Shikemichi and Endoji shopping street

21/11/2024

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Best walking trip from Nagoya station

Nagoya is a large city located between Tokyo and Osaka, and is said to be the most boring big city in Japan. As a Japanese who has lived in Nagoya for over ten years, that opinion is correct. There are certainly fewer attractions compared to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. I think this is because it is a city of automobile manufacturing Toyota, and most of the historical things were destroyed in the air raids by the American military during the World War Ⅱ. However, some historical scenery still remains in an area close to Nagoya station where modern buildings are prominent. You can enjoy this area on foot from Nagoya station. In this page I would like to share these historical areas called Shikemichi and Endoji shopping streets.

Shikemichi

Shikemichi is a little closer to Nagoya Station compared to Endoji shopping street, so I will explain from Shikemichi. The nearest station of Shikemichi is Kokusai Center Station of subway(Sakura dori line), but if you are coming to Nagoya Station for the first time, I recommend walking to Shikemichi from Nagoya station. It takes １5 minutes on foot and you can also enjoy modern building around Nagoya station　during walking. Shikemichi is district where the scenery of the Edo period(between 1603 and 1868) has been preserved. There may be many readers who are not interested in Japanese history, but I will also explain a little bit of history.　"Shike" means seven meters in old Japanese language.　Of course we do not use "Shike" as seven meters in modern Japanese. This "Shike" is from width of this street. Many of the merchant houses in this area were destroyed in the great fire of 1700, and then the street was widened to "seven meters(Shike)" for fire prevention purposes.

The buildings on the east side of the street are set on stone walls and have white plaster walls. This structure is also to prevent the fire from spreading to the next door in the event of a fire.

The preserved buildings are now used as cafes and restaurants. I heard these are quite popular, so I do not know if I can enter and use it or not. Please check the reviews on Google Maps for this area when you want to eat something　there. I was alone that day and I sadly always alone, so I did not use the cafe, but rather enjoyed walking around and taking photos. This street is not that long. It takes about five minutes if you walk fast.

Endoji shopping street

Endonji Shopping Street is an area where the townscape remains after World War II. After the war, there were factories and a train station in this area, so there were a lot of people. Endoji Shopping Streets met the needs of those people. However, oth the factory and the station were closed and Endoji Shopping Streets were nearly closed as well. Since then, the area has also faced challenges such as population decline, the rise of large shopping malls and online shopping. However, the community has been working hard to attract visitors by organizing various events to revitalize the area. Recently, Shikemichi is famous and attract many tourists.

As a Japanese person in my 30s, I felt like a nostalgic old Japan　like 70s to 80s when watching old souvenir shops. This shopping streets also have modern bar cafe and restaurants which is newly constructed.

Events at Endoji shopping street

As I mentioned earlier, Endoji Shopping Street hosts various events throughout the year. Two of the most notable ones are the Tanabata Festival in summer and the Paris Festival in autumn. I attended both in 2024. While the Tanabata Festival was more of a struggle due to the heat making it hard to walk around, the Paris Festival was genuinely enjoyable.