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Tokyo's retro shotengai arcades are falling victim to gentrification
- pilingual 1y agoThe new construction projects are sad as evidenced by the horrendous Osaka train station. What a waste of space and concrete. If Japan insists on these projects, they should look at Sanatana Row in San Jose or the Assembly in Somerville. Offer assistance and transition help to existing small businesses. (What supermarket is planned? Don-Qui?)
- nikkwong 1y agoEnlighten me as to what's wrong with the Osaka train station? Conceivably I would imagine that it's built with a bit of a buffer to handle the demand that such an infrastructure project could eventually service. What do you think they did wrong?
- derr1 1y agoAgreed, not sure what's the issue with it.
- firefax 1y agoPrior to this didn't they lose a lot of the little parts stores/stall in... I think it was Akihabara IIRC? I am struggling to re-find the name of the area, it was like a giant open air radio shack and it's my understanding has been shrinking and/or disappeared.
- rasz 1y agoAre you thinking about Tokyo Lens coverage? Saying Goodbye to Tokyo's TINIEST Shop | Akihabara Tokyo Lens · Aug 14, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1UNJirOTI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1UNJirOTI I Rebuilt JAPAN'S TINIEST SHOP!! Tokyo Lens · Aug 20, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsimPVu1aLU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsimPVu1aLU
- firefax 1y agoNo, it was a long line of stalls... the origin of the term "electric town" not any singular place.
- josteink 1y agoI may be wrong, but I'm 99% certain that has to be Akihabara.
- ngc248 1y agoThat is akihabara itself https://www.gotokyo.org/en/spot/55/index.html https://www.gotokyo.org/en/spot/55/index.html It started out like that and then lot of otaku shops opened and now akiba is known more for its otaku shops than the electric ones.
- xdfgh1112 1y agoRadio kaikan. It's been remade to focus on anime/otaku stuff like the rest of akibahara. There just isn't the demand for buying niche electronic parts in person anymore. It still remains though. In Osaka dendentown there is a shop that exclusively sells screws.
- IG_Semmelweiss 1y agoIts not that. Its that Japan lost the tech lead so they have nothing to offer that's distinct that cannot be found in our own mega distribution channels (Amazon). I remember when living there of the marvel of teenagers having GPS in their own cars circa 1999. Or the incredibly advanced cell phones miles ahead of their western counterparts. That's no longer the case. Now you can find everything, much cheaper, and more conveniently, right here in the US. Akihabara was over when Amazon and Alibaba opened the floodgates of distribution to Chinese and American electronic manufacturers. If you want kirkland brand, you have to go to Costco. There's no equivalent for japanese electronics anymore.
- pezezin 1y agoThere are still niche electronic shops in Akihabara though: the ones under the tracks, Radio Department Store, Aisan, and the back streets parallel to the main street.
- decimalenough 1y agoShotengai arcades have been dead or dying since the 1990s if not earlier, and it's not gentrification that's killing them, it's lack of demand. For daily needs, in Japan as everywhere else in the world, one-stop shopping spots like supermarkets and convenience stores win out over visiting lots of specialty retailers that can't compete on price.
- socalgal2 1y agoI think you're right. Like the giant one in Musashi-Koyama is thriving at the start but dead at the end. The one in Musashi-Shinjou is really dead. So is the Kyoto Sanjo Shotengai. There's no "gentrification". There's just no customers. That said, I really wish some breakout architect would find a way to design a new building with space for more small shops that became a hit design. And then in my dream other architects would start copying. They built Shibuya Cast. There used to be 8-12 indie stores there. Now there's 3 chain stores. I think Sakara Stage might have done a better job there. I'm not sure but I think if I count the stores/restaurants it displaced there might be more now then before. Though I expect rent is way too high. Some places, like Toranomon Hills have the indoor restaurant yokochou type areas though I'm sure they are too expensive. Shibuya Sakura Stage also has one. Neither get that feeling like say, Akabane's bar area though. Or Nakano or Koenji. I hope Nakano is not going to lose theirs with all the construction. Shibuya though is going to lose a bunch more. A 30+ story building is under construction on Dogenzaka next to Mark City. Another is 30+ story is going on Miyamasa-Zaka between Meiji-Dori and Aoyama Dori where the post office is. There's a bunch super indie of restaurants there because the rent is cheap given the buildings are old. But maybe it will be designed like Sakura Stage to support more. I can cross my fingers. There's a 30+ story building going in where the Tokyu Honten was but given that was just a department store the new building will have more shops than the department store had, depending on how you count. There's yet another 30+ story building going in behind Hikarie. I'm not sure there's anything there it's displacing though. I mean, it is displacing stuff but nothing I've ever gone to, unlike some of the others.
- rtpg 1y agoKyoto Sanjo got "killed" by COVID. Lived in the area for a bit, and when I visited in 2024 there were so many things just gone
- epolanski 1y agoI am just back from Japan and I am not going to lie, I think they are great in how they both value their traditions and history but as a society they only look forward. Sure, they might be economically less wealthy than they used to 30 years ago, but in practice you see them being bold in their projects and developments 24/7. Their cities are forward looking, more efficient, developing higher so less people need to commute it's a necessity that eventually will kill many of these older districts, but so be it if it spares tens of thousands from commuting every day.
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- ZenoArrow 1y ago> Their cities are forward looking, more efficient, developing higher so less people need to commute it's a necessity that eventually will kill many of these older districts, but so be it if it spares tens of thousands from commuting every day. What's the end game with this? Identikit cities with little to no character, all created to prioritise convenience. For people that care more about work than their life outside of work, they aren't going to care much, but for people that are the opposite the loss of culture is more strongly felt.
- epolanski 1y ago> but for people that are the opposite the loss of culture is more strongly felt. Constant change and cities that are no longer recognizable after few decades *is* japanese culture, from millenia. 99% of their historical buildings, whether it's the imperial palace in Kyoto or the Todaiji temple in Nara have been rebuilt multiple times over and over or haven't been rebuilt at all. Those shotengai arcades are a byproduct of a specific timeframe and conditions: rebuilding their cities quickly after ww2 in a fastly developing urban landscape. The same way they didn't exist few decades before they won't exist few decades from now.
- ZenoArrow 1y ago> Constant change and cities that are no longer recognizable after few decades is japanese culture, from millenia. That's clearly false. Yes there have been periods of time with large changes, such as the post WW2 era, but that doesn't reflect how Japan has always been. There have been large periods of cultural conservatism as well.
- lmm 1y agoTokyo is the most livable big city in the world, and the only one where housing is still vaguely affordable, because they constantly rebuild and regenerate. Long may it continue.
- derr1 1y agoI think the average rent is about $600 in a 'central' location. Any other big city in the world would be at least 3x the price, insane.
- rester324 1y agoI think this largely depends on the size of the flat. So how large of a flat are you referring to?
- derr1 1y agoI believe this figure is for a 1R, which is a studio, averaged across all 23 wards. I got my data from: https://resources.realestate.co.jp/rent/what-is-the-average-rent-in-tokyo-2020-ranking-by-ward-and-layout/ https://resources.realestate.co.jp/rent/what-is-the-average-...
- rester324 1y agoThat page is very outdated. More than 4 years old! Not even close to the current prices! Also, just for your information, the japanese yen was continuously deflated in US dollars in the last 2 years or so. So even if it might seem from the US that this is cheap, the prices were soaring during the last 2-3 years in japanese yen. So if you were unlucky enough to have a japanese salary in the last few years (as the locals mostly do), chances are that your real wages got continuously deflated. Tokyo is actually much more expensive than other huge asian cities like Shanghai or Bangkok (denominated either in JPY or Remnibi, Thai Baht). That was also largely the reason for the LDP's abysmal election results this last Sunday.
- pezezin 1y ago
- pinoy420 1y agoThere’s often a romantic expectation that charming relics like these, old market stalls or arcades etc etc, should simply continue to exist. But what’s often overlooked is that these aren’t just aesthetic artefacts they’re run and sustained by real people with real lives, modern needs, and evolving values. It has dwindling longevity.
- kazinator 1y agoDon't worry, there is no shortage of run-down old shopping streets all over Japan, and not even far from Tokyo.
- litia_shi 1y agoThis highlights how convenience-driven development often pulls communities away from traditional hubs.