Ikebukuro (Toshima)

Ikebukuro is Tokyo at full volume. The commercial core of Toshima ward sits atop one of the country's busiest stations, sandwiched between the rival Seibu and Tobu department stores and capped by Sunshine City, a self-contained complex of shops, an aquarium and an observation deck. The north exit hums with a sprawling Chinatown, while the east side's Otome Road has crowned Ikebukuro as the headquarters of female anime fandom. Once seen as Tokyo's scruffier sub-center, the district has been steadily upgraded, the Hareza Ikebukuro project added gleaming theaters and offices, and the West Exit park reinvented a once-tired plaza into a green civic space. For investors the appeal is mathematical: entry prices sit below the southern wards while tenant demand from students, workers and a large international resident base keeps occupancy high, producing some of the stronger compact-unit yields in central Tokyo.

Ikebukuro (Toshima) in Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan