Culture and History Around Shinagawa | The Birthplace of Japanese Rail

Shinagawa occupies an important place in the history of Japanese railways. According to Minato City, Japan's first railway formally opened in October 1872, but provisional passenger operations between Shinagawa and Yokohama had already begun in June of that year. Shinagawa is therefore regarded, together with Yokohama, as one of Japan's earliest railway stations. To carry the original railway across the shoreline, the approximately 2.7-kilometer Takanawa Embankment was constructed between the area around present-day Tamachi and Shinagawa. Remains discovered from 2019 onward during railway improvement and redevelopment works are being preserved as important evidence of Japan's modernization. Takanawa also contains older temples and traces of Edo-period routes, while Konan grew largely from reclamation beginning in the late Edo period. The coexistence of contemporary skyscrapers with layers of Edo and Meiji history gives Shinagawa a distinctive cultural character. ([港区公式ホームページ][9])