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Explore the charms and challenges of Japan's shopping streets...
专题解析日本商店街的历史形态、建筑特色与社区功能
专题解析日本商店街的历史形态、建筑特色与社区功能
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00:20A Japanese shopping street lined with all kinds of stores.
00:26It's a key part of everyday life in Japan.
00:33Shopping streets are more than just places to buy things.
00:37They have always been important social spaces.
00:42But in recent years, shopping streets have suffered from decline.
00:48Efforts to revitalize them have given birth to new initiatives.
00:56This time on Japanology Plus, we'll explore the charms and challenges of Japan's shopping streets.
01:16Hello, welcome to Japanology Plus. I'm Peter Barakan.
01:19I'm in a neighborhood called Sunamachi, which is on the eastern end of the old part of Tokyo.
01:25And this street, where about 180 local merchants apply their trade, is altogether 670 meters long,
01:33making it one of the longer shopping streets in Tokyo.
01:37The word shopping street is always used to translate the Japanese term shōtengai, which applies to these kinds of streets.
01:45I don't remember hearing the word shopping street used like that in English,
01:49but to me it implies a mixture of what we might call a high street with a street market.
01:55These kinds of streets were an essential part of daily life in just about every local community in Japan,
02:01until the advent of supermarkets and malls.
02:04I'm sure you can tell which direction this is going,
02:06but let's start off today with a look at a few typical shopping streets.
02:21A trip to a shopping street leads to all kinds of conversations.
02:33A trip to a shopping street leads to all kinds of conversations.
02:37Do you want any shopping points?
02:49Along a shopping street you'll find merchants with all kinds of practical knowledge.
02:55You can seek their advice about the items they are selling and have a good chat at the same time.
03:05Our guest this time is Lady Yamanaka, a management consultant.
03:10He knows a great deal about what's involved in operating a business in a shopping street.
03:18I'm actually quite surprised there's so many people around considering it's a weekday in the middle of the day.
03:25This shopping street is among the busiest in Japan.
03:29There used to be a lot of small workshops in this part of the city.
03:34The people they employed and residents of nearby public housing relied on this shopping street.
03:40They would get all their supplies here.
03:45That place sells great stuff.
03:48They make the meals that they sell here.
03:51Hello.
03:52Whoa, these all look good.
03:54What do you recommend then?
03:57Oh, yeah, that looks good, doesn't it?
04:04Oh, okay, I'm going to pig out.
04:07I'm going to have a shrimp cut in it and a couple of shumai, maybe.
04:12That's lovely.
04:13Thank you very much.
04:14And what's the damage on that?
04:17Okay, thank you.
04:23They taste great.
04:26That's good.
04:27In this part of town, the old part of Tokyo, the people just seem to be always so friendly.
04:33I mean, I'm here for the first time and they treat you like you're a regular customer almost.
04:38Yes, that's true.
04:40That's the appeal of a shopping street.
04:43Elderly customers especially will ask the shopkeeper to recommend what's good.
04:47They enjoy having a chat about things like that.
04:52And there are a lot of take-out places where they make their food from scratch.
04:57They're real pros at making some special item.
05:01Gyoza or shumai or cutlets or whatever.
05:08Customers feel more at ease when they know exactly who's making their food.
05:14That's another point.
05:18And for a regular customer, the shop may offer something on the house from time to time.
05:26That's all part of the charm.
05:29Here's a shop along the Cinemachi shopping street that sells Oden.
05:35With Oden, you choose from a variety of ready-to-eat foods stewed in a soy-based broth.
05:42Daikon, kombu kelp, tofu, egg, and various kinds of fish paste patties.
05:49This place is very popular.
05:52There's always a crowd of customers.
05:56What draws them here is the chance to choose from 30 different items, all made in-house.
06:06A family of five runs this shop.
06:09It's common for families to operate these shopping street businesses.
06:13Let's follow this one through a typical workday.
06:20Things get going early in the morning at 6 a.m.
06:26The shop owner is Yukitoshi Nakajima.
06:30His first task each day is to prepare the stewing broth.
06:34Boiling seaweed and skipjack tuna shavings, he makes five large stockpots of broth.
06:41The broth determines the taste of the Oden, so Nakajima takes great care with its preparation.
06:49Meanwhile, another daily routine takes place at Tsukiji, one of the world's largest seafood wholesale markets.
06:56The fish here are from all over Japan.
07:01Dota Saki comes to Tsukiji to buy ingredients for the day's Oden.
07:20Five years ago, Tsukiji's father entrusted her with purchasing supplies.
07:27Today, she buys two kinds of shark.
07:35At 7 a.m., Yukitoshi Nakajima begins making the fish paste patties.
07:41The main ingredient is the shark Saki bought earlier that morning in Tsukiji.
07:46One type has soft flesh, the other is firm.
07:50Mincing and mixing them yields a fish paste with just the right texture.
07:57But the shark flesh varies from day to day.
08:01To keep a consistent texture, he has to adjust the ratio each time.
08:06A skill that takes 10 years to master.
08:12The shark flesh turns white with kneading.
08:15Then, it's placed in a machine that shapes it into square patties.
08:22Yukitoshi's wife, Keiko, boils the patties, closely monitoring the heat.
08:27The shop makes only 100 patties every day.
08:31They charge 40 yen a piece for this.
08:34That's an extremely low price, even by the standards of Japan's traditional shopping streets.
08:43As soon as she gets back from the market,
08:46Saki starts making fish balls.
08:48She uses her thumb and forefinger to shape the fish paste.
08:53She says it took her five years to make them quickly and evenly.
08:56She makes 1,000 every day.
09:10The fish balls are fried and sold for 10 yen each.
09:15Can the shop really make a sufficient profit at that price?
09:19For now, we are getting by.
09:21We're doing okay.
09:22We try not to raise prices unless absolutely necessary.
09:27We want anyone to be able to afford our food.
09:31The family divides up the labor to make sure the shop is ready to open each day
09:36with all the varieties of our den ready to serve.
09:42The moment they open at 10.30, there's a rush of customers.
09:47The way they make all the food items is not the only amazing skill.
09:52The owner's mother is a wizard at totaling the price in her head.
10:02She knows the price of all 30 items and can work out the cost of an order
10:06while carrying on a conversation.
10:15She knows the price of all 30 items.
10:38She knows the price of all 30 items.
10:40She knows the price of all 30 items.
10:41She knows the price of all 30 items.
10:44She knows the price of all 30 items.
10:45Calculated exactly.
10:54On a Japanese shopping street, family businesses show off professional skills
10:59that may take years to look at.
11:04Yoshihiro Somiya runs a prepared foods takeout shop.
11:07His side dishes and pickled foods are very popular.
11:11His family has been running the shop for 50 years.
11:15The family home and the shop are a single building, a typical shopping street set-up.
11:23How many generations has the shop been going?
11:27Two generations.
11:28And do you live on the premises, either upstairs or in the back or something?
11:32We live upstairs. The shop's at street level.
11:35Oh, no. If it's not an imposition, could we have a little peek?
11:40It's cramped and cluttered.
11:43You don't mind?
11:44I don't mind if you don't mind.
11:47Come right in, then.
11:56This is our workspace and pickling room.
12:01Hello.
12:05This is where we make the pickled foods.
12:09Over here, the cooked foods.
12:12Oh, okay. You've got a whole kitchen thing going on here. Yeah.
12:16It's a mess, I'm afraid.
12:19It actually looks very clean.
12:21Remarkably clean.
12:23Very nice.
12:26The kitchen in one of these shops may be old and cramped, but it will nearly always be sparkling clean.
12:36Upstairs is the family home.
12:39Sommier lives here with his wife and his father.
12:49What are the advantages and disadvantages of living so close to your workplace?
12:56An office worker would spend time commuting.
13:00That's one of the good things for me.
13:02I don't have to worry about commuting.
13:05Work is just steps away.
13:11But there is a downside.
13:13Sometimes I don't feel like working.
13:15But work is still right there.
13:18I can't avoid it.
13:21What are your opening hours, sir?
13:23We're open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
13:27So if somebody from the neighbourhood comes by at half-past eight and said,
13:31I've run out of something or I just need something for dinner, what do you do?
13:36We close at 7 p.m., but we'll still be downstairs tidying up.
13:41Customers will often poke their heads in around then.
13:45And we might still have something to sell them.
13:48If we do have something they want, we'll sell it.
13:51Things like that can be a plus or a minus.
13:57Here's a tea merchant.
13:58Would you like a cup?
14:00Yes, please.
14:01Coming right up.
14:04Why do you alternate the pouring?
14:07To keep the strength of the tea equal, so both cups will taste just the same.
14:14This is a tea with a mild sweetness to it.
14:18Thank you very much.
14:23Which part of Japan does this come from?
14:25This is a blend of three teas.
14:28It's the work of Japan's best tea blender.
14:33Interesting.
14:34Very aromatic.
14:36The best of Japanese tea.
14:39Oh, that's good.
14:45If people sample the tea, they'll know how good it is.
14:49Then they'll buy it.
14:51This is a great thing about a shopping street.
14:54Shopkeepers give you samples and offer explanations.
14:58Right.
14:59I mean, there are specialty shops where if you go halfway across town, of course, you can get the same
15:04sort of advice, I'm sure.
15:05But to be able to get it here in your local street is, yeah, it's excellent.
15:10Yes.
15:11There's kind of a sense of local community, which I suppose in earlier days people would have just taken for
15:17granted.
15:17But I suppose that sense of community is broken down so much now that it's something that needs to be
15:24nurtured.
15:26If you spend your whole life there, it's like all the shopkeepers are your friends.
15:33It's your own neighborhood, your own community.
15:37A shopping street is a workplace and a living space.
15:40It offers so many of the pleasures of everyday life.
15:54Hi, I'm Matt Alt, and this is Plus One.
15:57Now, today's episode is all about traditional Japanese shopping streets.
16:01But I'm not going to focus on the average everyday sorts of shopping streets.
16:05I'm going to go to several in the city that focus on specific niches and target specific types of customers.
16:12Right now I'm in Akihabara, and if you're of a certain age, you'll associate this place with otaku and subculture.
16:18But traditionally, it's been all about electronic stores and electronic boutiques, and that's what we're going to check out right
16:24now.
16:27Akihabara is one of Tokyo's world-famous districts.
16:31It boasts 500 electronic shops of all sizes within an area roughly one kilometer by one kilometer.
16:42Now, broadly speaking, there are four types of electronic shops here in Akihabara.
16:47The first are consumer electronic shops, where you might get appliances or other types of electronics for your home.
16:54The second are pro shops, where professionals and hobbyists look for specialty gear.
17:01The third are component shops, that sell the little bits and pieces you might need to repair a broken-down
17:06piece of electronic equipment.
17:09And the fourth are junk shops, that sell completely broken-down gear, that you can break down and use for
17:15parts yourself.
17:18Matt visits a shop that is currently very popular.
17:22Oh, look at this, a robot store. I always love a good robot store. This is great.
17:28Ah, hello there.
17:29Welcome.
17:30Nice to meet you.
17:31Yoroshikuragai shimasu.
17:32So, can you tell me what sorts of robots are popular with your customers?
17:37Voice recognition robots are big these days.
17:41Here's one example.
17:50Voice recognition robots are big these days.
18:12Oh, cute.
18:13Very cute.
18:14He's in a good mood today.
18:17Now, let's go to the next location.
18:21The Katsabashi Shopping Street, which is close to the old heart of Tokyo.
18:26The theme here is cooking, but many people come for a particular type of product.
18:35Ah. Ah.
18:37I could use one of these right about now.
18:41Well, just kidding.
18:43You know what this is?
18:44This is a food sample.
18:45The kind you see on display in restaurants all over Japan.
18:49That's what this place specializes in.
18:51All sorts of what you might call fake foods.
18:56These food samples are handcrafted from plastic to look just as delicious as the real thing.
19:04You can see at a glance what's on the menu.
19:07But restaurant owners aren't the only buyers.
19:14May I ask, why did you come here to buy sample foods?
19:19These are for an offering to Ganesh, an Indian deity, whose image we happen to have at our Buddhist temple.
19:27So you're a monk?
19:29Obosama?
19:29Yes, when we put out an offering of real food, it draws flocks of birds to peck at it.
19:37To avoid that, we've decided to try this plastic food instead.
19:42Fascinating.
19:43This is something I never even imagined.
19:45It lasts forever.
19:49They definitely won't go bad.
19:53Matt's next stop is the Sugamo Jizodori Shopping Street.
20:00Now this is a unique shopping arcade.
20:02It's optimized for elderly residents.
20:05In fact, some people even call it the Granny Ginza.
20:08Check it out.
20:13The shops on this particular arcade appeal to local elderly people
20:17by selling things like canes or baskets or other things you might need to get by.
20:23We'll take a look inside this nail salon.
20:29Hello there, konnichiwa.
20:31So what kind of establishment is this?
20:34Our nail salon caters to the senior market.
20:38Many of our customers are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s.
20:43We do their nails for them.
20:45I love the prices.
20:47Too bad I'm too young to take advantage of them.
20:49We're the only nail place that offers a senior discount.
20:53That's our selling point.
20:57Next stop is a photo studio.
21:00So what kind of photography studio is this?
21:04We do memorial photographs for the elderly.
21:14In Japan, when someone dies,
21:17a photo portrait of them in life is displayed at the funeral.
21:23This studio targets people aged 60 and over.
21:27A customer can have a hair and makeup session before sitting for the photo.
21:32They take more than 100 photos per month.
21:38Hello there.
21:39Nice to meet you.
21:40Konnichiwa.
21:40Konnichiwa.
21:41So what made you choose this place?
21:44Why did you come here to photography?
21:46I'm sure it's going to be great.
22:05With this service, there's no scramble for a photo when a family has to prepare for a funeral.
22:13Japanese shopping arcades are really vibrant examples of traditional Japanese merchant culture.
22:19It's kind of like getting to shop in living history.
22:22And on that note, see you next time.
22:27Wishing it today.
22:28He was always welcome.
22:28Ha ha ha.
22:33All right.
22:34Whoa, yeah.
22:38Gap t'o.
22:38Ooh.
22:53Absolutely.
22:53I Since diese place position,
22:53Maybe I'm going to take into account.
22:53I'm gonna take into account.
22:54Oh, God.
22:54I'm going to take into account maters.
22:54Clear house.
22:54Oh, yeah.
23:54There's lots of shops still around, but evidently not everybody can make a living out of it.
24:01In some cases, it's an issue of the proprietor.
24:04This kimono shop had no successor to take over.
24:09Shops in business for 45, even 60 years, sometimes have to be closed down.
24:15In parts of Japan, outside the big cities, there's an epidemic of shuttered shopping streets, as we call them.
24:22That's a big challenge for shopping streets these days.
24:30This is Mienokawa Shopping Street in Chichipu, a city in Saitama Prefecture.
24:36The local population is in decline and increasingly elderly.
24:41Ten years ago, a new initiative quickly brought customers back.
24:45What was the revitalization strategy here?
24:52A member of the Shopping Street Association is driving this van to a facility not far from some local mountains.
25:01Once inside, he quickly sets up folding tables and lays out a variety of items.
25:12This is a mobile shopping street initiative run by 20 shopkeepers of Mienokawa Shopping Street.
25:19They take turns having their wares sold by the mobile operation at different locations.
25:28Today, the mobile shopping street is visiting a care facility for 50 elderly people.
25:34The shop is here twice a month, and the residents look forward to it.
25:43How did this initiative get started?
25:47The elderly people may have things delivered to them purely for convenience,
25:52but that's not how they want to shop.
25:56So, we offered to bring the shopping street to them.
26:00We realized that they really enjoy shopping in person.
26:04So, we're not just selling them stuff, we're bringing them pleasure.
26:10The mobile shopping street initiative allows facility residents to actually see and choose products.
26:17A welcome difference from just having family or staff buy things for them.
26:23The mobile shopping street does about 50,000 yen in sales per event.
26:28Positive response has enabled it to expand to 12 events per month at eight facilities.
26:36These days, they are also serving communities impacted by population decline.
26:41This is just one of the initiatives being tried all over the country to support shopping streets.
26:49Those kind of fixes are interesting, but how well are they working?
26:54Shopping street initiatives need the support of the authorities and the public.
27:00There are streets where they renovate an empty shop and then invite people to use the space as a cake
27:08shop or a cafe, for example.
27:11That's a great idea.
27:12Yeah.
27:12Oh.
27:13A shop run by young people is a breath of fresh air for a shopping street.
27:18This kind of thing is popular all over Japan these days.
27:22Hmm.
27:23Well, that's all very encouraging.
27:25You hear so much about these old shops closing down these days.
27:29One tends to get a bit pessimistic, but evidently, there's still room for a little bit of optimism as well.
27:36Thank you very much.
27:46Next time, Japanophiles featuring Bjorn Heiberg, a knife shop owner who has devoted his life to introducing Japanese knife culture
27:55to the world.
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