Tokyo Explorer

There are few places quite as relaxing in the Japanese capital as Meguro and Nakameguro.

Cafes and restaurants line the streets as is mentioned over in Ian’s piece on the cafes, bars and restaurants of the area, locals and visitors alike mingle at all times of the day and night in the cosy little offerings alongside the river or on many of the streets branching off, and time passes at a slower pace than it seems to elsewhere in the city.

Time to take it slow? Head to Meguro and sit down at a café or in a restaurant. Many serve up a combination of quiet, darkened corners or open air terraces making the actual choice of place often as difficult as the choice of beverage or dish to idle over.

For those heading to Meguro in the daytime, be you one of those ‘latte-cum-frappacino’ types that likes lounging around being seen, or a more simple person to please for whom an espresso or regular coffee or tea will suffice, the streets truly are your oyster in and around Meguro.

Famous Japanese TV star / musician / chef / sports commentator (yep, a right proper Jack-of-all-trades), Takuya Kimura* lives in the area with his only slightly less famous spouse, Shizuka Kudo.

Nobuyo Oyama and Keisuke Kuwata, famous in the worlds of animation voice acting (Doraemon)and pop music (Kuwata is the lead singer of Southern All Stars) respectively, are other names and faces you could always see out for a stroll, as are, reportedly, Danjuro Ichikawa and his son Ebizo – perhaps the most famous father / son duo currently active in the Japanese theatrical form - Kabuki.

Ebizo in particular is considered something of a heartthrob by many young women, but even if you don’t see the future Danjuro (kabuki positions being hereditary), or another of the star’s of screen and stage calling Meguro home, there will be more than enough wannabes out walking their designer pooches, posteriors wiggling, as men and women look to be noticed. Similar to Omotesando (look for Omotesando in the October Issue of TE) in this regard, Meguro is as close as Tokyo comes to the Champs Elysees in Paris or perhaps Oxford Street in London for the adult crowd.

The older generation will be more than content zipping about on bicycles equipped with little motors and the obligatory bells to warn those ahead of their approach – to help them traverse the numerous slopes in the area, and, unlike the northern and many eastern suburbs of the capital, foreign faces are never far away, tongues from all over the world spoken by folk of all shades.

Meguro, like the rest of Tokyo is what you make it, but whatever you make of it – do so at leisure.

Access: – Meguro Station is best accessed via the JR Station on the Yamanote Line. Subway lines do access the area but can be a little confusing for visitors in getting their bearings.

* names in Japanese are usually surname first, followed by given name, but here we use the standard Western order.