Jimbocho Named World's Coolest Neighborhood for 2025 as Tokyo's Book Town Looks to What Comes Next

A quiet Tokyo district takes the top spot

Tokyo's Jimbocho, home to around 130 secondhand bookstores, has been named the world's coolest neighborhood for 2025 by Time Out. The compact district of bookshops, hearty curry counters and coffee houses finished ahead of Borgerhout in Antwerp, Barra Funda in Sao Paulo, Camberwell in London and Avondale in Chicago.

The choice brought global attention to a neighborhood that rarely makes tourist shortlists. Many Tokyo residents reacted with surprise. Jimbocho is better known for quiet browsing, coffee refills and lunchtime queues than for flashy nightlife. Its appeal is built around ordinary activities that people return to regularly: finding a book, eating curry and spending an afternoon in a familiar cafe.

For booksellers, the recognition arrives while Japan's print industry faces pressure from digital reading and changing demographics. Some shopkeepers see the attention as both validation of their work and a possible lifeline for businesses devoted to the printed word.

The ranking also creates a practical question for this small district. More visitors could bring more customers to bookstores and restaurants, while putting pressure on narrow streets and modest premises. The qualities that earned Jimbocho attention depend heavily on the people who already live, study and work there.

What the ranking rewards

Time Out builds its list from nominations by local editors and writers. It then ranks neighborhoods on culture, community, livability, nightlife, food and drink, street life, and a quality it calls nowness. Together, those criteria consider both everyday life and what gives a place its current appeal.

Jimbocho's first place puts a district associated with books and daytime activity at the head of a list that also considers nightlife. Its position reflects a broader mix of experiences, from specialist shops to listening bars, rather than a concentration of late night entertainment.

The complete top ten for 2025 spans neighborhoods in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa:

• 1. Jimbocho, Tokyo.
• 2. Borgerhout, Antwerp.
• 3. Barra Funda, Sao Paulo.
• 4. Camberwell, London.
• 5. Avondale, Chicago.
• 6. Mullae dong, Seoul.
• 7. Menilmontant, Paris.
• 8. Nakatsu, Osaka.
• 9. Vallila, Helsinki.
• 10. Labone, Accra.

Grace Beard, Time Out's travel editor, described the ranking as a celebration of neighborhoods shaped by their residents and local communities.

The biggest takeaway from this year's Time Out ranking is just how much our neighborhoods are shaped by, and for, their local communities.

Jimbocho fits that description through its relationships between students, booksellers, cafe owners and regular customers. The neighborhood's character comes from the uses people have made of it over many years, alongside newer businesses bringing their own interests to its streets.

Inside the bookshops and narrow buildings

Around 130 secondhand bookshops occupy Jimbocho's low rise buildings, many of which contain several kinds of activity. Cafes and curry houses sit at street level, while offices, classrooms and tiny galleries occupy floors above. Students and young creatives bring a steady flow of fresh energy into this established setting.

Komiyama Shoten and Kitazawa Bookstore are anchors for collectors who make regular visits to the district. Isseido Booksellers offers antique books and volumes in foreign languages. Other specialist shops focus on art, photography, rare magazines and subjects that may interest only a small group of dedicated readers.

Many stores are run by their owners, with selections that reflect personal tastes and knowledge. A first edition may sit on one level and a stack of manga on another. The attraction is often the care behind the selection, a conversation with the bookseller or an unexpected discovery, rather than slick design.

Newer independent sellers such as Stacks Bookstore add to that mix. Jimbocho's older businesses and newer arrivals share a district where printed material remains the main reason to stop, look closely and spend time.

Signboards cling to the sides of narrow buildings, and stairways lead to small floors packed with titles. An afternoon can pass between shelves and coffee counters. Most bookstores close by early evening, making browsing primarily a daytime activity.

How an academic neighborhood became a book town

Jimbocho grew alongside Tokyo's academic core. Meiji, Nihon and Senshu universities are within walking distance, as are research libraries and publishing offices. That concentration of readers, students and publishing work helped give the neighborhood its lasting connection with books.

In the early twentieth century, the district took shape as a hub for printing, bookbinding and the scholarly book trade. Those activities connected the making of books with their sale and use. Many buildings remain modest and practical, helping preserve the area's intimate scale.

The neighborhood's history still appears in daily routines. Students eat affordable lunches, readers move between specialist shops, and cafes provide places to pause between visits. Jimbocho offers a living record of student life, publishing culture and cafe traditions in Tokyo.

The district has also inspired fiction. Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is set inside a secondhand bookstore in the area, placing the book town itself at the center of a story.

Japan's publishing industry now faces headwinds as digital reading grows and demographics shift. Against that backdrop, international recognition for a neighborhood devoted to physical books carries particular meaning for the people who sell them.

Booksellers greet the news with pride and surprise

Michiaki Kamoshida, a bookseller at Honmaru, expressed happiness at the recognition and surprise that a book town had attracted so much attention. Honmaru is a shared bookstore where individuals or companies rent a shelf and choose the collection displayed on it.

I'm very happy, but it was unexpected, Kamoshida said. Books aren't really getting that much attention these days, even globally. Especially in Japan, the publishing industry isn't doing that well. So I was very surprised to see this book town getting attention.

Kamoshida's reaction captures the mixture of pride and humility surrounding the ranking. For some businesses, the spotlight offers encouragement at a difficult time for print. Their daily work remains centered on choosing books, caring for them and helping readers find something worth taking home.

Other business owners welcome the attention while saying they never pursued a label such as cool. In online forums, some longtime Tokyo residents celebrate the choice, while others doubt whether a quiet book district fits a global idea of cool.

Those reactions reflect the neighborhood's particular rhythm. Readers and collectors who already know Jimbocho value unhurried afternoons more than a checklist of attractions. The ranking leaves the shelves, staff recommendations and smell of paper familiar, even as it may bring more people through the doors.

Curry and coffee anchor the daily routine

Japanese curry is a local staple: a thick roux served with rice and a pickled garnish. Kitchen Nankai has served katsu curry since the 1960s. Curry Bondy and Sangatsu no Mizu are other favorites, with lunchtime queues part of the neighborhood's everyday scene.

Prices are friendly to students, and seats turn over quickly at lunch. The restaurants fit a district where many customers are eating between classes, work or bookstore visits. For visitors, a curry lunch offers a natural pause before another stretch of browsing.

Traditional coffee houses, known as kissaten, are equally important to daily life. Saboru has been open since the mid 1950s and is known for its retro charm and a thick slice of pizza toast. Its enduring appeal sits alongside newer approaches, including Australian style espresso at Walkabout Coffee.

Milonga Nueva pairs coffee brewed by hand with Argentine tango records. Mafumi Coffee brings together pour overs and calligraphy. These places make a coffee break part of the neighborhood's cultural experience, with each cafe shaped by a particular interest.

At Cafe Ataraxia, staff play classical LPs on vintage equipment, including a gramophone from the early 1900s that is cranked by hand. The attention to music and older objects echoes the pleasure of exploring shops where a book's age, edition or subject can matter as much as its title.

Evenings favor small bars and listening rooms

Jimbocho's evening scene centers on listening bars, cocktail counters and relaxed gathering places. Cocktail Works Jimbocho makes drinks with craft gin and seasonal ingredients. Yon combines an art gallery, a bar and a listening room, hosting small art shows and using a sound system focused on vinyl records.

Music is part of the experience, with room for conversation. Last call comes earlier than in nightlife districts across the river. The evening businesses extend the neighborhood's cultural life without changing its basic preference for small spaces and a measured pace.

For someone planning a visit, that rhythm matters. Bookstores are generally a daytime destination, while cafes and bars have their own schedules. Many places take short breaks in the afternoon, so checking individual opening hours helps connect a day of browsing with an evening drink.

What more visitors could change

More visitors would likely bring fresh revenue to booksellers, cafes and curry kitchens. A district that has long attracted readers and collectors could gain customers arriving first because of the ranking, then discovering businesses they might otherwise have missed.

Jimbocho's compact street grid could also feel the strain of larger crowds. Increased interest can push rents up over time, and small family businesses sometimes struggle when their leases come up. These are familiar concerns in cities where a neighborhood suddenly gains a place in global guidebooks.

Other neighborhoods on the 2025 list show different ways local identity can remain central as interest grows. Borgerhout in Antwerp connects growth with collaborative arts spaces. Camberwell in London draws strength from independent businesses and green spaces.

Local groups often respond to rising interest by shaping events, fairs and opening hours to keep streets welcoming for residents. Jimbocho already has universities, used book fairs and longstanding relationships between business owners and customers that give it stable roots.

Tokyo officials and neighborhood associations tend to promote respectful tourism across the city. In Jimbocho, the character of the businesses also encourages restraint: shops are small, quiet periods matter, and browsing is the main activity. Those habits help explain why change in the district tends to be gradual.

Planning a visit around the neighborhood's rhythm

Jimbocho Station serves the Hanzomon Line, Toei Shinjuku Line and Toei Mita Line, making public transit a practical way to arrive. Daytime visits leave more time for bookstores before they close in the early evening.

Isseido and Kitazawa are useful starting points before exploring side streets and smaller shops. Narrow aisles, limited bench seating and books that may be rare or fragile make patient, considerate browsing especially valuable.

A few practical habits can make a visit smoother for both customers and the people working there:

• Plan bookstore browsing for the daytime, since many shops close by early evening.
• Start with anchor stores such as Isseido and Kitazawa, then explore the side streets.
• Handle rare books gently and ask before opening sealed items.
• Ask permission before taking photographs inside stores.
• Keep voices low and leave room in narrow aisles.
• Carry cash for smaller shops. Some cafes accept cards, but not all do.
• After a curry lunch, free your seat for the next customer when you have finished.
• Use public transit to reach the district.
• Check cafe and bar hours, including possible afternoon breaks.
• Step aside when looking at a map so other people can pass.

Jimbocho rewards time spent looking rather than rushing from one stop to another. A little patience allows visitors to enjoy its shelves, meals and music while respecting the routines that made the district distinctive in the first place.

At a Glance

• Time Out named Tokyo's Jimbocho the world's coolest neighborhood for 2025.
• The ranking considers culture, community, livability, nightlife, food and drink, street life, and nowness.
• Jimbocho has around 130 secondhand bookstores alongside curry restaurants, traditional cafes and small bars.
• Borgerhout, Barra Funda, Camberwell and Avondale completed the top five.
• Grace Beard highlighted the role of local communities in shaping neighborhoods.
• Honmaru bookseller Michiaki Kamoshida welcomed the recognition while expressing surprise amid difficulties for publishing.
• The district developed around universities, printing, bookbinding and the scholarly book trade.
• More visitors could support local businesses while adding pressure on compact streets and rents.
• Most bookstores close by early evening. Quiet daytime browsing and care with books suit the neighborhood's routine.