho as it is so devoid of anything except used book stores and climbing gear. It is bland and lifeless in the extreme. 

16. Time Out are just embarrassing these days.

17. Jimbocho is the new Shimokitazawa. All the kids are reading used books, wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patches, and wearing little teeny, tiny round spectacles. What a stupid article. It’s like someone stuck a pin in a map of Tokyo, and it hit Jimocho. Time out stinks in Japan, Beijing, and Shanghai.

18. Oh ffs, give us a break. Actually with who ? Would love to know.

19. It’s literally the only place I’ve been kicked out of a cafe for having tattoos. A cafe, full of wild art and everything, at that. 

20. They got it all wrong, it’s actually … *throws dart at map* Keisei-Hikifune!

21. Huge fan of tourists visiting Jimbocho because it’s where Timeout has told them to go, trying desperately to fit in with the supposedly intellectual vibes of the area by browsing old shops full of books they can’t read. Funnier still when a solid chunk probably haven’t read an actual book in their native language for some years.

22. It’s a vibe sure but not even in Tokyo it’s the coolest.

23. Sounds like the government begged them… “Anywhere except Koenji, Kichijoji or Shimokita!”

24. I bought a few movie pamphlets seemed not much different than any other area what is making the area cool ?

25. Time Out Tokyo is run entirely by one those wooden Drinking Bord Toys who spends its days copy and pasting links to illuminations and corporate TeamLabs collaborations. They reset it according to the season.

26. You need to see more Tokyo neighborhoods.

27. “This is one of the few neighborhoods we haven’t drowned in foreign tourists yet with our recommendations.”

28. Always was

29. I mean, it’s cool if you can read the language. Given how difficult the language actually is to master, your average tourist is NOT going to have the literacy for that. Some of the books I’ve seen are old enough to contain obsolete kana from pre-1946. A lot of them are reference material. Basically, it’s like walking into any other used book store in the world being illiterate in the language

30. Maybe because of Glitch Coffee

31. If you work in Otemachi and live in Jimbocho/kanda? It’s an ok place to chill, maybe find some retro mags/comics or have a cheap meal. But this is a stretch ; millions of second hand books that you can’t read and a few crusty movie poster shops. F-ing hipsters and their ‘content’

32. Whatever that list is, I no longer trust it.

    Jimbocho is only slightly cool because of the ski shops nearby.

33. I’ve been in Jimbocho and Antwerp. Both are not that cool as this article said. :p

34. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

    I work in Kudanshita, and I can categorically say that this is pure bullshit

35. Time Out Tokyo, as clueless as ever 😂

    If the writers/editors truly had a finger on the pulse of this city, then they’d know that one of Tokyo’s most happening little neighborhoods right now is just a stroll away from Jimbocho.

    But Jimbocho isn’t it.

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