Omori
Encyclopedia
35.566667°N 139.733333°E

is a district located a few kilometres south of Shinagawa, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 accessed by rail via the Keihin Tohoku line
Keihin-Tohoku Line
The , is a railway line in Japan which connects the cities of Saitama, Kawaguchi, Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company network. The line's name is derived from the characters for , and the...

, or by road via Dai Ichi Keihin. Ōmorikaigan, the eastern area of Ōmori, can be reached via the Keikyu line
Keihin Electric Express Railway
, also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. means the Tokyo - Yokohama area. The company's railway...

.

Ōmori is one of many areas in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

's largest ward, Ota-ku, and was formerly home to the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 International School before its relocation to Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

. The quality residential and retail developments that the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 school attracted are obvious in the Ōmori-sannō area. Ōmori is home to the headquarters of the automotive company Isuzu
Isuzu
, is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures...

, which has offices in the Belport complex a few hundred metres from Ōmori station.

Prior to its development as a convenient residential and business location, Ōmori was laced with a network of small rivers which were used by many locals for drying harvested nori
Nori
is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver. Finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking...

 (seaweed
Seaweed
Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...

), a staple of the Japanese diet. Modern Ōmori is built on mostly reclaimed land, and is very much a traditional Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 area; there are many shrines
Jinja (Shinto)
A Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house one or more Shinto kami....

 in the area, and during the August o-bon
Bon Festival
or just is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed...

 festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

, mikoshi
Mikoshi
A is a divine palanquin . Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when moving to a new shrine...

 parades are very common.

Ōmori-sannō, to the west of Ōmori station, is an upscale neighbourhood compared to the other side of the tracks, and Ōmori-sannō is known to be traditionally an area where Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese poets, philosophers and writers have made their home.

Ōmori was also the site of a particularly brutal Prisoner-Of-War camp during World War II, staffed by the war criminal Matsuhiro Watanabe
Matsuhiro Watanabe
Mutsuhiro Watanabe was a Japanese sergeant in World War II. He was classified as a Class-A war criminal following the war for his abuse of prisoners of war held by the Japanese military....

.

Two Omori's

Ōmori has two meanings:
  1. Area around JR Ōmori station.
  2. Town of Ōmori.

While Ōmori station opened in 1876 and is widely known to outsiders, the "town of Ōmori" was renamed in 1970 and is less known, and even local residents are often confused. Broadly, the west side of JR Ōmori station is still Ōmori but generally speaking it is considered Sannō area, an uptown.

Education

Ota operates the public elementary and junior high schools in Ōmori.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education is the board of education in Tokyo, Japan. The board manages the individual school systems within the metropolis. The board also directly manages all of the public high schools in Tokyo...

 operates Ōmori High School
Omori High School
is a Japanese high school located in the Ōmori area of Ōta, Tokyo. The school's nickname is .Tōkyū Ikegami Line's Ikegami Station is located near the school.-External links:*...

 http://www.omori-h.metro.tokyo.jp/.

Private high schools include Tokyo High School
Tokyo High School
Tokyo High School is an independent high school in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1872 in what is now Ueno district of Taitō under the name Ueno-juku. It moved to its present location in Ōmori, Ōta in 1934, and assumed its present name in 1954...

.

Parks

  • Heiwa-no-mori Park. Largest park in Ota-ku (99,000 m²)
  • Heiwajima Park. Includes: baseball ground; barbecue park (2,200 yen for ward residents, 2,600); swimming pool (inside and outside)
  • Ōmori-furusato-no-hamabe Park. Maritime park. Local elementary school children call it "Furuhama". Particulars: Free entrance; Closed at night; Fishing is allowed in the rocky stretch of water; Campfires are not allowed; Benches and some tables available; Drinking water; Toilets and no showers; The chlorine
    Chlorine
    Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...

     count usually exceeds the "suitable to swim" level so swimming is prohibited); No shade from sun, and unlike Odaiba
    Odaiba
    is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. It was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s, dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and has developed since the 1990s as a major commercial, residential...

     beach, there is no shops around the beach; Parking lot is not near.

External links

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