Toshima

Toshima contains both the crowds of Ikebukuro and the quiet shopping street of Sugamo. The clientele of the two is so different that it is hard to register them as one ward.

Sugamo Jizo-dori is called the Harajuku for grandmothers, and it runs on a calendar. The 4th, 14th and 24th of each month are ennichi fair days, and only then does the street transform. The Jizo's fair day was originally the 24th alone; the temple that relocated here in 1891 extended it to every day ending in four in order to draw people. Arrive unaware of the dates and you will see an ordinary shopping street.

The Ikebukuro side carries a ramen lineage. The line credited with originating tsukemen came from here, and several shops still trade under the name. Many are offshoots, so the same name does not mean the same bowl — and accounts of which house is the true original conflict, as they tend to in this lineage.