Meaning

Primary

Downtown

Alternative

Backstreets

Word Type

noun

Explanation

You have the below town. Does this sort of sound familiar? We have another word for it in English, but it's essentially the same thing: downtown. It isn't the downtown you might be used to though. In Japan, this is an old word that was used for the commercial districts literally, physically down (lower than) the main city. So picture an old, urban Japanese area!

Reading

したまち
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

The reading for this word is all kun'yomi despite being jukugo. Just think of sketchy things going on in the downtown, just like how there's sketchy kun'yomi readings for this word. You should know both the kun'yomi readings from the previous level, though, so if you do you know the reading for this word as well.

Context

Common Word Combinations

  • 下町の人々

    people in the downtown area

    下町のコーヒー

    coffee in the downtown area

    下町のふんいき

    the atmosphere of the downtown area

Context Sentences

父は下町で生まれた。

My father was born in a downtown area.

下町の空気や人々が気に入ったんです。

I liked the atmosphere and people downtown.

下町とは日本の古いスタイルのダウンタウンのことです。

A shitamachi is an old Japanese style of downtown.

Kanji Composition