Kikkoman Corporation

Traditional Japanese shopping streets known as shotengai are an integral part of most residential neighborhoods . . . but shopping for the daily groceries is only part of the vibrant shotengai attraction: this is where people know they can connect with one another.

A shotengai is a shopping arcade that usually runs along a long narrow street within reach of a residential neighborhood. Most suburbs and towns have one or more shotengai, each with its own personality and atmosphere.

While large supermarket chains and shopping malls have struck a blow at the popularity of shotengai in small communities, many continue to prosper despite their reduced numbers. Most shotengai are lined with small, often family-run shops jammed together—sometimes hundreds of them, depending on the length of the street.

Specialized food shops predominate, as does personalized service: mom and pop enterprises sell local vegetables and produce alongside butcher shops, vendors of fresh fish, homemade rice-cracker (senbei) shops, tea stores, stores selling rice . . . and the list goes on. Some shotengai feature a compact but well-stocked general market, a kind of hub surrounded by shops selling fresh, ready-made foods like croquettes, yakitori or meat and potatoes simmered in soy sauce-based dashi (nikujaga).

But food is only part of the classic shotengai experience. The well-rounded shotengai caters to just about any lifestyle need: restaurants, barber shops, bookstores, pharmacies, dry cleaners, clothing and shoe stores and liquor stores comprise just a short list.

Shotengai have a warm, distinct atmosphere. It is not customary in Japan to stock up on provisions; rather, most people buy their groceries every day. In a special environment like the shotengai, shoppers and storekeepers naturally get to know each other well, and come to develop a sense of intimacy and neighborly camaraderie. For this reason, shotengai help create and support a sense of community—a rare commodity, particularly in fast-paced urban centers, and arguably the key to the survival of most shotengai.

Some shotengai benefit from their proximity to a popular destination; for example, Tokyo's well-known Sugamo Jizo-dori shotengai grew over generations around a temple that honors the deity of good health. The Sugamo shotengai with its nearly 200 shops flourishes, drawing some 20,000 visitors daily. The majority of these are women, most of them elderly, and the shotengai specifically targets those women who visit the temple and then stroll the shops.

Shotengai traditionally host numerous sales and festivals throughout the year. In addition to such events, these days it's not unusual for shotengai shop-owner associations to rely on various creative strategies to help keep their arcades popular and active. Some sell original sake and snacks under their own unique shotengai brand. Various shotengai groups organize recycling schemes where customers receive “gift points” for returning empty cans and plastic bottles; these points may then be used for purchases.

Many mourn the diminishing numbers of traditional shotengai, but for those shopping streets that do continue to flourish, community spirit continues strong, nourished by local pride and mutual support.