By Cathy Hirano

Takamatsu, according to local tourist brochures, has the longest shopping arcade in Japan – in fact, a combined length of 2.7 km and 800 shops. After years of neglect and decline, the area is now undergoing a massive renovation and renewal. “Trend shops and popular bland [sic] shops are lined up,” the Takamatsu city official website enthuses. “Shopping time flies like arrows!”


North end of trendy renewal project


Interesting chair outside ‘bland’ store

Hmmm. Obviously, a shoppers’ paradise but I hate malls and I do find brand stores rather bland. For me, the arcade’s attractions are quite different. I decided to take my camera so that I could share with you a few of them.

I started at the north end in Katahara-machi.


Katahara-machi shopping street

There I dropped into Morita, the local clock shop where I always buy not clocks, watches or jewelry but incense.


Morita clock shop

Morita happens to carry a fragrance that reminds me of Kyoto. It also has a very amiable staff member named Yuzu who greets visitors and patiently poses for the camera on request.


Yuzu dressed for the season in a Santa suit with his family.

As I walked into Morita, it hit me that even though I hate shopping I like coming here just to get incense. It’s nice to walk into a shop where you’re welcomed as a person rather than as a wallet. The owners know their products very well and they remember their customers – even when they don’t show up for ages, like me. They also have time to stop and chat in a friendly way without being pushy. The arcade actually reminds me of Japan when there were no malls but only streets lined with little specialized shops like this one, individually owned and passed down through the generations.

My next stop was Sanyudo, a sweet shop with a history.



Sanyudo exterior


Looking out.


Friendly staff (all the others disappeared when I took the photo)

Despite being busy, the owner took the time to share the shop’s story. The Sanyu三友, he told me, means ‘three friends’. With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the shogunate was overthrown and the samurai class phased out. Takamatsu castle was decommissioned in 1869 and consequently, the three friends mentioned above found themselves out of a job. In 1873, they decided to launch, of all things, a sweet shop.


Great big Castella (a type of sponge cake)


Kimori, Sanyudo’s specialty


Persimmon paste sandwiched between two very light rice crackers. A great gift especially for people with wheat allergies.

Talking with various people about the central arcade, I sensed a huge nostalgia among long-term shop owners and residents. The shopping arcade’s heyday was in the 1960s and 1970s. With 9 movie theatres and cabarets, the arcade was the city’s entertainment center and the streets were so packed you could barely see the other side. Sanyudo used to stay open until midnight just to cater to the after-movie/cabaret crowds. As car ownership shot up, however, people moved out and although the center was (and still is) conveniently accessible by train, bus and bicycle, it lacked free parking. In the 1990s the first huge shopping malls with their enormous free parking lots moved in, draining customers away. With the recent push to revitalize the central shopping district, however, there has been a steady upsurge in young entrepreneurs launching trendy shops (more on that another time). Hopefully, rising fuel prices will give these efforts an extra boost.