Tabata Station田端駅・たばたえき (田端 – edge of the rice field) is a small station that first opened in 1896. There are just two exits, north and south. There’s not much to see on the south side, but the north gate opens straight onto the Atré Vie shopping mall. Here you can find a ベーカリーbakery, a supermarket, a スターバックスStarbucks, a 弁当べんとう・bento store and several 韓国かんこく・Korean, イタリアItalian and 日本にほん・Japanese restaurants.
The 北口きたぐち・north exit of Tabata Station is also very close to the Writers and Artists Memorial Museum田端文土村記念館・たばたぶんしむらきねんかん and up until 1927, many famous artists and 作家さっか・writers lived in Tabata, owing to its proximity to the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music東京藝術大学・とうきょうげいじゅつだいがく.
The most famous writer to call the area home was 芥川龍之介Ryunosuke Akutagawa, author of 羅生門らしょうもん・Rashomon and 藪の中やぶのなか・The Grove, the works upon which the famous Akira Kurosawa黒沢明・くろさわあきら film “Rashomon” is based. First edition copies and manuscripts of Akutagawa’s work, and the works of other 有名作家ゆうめいさっか・famous writers and artists can be viewed the the 田端文士村記念館たばたぶんしむらきねんかん・Tabata Writers and Artists Memorial Museum.
Akutagawa committed 自殺じさつ・suicide in 1927 and his death spelled the end of what had become known as the Tabata Artists’ Village.