Relay Talk
SUZUKI Takehiro (Professor, Department of Community and Society Faculty of Liberal Arts, TSURU University)
Let’s Go to Town
Does everybody know that Central Takamatsu Shopping Arcades stretching for about 7.2 km is much talked of as the Japan’s longest continuous shopping arcade?
There are not only shops offering Kagawa specialties and souvenirs like udon noodles, chicken wings, anmochi zoni, olive-fed beef, dry foods, or fresh fish; shops sell a variety of goods from famous brand products to clothing, hardware, and other daily necessities. What impressed me most are numerous Japanese-style bars! This wonderland is too good to be passed by in the course of sightseeing.
Takamatsu Hyogomachi Shopping Street was
once the arms depot of Takamatsu Domain
I worked at Kagawa University from 2014 to 2017; then I was engaged together with my students in vitalization of one of those arcades – Takamatsu Hyogomachi Shopping Street.
Then almost half of students said that it was their first time to visit the shopping arcades. It happened that they had no chance to approach the shopping arcades, or that when children, they were brought to a shopping center by car.
Survey of shopping street (2015)
Based on these results, we took on making shopping maps, arranging presentations by shop owners and out-of-school activities etc., but most of all, I wanted the students to be taken with the culture and history of the district.
Doesn’t that glass dome render an udon bowl?
This phrase used to be once used when going to the shopping arcades.
Perhaps, it was a festive mood to share with family, friends or romantic partners on a weekend.
Such an invitation implied elation and a special sentiment for the district.
“Not just udon”
– take pleasure in a gourmet trip
“Three years of COVID-19 pandemic were too long”, a shop owner said.
I felt a touch of sadness about tower buildings being erected here and there to change the familiar view; however, as you head into a back alley, you see guesthouses, specialty shops, bike stores, and other retail businesses run by young people.
Now I am working in a small provincial town, and don‘t have such a time anymore.
What a luxury it is to live nearby a shopping street/arcade full of voices and breathing of people on the street, myriads of shining lights, and a mix of smells.
I want the “Let’s go to town” culture to be cherished.
Please don’t hesitate to visit the “You will find anything from Takamatsu, Kagawa” shopping arcades.