Tokyo's coolest neighbourhood? There isn't one

Is Shimokitazawa the coolest neighbourhood? It's hard to say.

- Gearoid Reidy

It's fair to say that Tokyo has some of the world's hippest neighbourhoods.

But I wasn't the only one to raise an eyebrow when Time Out magazine declared Jimbocho to be not just the coolest in the Japanese capital, but in the entire world.

Jimbocho? Really? The place with the bookstores and ski shops?

Look, as areas go, it's perfectly lovely. Nestled in between the northeast side of the Imperial Palace and the Kanda River, it boasts over 100 bookshops and perhaps the capital's best curry.

It has a pleasing mix of modern and classic, exemplified by the mashup of artisanal cafes and traditional kissa coffee shops.

The student-heavy crowd means it has a youthful skew, while Yasukuni Shrine, the Nippon Budokan arena and the Tokyo Dome stadium are all within walking distance.

But other parts of the capital have all that and more.

Fundamentally, what even is a "coolest" neighbourhood? Who gets to arbitrate these things?

Tokyo has been featuring in these lists for years. But it wasn't until the late 1990s or early 2000s that global images began to shift from Blade Runner-style neon skyscrapers to the city's walkable districts.

Japan was, for most, still unknown back then and like all things that are trendy, the foremost requirement is that I, the writer, know the subject more intimately than anyone else.