is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It is mainly a residential ward, located in the northwest of the . It is the 23rd and the newest ward in Tokyo. In English, the ward translates ward as city, as do some of the other special wards of Tokyo. In Japanese and other languages, it refers to itself as Nerima Ward.
Nerima Ward is nicknamed , because the earliest anime studios started up in the ward, like Toei Animation and Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production, making it the birthplace of anime, of the first color anime feature film The White Snake Enchantress, and of the first anime TV series Astro Boy. , Nerima has the largest concentration of anime studios in Japan, followed by the neighboring Suginami Ward. Nerima has also served as the setting for several popular anime and manga series, including Doraemon, Ranma ý, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Tokyo Ghoul, and Digimon Adventure.
, the ward has an estimated total population of 749,451 people. It has 399,800 households, and 21.6% of the ward's population is elderly (over the age of 65). The total area of the ward is 48.08 km<sup>2</sup>, which gives a population density of 15,591 persons per km<sup>2</sup>.
Nerima is located within the Wards Area of Tokyo, in the north part of the West of the Palace area (Ã¥ÂÂ西ã¨ãªã¢, Jà Âsai eria). Neighboring wards are Itabashi Ward (to the east), Toshima Ward (to the southeast), Suginami Ward, and Nakano Ward (to the south). To the west it neighbors two cities in the Tama Area of Tokyo: Musashino (to the southwest), and Nishità Âkyà  (to the west). To the north lie three cities in Saitama Prefecture: Wakà Â, Asaka and Niiza.
The ward is roughly rectangular, measuring 10km east to west and 4km to 7km north to south, with an area of 48.08km. It accounts for about 7.7% of the total area of the 23 wards, making it the 5th largest of the 23 wards.
To the northwest, there is a small exclave called Nishi-Ã Âizumimachi, enclaved within the city of Niiza in Saitama Prefecture. The ward is working to incorporate the exclave into Saitama Prefecture, but residents are opposed to the plan.
The entire ward lies within the Musashino Plateau and features soil composed of loam formed from volcanic ash. The highest point in the 23 wards is in Nerima Ward, around Musashi-Seki Park. There are two peaks in the plateau at an altitude of about 58m in Sekimachi-Minami 4th Street and Sekimachi-Kita 4th Street.
The main rivers are the Shakujii River and the Shirako River, and the difference in elevation is small. In the past, the Naka-Arai River, the Senkawa Aqueduct, and the Tagara Irrigation Canal flowed through the ward, but have dried out since. Groundwater from the Musashino Plateau surfaces as springs, creating the Sambà Âji Pond, Shakujii Pond, and Fujimi Pond.
Nerima Ward has implemented an addressing system based on the Act on Residential Addresses (Act No. 119 of May 10, 1962) in most areas. Based on this system, the ward comprises 46 neighborhoods (çº, machi), each further divided into numbered neighborhood blocks called chà Âme (ä¸Âç®) or Streets, which have local neighborhood associations called chà Ânaikai (çºå ä¼Â).
The neighborhoods are as follows, arranged by postal code and postal area:
In Nerima Ward, the first three digits of the postal code are either 176, 177, 178, or 179, depending on the area.
During summer months, the Nerima Ward experiences intense heat, with many days exceeding 35ðC and peak temperatures sometimes reaching 38ðC. During winter months, it recorded a low of -7.0ðC in 2018, and between January and March each year, low-pressure systems approaching from the south often bring snowfall, when the costal wards in downtown Tokyo receives only rain or sleet.
These temperature variations, combined with drainage from local rivers and irrigation canals, create ideal conditions for agriculture. Nerima has become renowned for its specialty crops, including Nerima daikon, cabbage, blueberries, and grapes. Annual precipitation typically ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 millimeters, showing no clear long-term trends.
Toshimaen (closed permanently on August 31, 2020) was an amusement park in Nerima Ward. The majority of the former Toshimaen site was purchased by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government after its closure, and is planned to be developed as a large park that serves as a base for use in event of a disaster. Another part of it was used to reopen as The Making of Harry Potter - Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo.
Toshimaen reopened as Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo â The Making of Harry Potter, announced in August 2020 and opened on June 16, 2023, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo â The Making of Harry Potter is the second such park in the world, after the one in London, which opened in 2012. It is located in Nerima Ward, on part of the now-defunct Toshimaen amusement park site. Similar to its counterpart in London, the 30,000 square-meter attraction in Tokyo offers visitors a walking tour through some of the recreated famous film sets including the Great Hall, the Forbidden Forest, and the Diagon Alley. It also displays film sets, costumes, and props that were used in the Harry Potter films. In addition to Harry Potter, it also covers the Fantastic Beasts spin-offs. Steam locomotive 4920 Dumbleton Hall, which is identical to the locomotive used in the Harry Potter movies, will be an exhibit.
People first began living in Nerima during the Paleolithic period. Archaeological evidence that bears witness to this has been discovered throughout the ward, such as the Paleolithic spear-point stone tools excavated from the Musashi-Seki site, which are registered as cultural property of the ward.
During the Heian period, most of Nerima was part of Toshima District (è±Âå¶Âé¡, Toshima-gun), which included the city of Edo, in Musashi Province. By the end of the Heian period, the Toshima clan had control of the district.
During the beginning of the Muromachi period, the Toshima clan, who had power at the mouth of the Arakawa River, expanded their territory along the Shakujii River, and eventually built Nerima Castle and Shakujii Castle (now Shakujii Park). The Toshima clan continued to rule until Toshima Yasutsune, the lord of Shakujii Castle, was defeated on April 28, 1477, by à Âta Dà Âkan, a vassal of the Uesugi clan who built Edo Castle.
The leyend has it that when Dà Âkan launched his final assault on Shakujii Castle, the castle's lord Toshima Yasutsune faced inevitable defeat. Yasutsune placed a golden saddle, a treasured heirloom of the Toshima clan, on his snow-white horse and rode to the cliff behind the castle. With Dà Âkan's soldiers watching from below, he spurred his horse over the edge, plunging into the waters of Sanbà Âji Pond (located in present-day Shakujii Park), where both horse and rider drowned. Yasutsune had a beautiful second daughter called Princess Teruhime, who was so saddened by her father's death that she threw herself into the same pond and drowned with him. Moved by compassion for the princess, Dà Âkan ordered a memorial mound built in her honor. Local folklore says that those who climb the old pine tree near Teruhime's mound can glimpse the golden saddle still gleaming at the bottom of the pond. This tree is called Teruhi-no-Matsu. Today, Nerima Ward commemorates the princess with an annual festival called the Teruhime Matsuri.
After the defeat of the Toshima clan, the area came under the influence of the à Âta clan, and then the Hà Âjà  clan, before transitioning into the Tokugawa era.
During the Edo period, Nerima developed as a major suburban farming village in Toshima District, that supplied the city of Edo with daikon, burdock, and potatoes, among other products. During this period, the area's specialty, Nerima daikon developed. The earliest reference of Nerima daikon is from the 1683 geography book edited by Toda Mosui. One of the legends about its origin is related to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the 5th shogun of the Edo shogunate, who built a villa in the village of Shimo-Nerima before becoming shogun, and brought seeds of Miyashige daikon from Owari to a vacant lot within the villa and cultivated them. The Senkawa Aqueduct, which is now almost a culvert, was developed by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1696 and became a valuable water resource for agriculture in Nerima at the time.
After the Boshin War, the city of Edo was removed from Toshima District, and was renamed Tokyo City. In 1878, during the abolition of the han system in the Meiji era, the rest of Toshima District was divided into Kita-Toshima District (Ã¥ÂÂè±Â島é¡, Kita-Toshima-gun) and Minami-Toshima District (Ã¥ÂÂè±Â島é¡, Minami-Toshima-gun). Nerima was incorporated into Kita-Toshima District under the District, Town and Village Organization Act of 1878 (é¡åºçºæÂÂç·¨æÂÂæ³Â).
After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, population began to flow from the city center into the Nerima area.
On October 1, 1932, Kita-Toshima District merged into Tokyo City as part of Itabashi Ward, including the town of Nerima and the villages of Kami-Nerima, Naka-Arai, Shakujii, and à Âizumi.
During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Army operated Narimasu Airfield in the Nerima area in Itabashi Ward. At its peak, the earthworks were rushed, with 3,000 people working in day and night shifts each day. The Imperial Japanese Army's 47th Air Squadron, 43rd Airfield Battalion, and the Narimasu Detachment Maintenance Unit of the Tachikawa Branch of the Air Arsenal were based there. Towards the end of the war, it became a place for the Southern Operation Squadron to regain its fighting strength, and the 48th and 231st Shinbu Special Attack Units were stationed here and used it as a training ground. In addition, the 101st, 102nd, and 103rd Air Squadrons were also relocated there. Remnants of its wartime infrastructure can still be seen today. Concrete bunkers that once housed aircraft remain visible in Hikarigaoka Park, and the runway is now the main street in front of the IMA department store in Hikarigaoka.
During the occupation of Japan, the occupying Allied forces renamed the former Narimasu Airfield to Grant Heights on March 3, 1947. On April 5, the construction of family quarters for the United States Army Air Forces began, and was finished in June, 1948.
In 1946, shortly after the end of the war, the local government system was reviewed by a memorandum of the Allied Forces. One of the measures was to merge the then 35 wards of Tokyo into 22 wards. The people of the Nerima area in Itabashi Ward had long been troubled by the distance of the Itabashi Ward Office. Since the establishment of Itabashi Ward in 1932, there have been several talks about separating the Nerima region, but they had not been successful. During the review of the ward system, the town council presidents, ward assembly members, and various organization leaders of Nerima, Shakujii, and à Âizumi got together to try to make Nerima independent from Itabashi Ward, but the purpose of the occupying forces was to merge wards, not create new ones. In March, 1947, the wards of Tokyo were merged into 22 wards, with Nerima still being part of Itabashi Ward. After much campaigning, five months after the establishment of the 22 special wards, on August 1st, Nerima Ward was established and declared independent from Itabashi Ward, becoming the 23rd special ward of Tokyo. Nerima Ward's independence day is commemorated annually.
When the Allied occupation of Japan ended in 1952, the Japan Self-Defense Forces established a base in Nerima Ward. The first division of the eastern group of the Ground Self-Defense Force has its headquarters there.
In 1973, the United States Forces Japan returned Grant Heights to Japanese control.
Nerima Ward is the birthplace of Japanese anime, where Japan's first full-length color theatrical anime film The Tale of the White Serpent (1958) was produced. It is also the birthplace of television anime, where the world's first weekly broadcast full-scale TV anime series Astro Boy (black and white) was created in 1963, and Japan's first full-color TV anime series Jungle Emperor Leo began in 1965.
From Toei Animation's à Âizumi Studio, many anime industry figures including Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Rintaro, Yasuo Otsuka, and Mamoru Hosoda have emerged.
Nerima Ward, home to Toei Animation (formerly Toei Films) and Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production (currently unrelated to Tezuka Productions), has 94 anime-related companies (as of 2007), making it Japan's largest concentration of anime-related businesses. Numerous works have been produced here and set in this location. Beyond anime, this area has also been frequently used for filming tokusatsu (special effects) productions, particularly the long-running Super Sentai series that has continued for 30 years, and Kamen Rider. Since 2002, the annual Nerima Anime Festival has been held in à Âizumi-Gakuen, working with shopping districts and NPOs to promote anime.
In 2004, the Nerima Animation Council was established by about 50 businesses including Mushi Production and Toei Animation to promote anime in Nerima Ward. The council has been aiming to build an anime museum in the ward since its predecessor NPO Anime Museum Association was established in 1994. However, progress has stalled due to concerns about duplication after Toei Animation independently created the Toei Animation Gallery (now Toei Animation Museum) in 2003.
Nerima Ward attracted many manga artists including Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori to establish their residences and workplaces due to its convenient transportation access to publishing companies in Chiyoda Ward's Hitotsubashi and Kanda-Jinbà Âchà  areas, and Bunkyà  Ward's Otowa area. Other advantages included proximity to art supply stores and being somewhat removed from distracting entertainment districts, allowing for concentrated work. Many manga artists, both famous and unknown, have permanently resided or temporarily lived here, including Reiji Matsumoto, Keizo Shimada, Noboru Baba, Jiro Ota, Fujio Akatsuka, Sanpei Furuya, Tetsuya Chiba, Akio Chiba, Asao Takamori (Ikki Kajiwara), Fujiko Fujio, Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, Yasumi Yoshizawa, Kenshi Hirokane, Fumi Saimon, Hideo Azuma, Rumiko Takahashi, and Yoshinori Kobayashi. Many manga works feature settings and backgrounds based on Nerima Ward.
In Nerima Ward's à Âizumi area, there existed the à Âizumi Salon, the female manga artist version of Tokiwa-so, where many renowned female manga artists including Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya developed their careers.
Nerima Ward is the setting for many mangas and animes.
Nerima is the setting of Rumiko Takahashi's long running and popular manga and anime series Ranma ý. Soun Tendo's dojo, where the main story takes place, is in Nerima Ward. As one of the first series in either media to achieve widespread popularity in the English speaking world, Ranma introduced Nerima to western audiences, with several locations recognizable as backgrounds, such as Shakujii River and Shakujii Park.
In Fujiko Fujio's manga and anime series Doraemon, Nobita Nobi and his friends live in Nerima Ward, close to the Seibu Line, in a fictional neighborhood called Tsukimidai-Susukigahara. Suneo Honekawa's address is Tokyo, Nerima Ward, Tsukimidai-Susukigahara 3-10-5 (æ±京é½練馬åºæÂÂè¦Âå°ãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂã¶åÂÂ3-10-5).
In the 1999 animated short film Digimon Adventure, Tai, as well as the rest of the DigiDestined were residents of Hikarigaoka, often renamed Highton View Terrace in the English dub. Following the Parrotmon incident, many of the DigiDestined parents moved to Odaiba.
In episode 29 of Digimon Adventure, the location served to give a recollection of the incident to the DigiDestined, who had arrived in search of the eight child. They later go to Hikarigaoka Park and Nerima Station.
In Takamitsu Kondà Â's Nerima Daikon Brothers, the trio lives on a stage constructed in Hideki's Nerima daikon patch in Nerima Ward.
In Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura, which was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday and became a huge hit, is set in Nerima Ward. The address of the main character, Ataru Moroboshi, is in a fictional neighborhood in Nerima Ward called Tomobiki-chà  (Ã¥ÂÂå¼Âçº), translated as Tomobiki Town.
Kengo Hanazawa's zombie-manga I Am a Hero is set in Miharadai in Nerima Ward.
Nodame Cantabile is a popular manga based on classical music that has been made into an anime and a live-action film. The Momogaoka College of Music that appears in the work is modeled after the Ekoda campus of Musashino Academia Musicae in Nerima Ward. The nearest station, Ekoda Station, was once decorated with an illustration of the main character.
Hachimitsu Academy, the main setting of the anime and manga series Prison School, is a fictional high school located in Nerima Ward.
In Sui Ishida's manga and anime series Tokyo Ghoul, the coffee shop Antaiku where the main character Ken Kaneki works is in the 20th ward (20åº), which is Nerima Ward.
Nekoma High School, one of the main teams of popular manga and anime Haikyu!!, is in Nerima Ward.
The manga and anime Your Lie in April is set in Nerima Ward, and the scenery of the ward and the Seibu Ikebukuro Line that runs through Nerima are often depicted in the work.
In the anime version of Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku, the address of the house is ãÂÂ177 Tokyo, Nerima Ward, Tokeizaka 3-3-9 (ãÂÂ177 æ±京é½練馬åºæÂÂè¨ÂÃ¥ÂÂä¸Â-ä¸Â-ä¹Â).
Mitsuru Adachi's high school baseball manga and anime series Touch, serialized in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday, is set in Nerima Ward, and the scenery of the ward frequently appears in the work. Also, the Neapolitan served at the coffee shop Minamikaze that appears in the work is modeled after the Neapolitan served at the coffee shop Andes near Nerima Station.
Many of Adachi's works, such as Miyuki, H2 and Cross Game, are set in Nerima Ward.
In the anime series and manga Train to the End of the World, the main characters travel through Nerima Ward aboard a Seibu 2000 series commuter train on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. Their journey takes them past numerous stations throughout Nerima Ward, all of which have been altered by the catastrophic 7G Incident. The series features a mise en abyme element through Alice in Nerima, a popular fictional anime and manga that exists within the show's universe, whose characters are manifested in reality as a consequence of the same incident.
Kyà «kyoku Chà Âjin R is a school comedy manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday by Masami Yuki, who is known for Mobile Police Patlabor and other works. The story is set in the fictional neighborhood of Isasaka-chà  in Nerima Ward, Tokyo.
Masami Yuki's Birdy the Mighty is also set in Nerima Ward, and many characters are named after places around Ekoda Station.
Kenta Shinohara's school comedy manga Sket Dance, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, features station names that parody the Fujimidai and Nakamurabashi stations on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, and is set in Nerima Ward.
The four-panel comic serialized in Monthly Afternoon is set in Ekoda, Nerima Ward.
The sports manga about volleyball Shojo Fight, serialized in Evening, depicts the scenery around Ekoda Station in Nerima Ward and around Toshimaen Station. In particular, the area around Ekoda Station is depicted a lot, and the ramen shop that the main characters go to in the manga is actually a real shop. In the story, a station called Isasaka is created between the real stations of Ekoda and Sakuradai.
In Kenjiro Hata's manga and anime series Hayate the Combat Butler, the villa where the heroine, Nagi Sanzenin, lives and the story takes place is set to take up 65% of Nerima Ward.
Nerima is also the setting for the popular anime and manga series Rent-A-Girlfriend, Majokko Tickle, Katteni Kaizà Â, SSSS.Gridman, Robot Girls Z, and One Room.
The popular Japanese horror franchise, Ju On, also known as The Grudge, takes place predominantly in a house in Nerima Ward.
Toei Animation has its headquarters in the à Âizumi Studio in Nerima. Anime International Company has its headquarters in the AIC Digital Building. In addition, Studio Comet, and Mushi Production have their headquarters in Nerima.
Nerima Ward is governed by a directly elected ward mayor and a ward assembly, with the current ward mayor serving four-year terms. Like other Tokyo wards, Nerima has significant autonomy in local affairs such as education, welfare services, and urban planning, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government handles broader regional issues like water supply and major infrastructure. The ward assembly, composed of members elected from local districts, deliberates on budgets, ordinances, and policies. The ward government operates various public services including libraries, community centers, and local administrative offices. The ward office and city hall is in Toyotama-Kita, close to Nerima Station.
Nerima is designated as a special ward of Tokyo. Even though it is not designated as a "city" (å¸Â, shi), in English, Nerima translates its designation as a "ward" (åº, ku) to "city" and refers to itself as Nerima City, following the practice of several other Tokyo special wards. However, in Japanese, it maintains its official designation as Nerima Ward (練馬åº, Nerima-ku), with its government office referred to as the Ward Office (åº役æÂÂ, kuyakusho) and its leader as the Ward Mayor (åºé·, kuchà Â).
Administrative services are provided through a network of six local ward residents' offices (åºæ°ÂäºÂÃ¥ÂÂæÂÂ, kumin jimusho) strategically positioned throughout the ward.
Prefectural high schools:
Nerima City Board of Education () operates the following:
Combined elementary and junior high schools:
Junior high schools:
Elementary schools:
They are:
Nerima prepares the Nerima News Azalea, a city newsletter, in English.
Nerima has a sister-city relationship with Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. Nerima Gardens in Ipswich commemorates the tie. Nerima also has a similar link to Haidian District, Beijing, China.