Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward picked as most 'Sensuous City' in Japan

Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward has been chosen as the most “Sensuous City” among 134 in Japan, according to a new city ranking report released by a Tokyo-based think tank Thursday.

To produce a ranking somewhat different from conventional ones, Home’s Research Institute conducted an online survey of 18,300 residents living in the cities, including prefectural capitals and ordinance-designated cities. In Tokyo, each of its 23 wards as well as its suburban cities were surveyed. Osaka and Yokohama are also divided by their wards.

“We wanted to make a new measuring ruler (for people) to view cities,” said Manjo Shimahara, who heads the institute, which is operated by Tokyo-based IT firm Next Co. Next runs a major real estate database service.

Rankings often depend on the images people have of those cities or such metrics as home ownership rates and crime rates. This time, Home’s Research focused on the everyday lives of residents and how they experience their cities.

In one example it looked at “romance,” asking people whether they have had dates, had been asked by someone to go out or had kissed someone while in the street.

Under the “walking” category, the survey asked whether they had heard the sounds of children playing, exercised in their neighborhood or had taken detours while walking home.

By measuring how often the respondents experienced such activities, Home’s scored each city.

Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward scored the highest with 608 points. It received 93.1 points in the category of “sense of community” and 86.1 points in the “walking” category.

Osaka’s Kita Ward also ranked highly and was chosen as the second-best “Sensuous City” after receiving 85.7 and 82.9 points in the “romance” and “opportunity” categories, respectively.

Tokyo’s Musashino was third, while the capital’s Meguro Ward had the fourth-highest score.

Outside Tokyo and Osaka, Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, ranked eighth with a score of 77.3 in the food culture category. Shizuoka came in at 12th.

This is the first “Sensuous City” ranking. Shimahara said the institute may conduct further surveys depending on the reaction to the report.

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