User:Urashimataro/Yamanote

Tokyo's 23 Wards (-ku)

This article is about the geographical area called Yamanote. For the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) commuter line, see Yamanote Line.

The traditional name for the affluent, upper-class areas of Tokyo west of the Imperial Palace, especially Bunkyō-ku-ku and Shinjuku-ku.. The name, which in Japanese means an elevated ground or plateau is due to the fact that it lies on the slopes of the Musashino Plateau, which is a relief that, from inner Honshu goes down towards the sea, so that even Edo Castle and the Imperial Palace rest on it. Both the the Yamanote Line and Yamate Dori (or Kampachi) take their name from the region, which they cross.

History of the term Yamanote

Tokyo used to be physically, culturally and economically divided in two parts: the plebeian Shitamachi (Japanese: 下町 (したまち), Shita machi), literally low town or low city located next to the [Sumida River]], and the aristocratic Yamanote (Japanese: 山の手 (やまのて), Yama no te) located on the hills of the Musashino Plateau. Although neither of the two was ever an official name, both stuck and are still in some use. Both words are used with the same meaning in other parts of the country too. The term Yamanote is also used for example, Hokkaido, Oita and Osaka. The term Yamanote has a connotation of classiness, whereas Shitamachi has one of liveliness and human warmth.

The Yamanote Today

Because the terms are centuries-old, their meaning and the physical areas they define have changed several times. In an interview with magazine Metropolis, noted translator and Shitamachi scholar Edward Seidensticker declared that in his opinion nowadays the dividing line between today's equivalents of Shitamachi and Yamanote goes from Ginza to Shinjuku, and he prefers to call the two areas north and south because the old names are not longer appropriate. He claims that a century ago Shitamachi's Ginza and Nihonbashi were the center of Tokyo insofar as shopping and entertainment were concerned. Today, those centers are in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya and Shinagawa..