The Kabukicho's town development began in August 1945 as the private-sector-driven effort, lead by the town manager Kihee Suzuki, to rebuild the area destroyed in air raids.
Envisioning "Entertainment City Construction", conducted the land readjustment project at their own expense for the purpose of building the "wholesome amusement quarter" with performing theaters, movie theaters and dance halls.

Despite numerous obstacles on the way, many amusement facilities were opened after Industrial and Culture Expo in 1950, utilizing the buildings constructed for the event, and today's Kabukicho Theater District was completed by the first half of 1960s.

However, as time passes, the sex industry started to grow in the area since the mid 1970s, which turned into a serious social problem.
Since then there were continuous battles between the sex parlors who try to slip through the law and the authority who tries to crack them down by enforcing new regulations, which lead to "frightening" image of Kabukicho.

The turning point was 2001, when there was a deadly fire accident that claimed 44 lives due to violations of the fire code. As a consequence of this tragedy, local residents, Shinjuku Ward, police department, fire department and other organizations all stood up and started to work together in order to realize the secure and safe community.

A joint effort of the public and private sectors to rebuild the "wholesome" amusement quarter, which Kabukicho was originally aiming for, is the intent of "Kabukicho Renaissance".

Movies, theatrical performances, music, art, food....please enjoy the transformation of "Kabukicho" into the community with new culture and creation.