Meguro
Meguro is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947.
Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate head offices, the Komaba campus of University of Tokyo as well as fifteen foreign embassies and consulates. Residential neighborhoods include Jiyugaoka, Kakinokizaka, and Nakameguro. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 277,171 and a population density of 18,890 persons per km2. The total area is 14.67 km2.
Meguro is also used to refer to the area around Meguro Station, which is not located in Meguro ward, but in neighboring Shinagawa's Kamiōsaki district, 100 meters from the border with Meguro ward.
History
The Higashiyama shell mound in the north of the ward contains remains from the Paleolithic, Jōmon, Yayoi, and Kofun periods.The area now known as Meguro was formerly two towns, Meguro proper and Hibusuma, all parts of the former Ebara District of Musashi Province. The two were merged into a Meguro ward for Tokyo City in 1932 and since then the ward has remained with no alterations to its territory.
The name "Meguro", meaning "black eyes", derives from the Meguro Fudō of Ryūsenji. The Meguro Fudō was one of five Fudō-myōō statues placed at strategic points on the outskirts of Edo in the early seventeenth century by the abbot Tenkai, an advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, to provide protection for the new capital of the Tokugawa shogunate. Each statue had eyes of a different color..
Geography
Four other special wards surround Meguro. They are Shibuya, Setagaya, Ōta, and Shinagawa.Districts and neighborhoods
;Hibusuma area- Chūōchō
- Haramachi
- Higashigaoka
- Himonya
- Jiyūgaoka
- Kakinokizaka
- Megurohonchō
- Midorigaoka
- Minami
- Nakane
- Ōokayama
- Senzoku
- Tairamachi
- Takaban
- Yakumo
- Hirachō
- Aobadai
- Gohongi
- Higashiyama
- Kamimeguro
- Komaba
- Meguro
- Mita
- Nakachō
- Nakameguro
- Ōhashi
- Shimomeguro
- Yūtenji
- Sanda
Politics and government
Elections
- 2007 Meguro local election
- 2008 Meguro mayoral election
Sightseeing and local landmarks
Green spaces
- Meguro River
- Komaba Park, Komaba
- Komabano Park, Komaba
- Komazawa Olympic Park
- Rinshi-no-mori Park
- Meguro Sky Garden, Ohashi Linear roof garden park spiraling 35 meters above street level covering the junction of two major expressways.
- Saigoyama Park, Aobadai
- Sugekari Park, Aobadai
- Nakameguro Park and Nature Center
- Himonya Park, Himonya
Cultural institutions
- Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
- Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo
- Meguro Persimmon Hall, concert and performance arts venue
- Meguro Parasitological Museum
- Japanese Folk Crafts Museum
- Chosenin Temple Contemporary Sculpture Museum
- Meguro Gajoen, a landmark historic hotel
Religious institutions
- Himonya Catholic Church
- St. Michael's Catholic Church
- Himonya Hachiman Shrine
- Ōtori Shrine
- Ryūsenji
- Yūten-ji Temple
- St. Paul's Church, Gohongi
- Masjid Indonesia Tokyo
- Gohyaku Rakanji Temple
Transportation
Rail
- Tokyu Corporation
- *Tōyoko Line: - - - -
- *Ōimachi Line: Jiyugaoka - -
- *Meguro Line: Ōokayama -
- *Den-en-toshi Line:
- Keio Corporation Keiō Inokashira Line:
- Note: Meguro Station is in Shinagawa, not Meguro.
Highways
- Route 3 Shibuya radial route
- Central Circular Route C2. Completed in 2016 this deep level subterranean expressway connect the Yamate Tunnel as far as the Bayshore Route in Shinagawa
Education
Colleges and universities
- University of Tokyo Komaba Campus
- Institute of Science Tokyo
- Note: Tokyo Gakugei University and Tokyo Metropolitan University were formerly in Meguro.
- Tokyo College of Music
Public schools
- Komaba High School
- Meguro High School
- Geijutsu High School
Municipal elementary and junior high schools are operated by the Meguro City Board of Education.
Municipal junior high schools:
- Meguro 1st Junior High School
- Meguro 7th Junior High School
- Meguro 9th Junior High School
- Meguro 10th Junior High School
- Higashiyama Junior High School
- Meguro Chuo Junior High School
- Meguro Nishi Junior High School
- Otori Junior High School
- Aburamen Elementary School
- Dendo Elementary School
- Fudo Elementary School
- Gekkohara Elementary School
- Gohongi Elementary School
- Haramachi Elementary School
- Higashine Elementary School
- Higashiyama Elementary School
- Ishibumi Elementary School
- Kamimeguro Elementary School
- Karasumori Elementary School
- Komaba Elementary School
- Midorigaoka Elementary School
- Miyamae Elementary School
- Mukaihara Elementary School
- Naka Meguro Elementary School
- Nakane Elementary School
- Ookayama Elementary School
- Shimomeguro Elementary School
- Sugekari Elementary School
- Takaban Elementary School
- Yakumo Elementary School
International schools
- Aoba-Japan International School
- Tokyo Indonesian School
Economy
Company headquarters
- Amazon Japan head office
- Books Kinokuniya
- Don Quijote discount store chain head office
- LDH
- Makino
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling head office
- Ribera Steakhouse
- Stanley Electric
- TopTour Corporation
- Monolith Soft head office
- Unilever Japan, head office
- Walt Disney Japan, head office
International relations
Friendship cities
- Dongcheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Jungnang District, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Diplomatic missions in Meguro
- Embassy of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
- Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
- Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
- Embassy of the Gabonese Republic
- Embassy of the Republic of Kenya
- Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
- Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia
- Embassy of Nepal
- Embassy of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea
- Embassy of the Republic of Poland
- Embassy of the Republic of Senegal
- Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
- Royal Thai Embassy Military Attaché Office
- Embassy of the Togolese Republic
Notable people from Meguro
- Yumiko Fujita, actress
- Waka Inoue, model, actress
- Risa Tsubaki, voice actress
- Toru Iwatani, arcade game designer, most notable for Pac-Man and Pole Position
- Shigeru Izumiya, folk singer, entertainer
- Masako, Empress of Japan
- Yukio Sakaguchi, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
- Kazuo Tokumitsu, television presenter
- Renhō, politician
Notable residents
- Takuya Kimura, singer and actor in male idol group SMAP
- Shizuka Kudo, popular singer and wife of Takuya Kimura
- Keisuke Kuwata, singer with Southern All Stars
- Nobuyo Ōyama, voices the anime character Doraemon
- Miyu Uehara, gravure idol, found dead in her Meguro apartment
- Halca & Yucali of the hip-hop duo Halcali
- Shori Sato, singer and actor in male idol group Sexy Zone
- Suehiro Maruo, Manga artist, one of the best-known exponents of Ero Guro