Gotanda

Gotanda is a busy neighbourhood in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo, Japan. The name "Gotanda" can be literally translated as "a (rice) paddy of half-hectare's size". The district straddles the Meguro river, and is located between the Meguro and Ôsaki stations on the important JR Yamanote Line.

The neighbourhood is centered on the Gotanda Station, which is served by the Toei Asakusa subway line and the elevated Tokyu Ikegami train line in addition to the Yamanote line.

The JR loop severs the neighbourhood into two districts. Higashi (East) Gotanda lies inside the Yamanote loop, while Nishi (West) Gotanda is outside the loop. Nishi-Gotanda is largely residential, with moderately-sized apartment buildings close to the JR station and quiet leafy streets in the outlying reaches. Higashi-Gotanda is home to Seisen University, NTT East Kanto Hospital, several temples and shrines and many office buildings. Higashi-Gotanda also has a substantial number of hotels, including some of the famed capsule hotel style. Some of the buildings making up the sprawling world headquarters of Sony are found along the eastern edge of Higashi-Gotanda.

One of Tokyo's busy major avenues (Sakurada dori—part of Japan's National Highway No. 1) passes through both halves of Gotanda, carrying traffic between the inner business districts ringing the Imperial Palace grounds and the outlying areas of Shinagawa-ku, Ôta-ku and beyond that the city of Yokohama.