Kamata Hachiman Shrine
10min walkWithin walking distance of Kamata Station, yet spacious enough inside its grounds that the noise of the station front disappears.
Tokyo
kamata
A shitamachi district that once made films, still working as a gateway to Haneda
Photo Doricono / Unsplash
Kamata sits at the centre of Ota Ward, a working-class district that hosted the Shochiku Kinema film studio from 1920 to 1936 and was, for a time, one of the great production centres of Japanese cinema. In the Edo period it was known for its plum orchards, the Kamata Umeyashiki. Today it is a transfer point where the JR Keihin-Tohoku Line meets the Tokyu Ikegami and Tokyu Tamagawa lines — separate from Keikyu-Kamata Station, which serves Haneda Airport.
Sightseeing
The Classics
Kamataen
2min walkA small Ferris wheel on the roof of the station building — one of the few rooftop amusement spots left with that retro, in-a-department-store feel.
Nishi-Kamata Park
8min walkA park running alongside the railway tracks, with a bronze statue, play equipment, bicycle parking and a rental-cycle stand — a practical park built into everyday local life.
Local Secrets
Shochiku Kamata Studio site (Ota Citizens' Hall Aprico)
5min walkWhere Shochiku's film studio stood from 1920 to 1936; a public hall occupies the ground today. A model of the studio is in the basement, and the newel posts of the Shochiku Bridge that crossed in front of the gate are in the entrance. The posts and railing outside are reproductions made for the 1986 film Kinema no Tenchi.
💡 Five minutes on foot. The displays are in the lobby and the basement, and how much you can reach depends on what is on that day, so check first if this is why you are going.
Seiseki Kamata Umeyashiki Park
17min walkIt began in the Bunsei era, when Yamamoto Kyuzaburo, who sold the travellers' remedy wachusan, planted plums on his land and opened a rest house for those walking the Tokaido. It became famous for the blossom and Hiroshige drew it. Emperor Meiji came nine times, and a plum he planted himself in 1873 is why the park carries seiseki, the mark of an imperial visit, in its name. Today it is a long, narrow ward park.
💡 Seventeen minutes on foot, which is a fair way. Umeyashiki station on the Keikyu line is closer. The plums flower from February into March.
Food & Drink
The Classics
Maruyama Shokudo
4min walkA diner open since 1971, known for its fried oyster set meal.
MARCHA
3min walkA Spanish restaurant tucked into a basement near the station, decorated with tiles and pretty tableware.
The Memory of This Town
A town that needed no sound
In 1920 Shochiku bought nine thousand tsubo of land in the village of Kamata, the site of a former chemical laboratory, and built a studio on it. Other places had been considered: the area around Inokashira Park, the shore at Kozu, Omiya Park, the Kagetsuen grounds in Tsurumi. Kamata was chosen for a plain practical reason — it was easy to reach. Two kinds of stage were put up, and one of them had a roof of glass. Film had no sound then. What it needed was light. On a clear day the sun came through the roof and that was enough to shoot by.
Sixteen years later, on 15 January 1936, the studio closed and moved to Ofuna. The reason was sound. The moment film could record it, the noise of the town, which nobody had thought about before, began to end up on the negative. By then Kamata had become a town of small factories. After the Manchurian Incident the war industries multiplied, and at the Niigata Ironworks near the studio they were building diesel engines. That noise, it is said, settled the matter. The town's own growth drove the studio out.
The site now holds the Ota Citizens' Hall, Aprico. A model of the studio stands in the basement, and in the entrance are the newel posts of the Shochiku Bridge that once crossed in front of the gate. Outside the building there are posts and a railing of the same design, but those are reproductions, built for the 1986 film Kinema no Tenchi. A prop from a film about the studio stands on the ground where the studio was. And Ota Ward is still a place of small factories, still making the same kind of noise that once ruined the takes.
- The Shochiku Kamata Studio opened in June 1920 and closed on 15 January 1936. It was built on 9,000 tsubo bought from the site of the Nakamura chemical laboratory in Kamata village, Ebara district, together with one brick office building.
- Sites near Inokashira Park, the Kozu shore, Omiya Park and the Kagetsuen at Tsurumi were also considered; Kamata was chosen because it was easy to reach. Source: Shochiku.
- Two stages were built: a glass stage with a glazed roof for natural light, and a dark stage lit only artificially.
- The move to Ofuna was caused directly by noise once film went to sound. War industries multiplied after the Manchurian Incident, and the diesel engines being built at the Niigata Ironworks near the studio are said to have been especially bad. Business reasons — a pretext for collecting unpaid capital subscriptions — are also cited.
- The site is now the Ota Citizens' Hall Aprico: a model of the studio in the basement, the newel posts of the Shochiku Bridge in the ground-floor entrance. The posts and railing outside are reproductions used in the 1986 film Kinema no Tenchi. Source: Ota Ward.
Through the Year
- Junthe first Fri–Sun
The Annual Festival
Rokugo Shrine
Some forty mikoshi come out from the fourteen neighbourhood associations of Rokugo. Lion dances on the Saturday, the procession on the Sunday. It was once called the Hikifune festival and counted among the three great boat festivals of the Kanto. The shrine is not by Kamata Station: take the Keikyu line a few stops south, to Rokugo-dote.
Dates shift from year to year. Check the shrine or organiser before you plan around one.
Where to Stay
APA Hotel Keikyu-Kamata
11min walkA hotel by Keikyu-Kamata Station, used by travellers prioritising the Haneda Airport connection. As the name suggests, its nearest station is Keikyu-Kamata, not JR Kamata.
Rates vary by season — check a booking site
Hotel Amanek Kamata
3min walkA hotel with a large communal bath.
Rates vary by season — check a booking site
Getting to Kamata
From Shibuya
29 min · 1 transfer (change at Shinagawa) · JR Yamanote Line → JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥260
From Shinjuku
37 min · 1 transfer (change at Shinagawa) · JR Yamanote Line → JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥350
From Tokyo Station
24 min · direct · JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥260
From Ueno
32 min · direct · JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥350
From Ikebukuro
40 min · 1 transfer (change at Shinagawa) · JR Yamanote Line → JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥440
From Shinagawa
9 min · direct · JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥210
From Narita Airport
97 min · 2 transfers (change at Nippori and Shinagawa) · Keisei Skyliner → JR Yamanote Line → JR Keihin-Tohoku Line · ¥3,010
From Haneda Airport
36 min · 1 transfer (change at Tenkubashi) · Tokyo Monorail → Keikyu Airport Line · ¥360This route arrives at Keikyu-Kamata, a separate station about 10 minutes on foot from JR Kamata. The monorail plus the JR Keihin-Tohoku line does reach JR Kamata, but costs ¥772 — more than double.
Times are for a typical daytime weekday and fares are ordinary tickets, rounded. Both change — check a route planner on the day.
Getting There
JR Kamata Station is served by the JR Keihin-Tohoku Line and the Tokyu Ikegami and Tokyu Tamagawa lines. To catch the Keikyu Main Line or Airport Limited Express toward Haneda, you need to walk to Keikyu-Kamata Station, a separate station roughly 750–800 metres and about 10 minutes on foot away. Leave time for the transfer.
Best Time to Visit
Kamataen on the station-building roof runs during the day. The diners and bistros are mostly used by locals, so some fill up early in the evening.
Local Tip
It helps to remember there are two stations called Kamata — JR/Tokyu Kamata and, separately, Keikyu-Kamata — so you don’t get caught out changing trains. If you’re heading to Haneda Airport, budget time for the walk to Keikyu-Kamata.
What the Name Means
The origin is disputed. Some read it as deep, muddy paddy; some as a field where kama, the bulrush, grew; some trace it to an Ainu word for an island afloat in a marsh. Nothing is settled, but every account points to the same thing: wet, low-lying ground.