[Maizuru / Higashi-Maizuru] Walking the Night District — Station Arcades and Shikishima-dori
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Visited: Sunday, October 5, 2025
Photos and text reflect that night.
Still circling Kansai on the way back to family in Kobe, I came north from Osaka to Maizuru City on the Sea of Japan — population 73,046 (2025 census). It once thrived as a naval port; a major Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force base sits here now. After the Pacific War ended, it was also a landing port for Japanese returning from overseas. After Kure, Yokosuka, and Sasebo, Maizuru was the one I’d wanted. I worried about a typhoon, but walked without real trouble. At 6:52 p.m. I stood at JR Higashi-Maizuru Station.
The shopping arcades are solid, but on a Sunday few people were out — a little lonely under those roofs. Past K’s Denki I followed the covered sidewalks into the arcade: a few izakaya lanterns on, most shutters down. After the Shikishima-dori (敷島通り) sign I looped back to the station plaza.
Around the Station
A blue JR sign lights the entrance. The forecourt is dark, with fallen leaves at my feet. I started here.
A wooden board shows the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum and 平引揚桟橋; coin-locker arrows hang above. When the Pacific War ended in 1945, some 6.6 million Japanese were still overseas. Ports across Japan handled repatriation; Maizuru was one. The first ship, Unzen Maru, arrived October 7, 1945; the last, Hakusan Maru, September 7, 1958. Across those thirteen years about 660,000 people landed here on 346 ships, and from 1950 Maizuru was Japan’s only remaining repatriation port — mainly returnees from former Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula, and Siberia. The museum in Taira tells that story; Higashi-Maizuru is nearest.
K’s Denki sits right on the station front. Warranty and phone banners on the white wall; two silhouettes at the doors. Electronics-store light bleaching the plaza.
A red lantern and a 480-yen LED on the left; dark roadway right, bikes by a pillar. Closed shutters alternate with the few shops still lit.
A curved white canopy sends lamps deep into the distance. Parking on the left, a SALE sign on the right. Almost no one on the street.
A green banner for pensions at 舞鶴万代橋郵便局 / Japan Post Bank; a red mailbox, a footbridge ahead. Everyday station-front errands, still in place.
A managed-property notice on a shutter; 末広精肉店 still lettered above. A round bus-stop sign, small curb lights. The walkway keeps going.
All-you-can-drink banners and closed shutters; round lamps run deep ahead. Almost no one walking.
A red 止まれ on a yellow pole; round lamps fall in a straight line. One silver car under the quiet roofed road.
A metal plate reads 敷島通り. Small lamps follow the tactile strip. Distant taillights — one street off the main arcade feel.
Station light, a white police van by the koban. A tree trunk cuts the frame; a silver car at the curb. I closed the loop on the station plaza.
Walking Video Around Higashi-Maizuru Station
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