[Aichi / Ichinomiya] Walking the Night District — Closed Department Store and Shuttered Arcades
Watch this walk
Watch on YouTube
Visited: Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Photos and text reflect that night.
I stopped by during a week-long photography trip through the Tokai region. Earlier the same evening I’d walked around Gifu Station; then I moved into Ichinomiya, Aichi. Population 378,496 (as of January 1, 2024). Sometime after 9 p.m. I stepped out from the Meitetsu Ichinomiya Station bus-terminal side — a transfer hub with JR Owari-Ichinomiya.
The station building looks clean, and I’d assumed a transfer city like this would feel lively. I didn’t know the Meitetsu Department Store Ichinomiya — basically station-linked — had just closed. Tuesday night was thin on foot traffic; even the concourse with its station piano felt hushed. Past the plaza, the Honmachi arcade showed wet pavement mirroring the lights and a run of shutters. Ichinomiya doesn’t strike me as a city where population loss dominates the headlines — so why the empty storefronts? I don’t have an answer. Around the Ningyo-cho corner, through narrow bar lanes, then back toward the station-front strip.
Around the Station
名鉄一宮駅 バスターミナル and 名鉄一宮駅 on the lit board. Warm light through the glass; no-smoking marks on the tiles. Two backs disappear inside. That’s the start.
A covered grand piano behind white stanchions; 駅ピアノ with daytime hours on the sign. Elevator hall on the left. A long orange-ceilinged corridor runs ahead — almost empty.
Stone paving, a long glass shelter, two coats crossing left. Rounded commercial buildings and signs beyond; bare trees and cars on the road side. Wide space just outside the station.
APA HOTEL in the distance. A worn zebra in the foreground; bread billboard and a parked bike on the right. Flower-bed lights wash the sidewalk — the turn from station front toward the shopping streets.
Strawberry daifuku and sakura-mochi nobori on the right. Two men walk toward the arcade mouth. A green glowing dome overhead; Honmachi at the entrance. Wet ground holds the reflections.
White pillars, arched roof, wet tiles mirroring the lamps. 完全予約制 on a window. One person crosses mid-arcade. After-hours quiet.
Blue columns hold the canopy; grey-blue-pink tiles underfoot. Two bikes against the wall. Across the road, mostly shutters. Distant red taillights.
Green metal arcade beams. A green facade, round-topped wooden door, chalkboard menu. One figure walks away. Purple-tinged light on the brick sidewalk.
人形町商店街 lit under the overhang. Warm brick shopfront; blue arrows on the asphalt. A few people on the zebra — the shopping-street corner.
合格いただきます！ on a cartoon standee. Pillar “14”; a black van left. Patterned tiles stretch under the high arcade roof.
80's in retro lettering on the right; warm glass on the left. Patterned stone down the center. A couple by a doorway; more figures farther on — a tighter lane off the main strip.
Two white lanterns, bikes, a red-lit interior. No-entry sign ahead; a white car deeper in; taller buildings beyond. Turning the dining corner.
Milky Way Building board and a warm restaurant entrance left. 魚民 and 山内農場 lit on the right. People on the tactile strip — the bigger street toward the station.
White mills hut, then a pink-lit twin. Bus and cars on the road; bare street trees. The night walk pauses here on the station-front path.
Walking Video Around Meitetsu Ichinomiya Station
The full walk is available on The Street Archive | MACHIDORI. Consider subscribing to The Street Archive | MACHIDORI YouTube channel.
Related Posts
See this place on the map
Open the filming spot on the archive map and explore nearby streets.
Open map![[Nagoya Station / Ekinishi Ginza] Walking the Night District — Taiko-dori Exit and Bar Streets](/images/2026/10/26/1/20261026_1_11.jpg)
![[Osu / Osu Kannon] Walking the Night District — Arcades and Young Crowds](/images/2026/10/12/1/20261012_1_6.jpg)
![[Sakae / Hisaya-odori] Walking the Night District — TV Tower and Host-Club Neon](/images/2026/10/05/1/20261005_1_3.jpg)
Watch The Street Archive | MACHIDORI on YouTube