Like many Yamanote Loop stations, Gotanda's name speaks of the area's past. Gotanda literally means 5,000 sq. meters of rice paddies, "tan" formerly being a measure for land area equivalent to 1,000 sq. meters.
But today the Gotanda area is a far cry from its bucolic origins, and the quaint moniker no longer reflects the station's reality.
Dominated by financial offices, bars, restaurants and some seedier shops catering to the more carnal of human cravings, the area has been urbanized into a haven for the hordes of salaried workers whose offices are here.