It’s a blustery winter afternoon, and a young couple in hoodies and baseball caps study apartment listings taped to the glass doors of a real estate agency near Takenotsuka Station on the northern fringe of Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, close to the border with Saitama Prefecture.
“We’re thinking about moving to this area since we’ve heard it’s pretty affordable,” says the woman, a hairstylist in her mid-20s. “But we’ve also heard it has a bit of a sketchy reputation and might be unsafe at night, so we’re walking around to take a look. So far it seems like any other neighborhood, really.”
For outsiders, Adachi Ward — particularly its commercial and entertainment districts, such as Takenotsuka — has long carried a reputation as one of Tokyo’s rougher neighborhoods where cheap bars, pachinko parlors and weathered public housing complexes give off a faintly seedy air.
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