The Problem of Revitalizing a Small City Downtown Core

Look, Obachan!, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

First, the Mister Donut shop in the photo has closed now. So Heiwa Dori has become a little bit more forlorn. Supposedly it was a bustling retail strip in its heyday. The building which the Mister Donut shop was in housed a Popolo department/clothing store, Jusco, a bowling alley and a shopping mall. Today, demolition of the building is being held up by the last remaining occupant, an Outami izakaya restaurant. One local has said that if they don't move out soon, the city will build a new library on the Machi no Hiroba park across the street and wait for the restaurant to move out. Then that building will be torn down and a new Machi no Hiroba park will be made on its location.

The culprit for the abandonment of the old downtown core was a form of urban sprawl and lack of public transit. When the Sati(sic) department store (now Aeon) opened up in the Chuo area it drew customers away from the core by offering free parking. After that, other major retailers moved operations onto the road running across the northern part of the city. Essentially the area evolved into a Japanese version of a strip mall road. The only business left in the old downtown core are the Onuma department store, a few aging retail stores, a few public service offices, a handful of hotels, some restaurants and izakaya (most which do the bulk of their business at night) and lots of bars. I've been told the area has gone downhill a long ways from its former glory.

In most places I've visited in Japan the train station is an integral cornerstone of the centre of a community. In Yamagata it seems that isn't the case all the time. In some places such as Yonezawa it didn't happen from the beginning as the line couldn't be punched through to the old city centre without tearing up the fabric of the community. In other places, rail lines ceased operations and a dependency on vehicle traffic grew. There are exceptions such as Takahata where the rail line was straightened to accommodate faster trains such as the Yamagata Shinkansen and the town centre found itself a mile away from the new station.

It's interesting to see how these communities have evolved. In the future I'd like to find out more about the history of the area in the past one hundred years or so. But it might be a tricky task. For example, I haven't found a photo online of the old Yonezawa city hall which stood on the site of the Machi no Hiroba. Nor have I found a photo of the old Yonezawa castle. There must be at least one of each out there somewhere...

"I Do Love a New Purchase"

My new fridge, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I think it was a trip to Hard-Off (yes, that is the name of the store) back in March that set off the events which led to a new refrigerator arriving on my doorstep today. I saw the price on a used fridge there and though that it was affordable. But there was a two-fold problem to deal with; getting it to my apartment and disposing of my old one. I did a bit of shopping and decided that a new unit was still affordable and delivery was included in the price. I got a 10% discount by paying for it with cash. Disposal and recycling fees were extra. It's not a big unit by anyone's standards with a volume of 118l which is equivalent to 4.1 cubic feet. But it's a good enough size for one person.

Other sundry stories:
On Saturday night I was telling some people the story I read about three drunk young men in Canada who came up with the great idea of stripping down and riding a shopping cart through an automated car wash. I've told the story to some of my students and the reactions have varied from laughs to bewilderment to incomprehension. Anyways, this time I told the story in Japanese (except I didn't know the Japanese word for "automated car wash" so I had to come up with a substitute which my audience understood) and was quite surprised when one person quickly blurted out "I'd like to do that!". Yes, she was a bit drunk too. Let's hope she doesn't carry through with that little bit of "cultural exchange" I gave her.

Another off the wall situation: I was teaching a class of three boys aged 11 & 12. The trio is made up of two brothers and a classmate of the older brother. I had asked the younger brother a question during a drill and one of the older boys just kept talking away. The boy I had asked the question of got annoyed with that and told him "Shut up!". That had me floored. I can honestly say I have not taught those boys that phrase. So where he picked it up I have no idea.

Short glimpse at an April snow storm

Short glimpse at an April snow storm a video by dtk_guy on Flickr.

The video clip says it all. A blowing snow storm in April. At some points in time the snow was being blown in at almost a horizontal angle. I stayed in the cafe where I shot the video from until it abated. Yet, when I went out at night there was snow falling again. With Ohanami schedule for April 22nd I'd like to see things warm up quickly. As it stands the odds aren't very good that we'll have any cherry blossoms to view when the day comes.

Stormy Weather

That's not dandruff...they're snowflakes., a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

Yesterday a strong storm blew over most of Japan. I remember reading that offshore wind speeds of higher than 100km/h had been recorded. Inland where I am we had the power lines dancing and the building shaking a little. Some students, especially the younger ones, stayed home. A co-worker told me that he looked out on his balcony this morning and found a pair of slippers, perfectly lined up as if waiting for someone to step into them, sitting there. A bit of an odd discovery if I should say so myself.

One thing that happens in such situations is that the trains are halted once the wind speed gets too high. A friend who once worked on the Yamagata Shinkansen recalled being on trains which were halted for half an hour under those conditions. If the wind speed were to pick up again at the 28th minute (or so) then they'd have to sit there for another 30 minutes. That's just the nature of the business.

Aside from strong winds, we're still getting small amounts of snowfall. April Fool's Day was several days ago and this joke of "It's spring...Ha! Ha! No it isn't!" is starting to wear really thin. We're planning an Ohanami party at work for staff and students. Given the conditions I have no idea if there will be any bloom on the day we've picked which is April 22nd. We can't hold it the following week because it's the start of Uesugi Matsuri and Golden Week. By May 12th or so we expect all the blossoms to have fallen.

Someone asked me online "How far north are you?". The snowy conditions don't have that much to do with our latitude (it's 37.9˚N). It has a lot to do with geography I think. The cold air comes rumbling in from the Sea of Japan and slams into the mountains surrounding the city. We're at the southern end of a basin plain ("bonchi" 盆地 in Japanese) and in a pocket with low mountains to the west and higher mountains to the south and east. The elevation of the city is only 267m (compared to 1048m for Calgary).

I learned a new word today: "Antifebrile". It's a medical adjective describing something which can reduce one's fever. As a noun it is the agent which reduces fever. I had asked around the class if anyone had allergies and one student said she was allergic to "genetsuyaku" (解熱剤). Her electronic translation dictionary had brought up the English definitions of antifebrile and antipyretic. I made a note about the former on the class record. It's just one of those things which is peculiar enough that you want to keep track of it....

Spring Snow and Other Things

Spring Snow, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

The photo was taken on March 26th. Yet, it snowed again on April 1st. Has this been a long winter? Yes. When I look at photos taken by some of my contacts on Flickr I see subjects like their kids' Sakura Matsuri. I have no idea when we're going to see anything blossom around here but at the rate we're going it might be around the same time as Uesugi Matsuri which this year is being held from April 29th.

Nonetheless the snow has melted enough such that virtually all roads and sidewalks are clear. That means I don't have to resort to walking everywhere. That's a welcome change. It'll be nice to be able to go a little farther when exploring this city.

Speaking of exploring, I didn't do too bad in March walking about. I found a Jodo Shinshu temple which is affiliated with Nishi Hongwanji (the same main temple which the Vancouver Buddhist Temple is associated with), a hobby shop and a pretty good gyoza shop hidden on a side street. I also managed to trek out to Yamagata to watch a friend play a gig there. So in spite of no car and a long winter I've managed to get out and about.

One place I checked out today was a restaurant called Silk Road. It's run by an Iranian fellow and he specializes in Persian cuisine. The food is quite tasty (I ordered a chicken shish kebab dish) and the atmosphere is much like the Persian restaurants I've been to back home though not quite as polished and snazzy. All in all it was a welcome treat to be able to go out and try something different.