Part 2 is here

The transformation of Shin-Okubo

Walking through Shin-Okubo, you pass many young people, especially women. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo had been stagnating under the pressure of a declining birthrate and aging population. Shibuya is a prime example. As the Tokyu Department Store in front of the station has been transformed into a high-end shopping center to attract aging residents along the line, and Parco on Spain Slope has been renovated with the aim of attracting more financially well-off “adults,” Tokyo’s streets have slowly been shifting to a higher age group and taking away space from young people.

However, Shin-Okubo is an exception. A survey (N=2032) conducted online at the end of 2022 by us (Rikkyo University Faculty of Sociology, Sadatsune Seminar, Project Research C) targeting Tokyo residents aged 15 and over revealed that although the popularity of the terminal stations of Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro is certainly still high, Shin-Okubo’s appeal as a popular town for leisure and shopping has already surpassed that of Shimokitazawa and Harajuku.

Its defining feature is its large number of young female residents; in fact, in terms of gender ratio, Shin-Okubo has the second highest female population after Ginza, and in terms of the proportion of young people aged 15 to 39, it is the second most female-dominated area in Tokyo after Harajuku (Table 1).

These characteristics are in stark contrast to Akihabara, where males and older people are already the mainstream, but the reason why Shin-Okubo is so popular is undoubtedly due to the Korean wave boom. In fact, among those who frequent the area, 77.3% are Korean wave fans who enjoy K-dramas and K-POP, the figure is higher than any other area – 96.2% for women aged 15 to 39.