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The story
News that Kugenuma Station on the Enoshima Electric Railway in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, took the top spot for the first time in Recruit’s “2026 Neighborhoods You Want to Keep Living In Ranking (Tokyo Metro Area Edition)” — based on data from the real estate site SUUMO, which Recruit operates — became a hot topic on 5ch. Shibuya Ward also placed near the top in the same ranking, but on the thread, a skeptical take along the lines of “Isn’t this really just a ranking of properties realtors want to sell?” quickly gained traction, sparking arguments over what Kugenuma is actually like and whether popularity is shifting from Shonan toward Atsugi and Ebina.
In the “2026 Neighborhoods You Want to Keep Living In Ranking (Tokyo Metro Area Edition)” conducted by Recruit, which runs the real estate information site SUUMO, “Kugenuma” (on the Enoshima Electric Railway) in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, took the top spot for the first time.
Kugenuma is one of the tourist spots in the Shonan area. Among the neighborhood’s appealing qualities, items like “I feel attached to what makes this town unique” and “Living here gives me a sense of purpose” ranked highly.
◇Kugenuma: “A lively area”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Has to be it lol
Southern All Stars are from Chigasaki, so that's not it.
Are those places even that essential these days?
Tower Records and Loft lol
There's Hope-ken! (a famous local ramen shop)
There's the skating rink.
It's close to Kitasando, Killer Street, Aoyama, and Harajuku. A quick bus ride and you're in Azabu/Hiroo too. Surprisingly stylish and quiet neighborhood.
That neighborhood's kind of sketchy though.
You still catch that station-slope commercial once in a while, so it must be popular. (a well-known ad filmed on the hill in front of the station)
Not many convenience stores or vending machines around there — actually pretty inconvenient to live in.
And yet here you are, checking out a thread about the Tokyo metro area anyway.
Isn't it about time you graduated from the "5ch fan theory" that popular-neighborhood rankings are secretly just realtors' wish lists?
Popularity's actually shifting to Atsugi and Ebina, and Shonan properties aren't moving. Time to educate yourself.
Huh? Places like Atsugi and Ebina are packed with rundown apartments the moment you step away from the station.
Go see it for yourself lol. There's a massive development area right by the station now — no rundown apartments left lol. You sure you're not thinking of the Sagami Line? lol
That's exactly why I said "the moment you step away from the station."
Shinjuku and Ikebukuro are also packed with rundown apartments once you get a bit away from the station lol
Is that from before the mansion district went up?
A friend of mine who lives in Kugenuma pointed out manga artist Yuujin's house — an over-the-top, Greek-style mansion kind of like Yukio Mishima's place. The late Nagisa Oshima's house (where his widow, actress Akiko Koyama, still lives) was an old-fashioned Japanese-style home.
I got sick of the brainwashy ads plastered inside Tokyu trains and the surprisingly low caliber of the residents, so I escaped to eastern Tokyo. ("TQ" is shorthand for the Tokyu railway, from its station-code prefix)
Tokyu trains are nice and clean. Back when I lived along the Tobu line, I really appreciated that. Tobu trains look grubby even brand new.
Even with the same level of crowding, you can tell people's manners by whether they make way for others getting on and off. The Saikyo Line is literally the worst — it's like a cattle car.
Seriously, a train line really tells you a lot about the manners of the people living along it.
Is the Saikyo Line about the only one with security cameras as standard equipment?
Background and Points of Contention
SUUMO’s “Neighborhoods You Want to Keep Living In Ranking” is a satisfaction survey of people who actually live in each area — a different sample from the more familiar “Neighborhoods You Want to Live In Ranking” (an open popularity poll, regardless of where respondents currently live). Because this distinction doesn’t come across easily, skeptical reactions along the lines of “Isn’t this just a promotional ranking for real estate companies?” have become a 5ch staple every time the results come out, and this time too, the first comment along those lines quickly drew agreement. Where the thread split was over how popular the Shonan area actually is: claims that popularity is shifting toward inland redevelopment areas like Atsugi and Ebina drew pushback from posters who said they knew the areas firsthand. Views on Shibuya were similarly divided — some pointed to changes among commercial facilities around Shibuya Station as proof it has “gone downhill,” while others argued the district as a whole remains highly popular, a gap that comes down to how narrowly or broadly people define “Shibuya” and is easy to miss from the original article alone.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “‘Neighborhoods You Want to Keep Living In’ Tokyo Metro Area Ranking #1 Is ‘Kugenuma’ — Shibuya Ward Also Highly Popular.”
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