商店街

What a nice weekend. A gaijin friend who lives in Tokyo came down to Nagoya to visit for the first time since I’ve been here. I’ve been to his place in Tokyo countless times and appreciate the hospitality. We didn’t do much, just walked around and talked and watched a couple of movies.

As we were walking around Nagoya, I decided to go to Osu Kannon. This area is just on the oustskirts of the main commercial center in Nagoya. It is a commercial area itself and boasts a HUGE covered shopping area and has many temples. These shopping areas are prevalent in older parts of cities all over Japan, and are called 商店街 (しょうてんがい – shoutengai). If you’ve ever been to Milan, think of the galleria between the Duomo and La Scala, but on a much less grand scale and filled with a lot cheaper shops. I’ve never been a big fan of this area, but I wanted his impression.

A couple of weeks before, Tomo and I had also been there looking for a vintage ジャイアントロボ (Giant Robot from Johnny Socco) figure for a US colleague whose just-turned-10 son is fighting cancer. With the help of my interpreter at work, I had several stores to visit, and they were all in the Osu Kannon area. We found the shops to be amazing and scary at the same time. If I ever want to do Cosplay and dress up as Sailor Moon, I know where to go!

Anyway, back to this latest trip. Over 25 years ago, my friend did missionary work in Japan. These were the types of areas that they would do their proselytize so it holds a nostalgic place in his heart. Although there doesn’t seem to be any place that I would actually buy anything (except perhaps Mandarake), he is correct that these areas are uniquely Japanese. We had a really good time wandering through the shop area. Even more interesting is getting on to the side streets and finding uniquely Japanese things.

Temples in Osu cannon,

 

 

And the 商店街 (しょうてんがい – shoutengai)

 

 
The streets around Osu Cannon, including a barbershop and a very old looking hotel.

 

 

Besides Nagoya, I have been to an area like this in Tokyo. I actually got my iPhone in an area like this. I figured a Softbank store wouldn’t be so crowded on the opening weekend in a less “famous” location. I was right. I’ve been to these shopping areas in Nara, Himeji, and Mito. Some of the areas are thriving, and some are dying. The dying ones are sad.

In Nara,

 

On our walk, we also wandered past some good Engrish and saw a b-boy dance festival. Apparently I wasn’t supposed to take pictures. Ooops. The b-boys were good – very athletic dancing and clearly some ex-gymnasts in the crowd. All those hours practicing in front of large plate glass windows in city centers paid off for them.

 

 

Also during the weekend I was able to catch up on work email, get a couple of blog entries done, and finish reading a book. Nice.