Opened on 1 June 1972: the first permanent pedestrian shopping street in Japan.
Walking along the kilometre of Heiwa-dōri, 20 metres wide and closed to cars, you are on what has been, since 1 June 1972, the first permanent pedestrian shopping street in Japan. A 12-day experiment in closing it to traffic, in August 1969, also paved the way for the temporary closures of Ginza, Asakusa, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro the following year.
The name of the street literally means ‘avenue of peace’. The project began in 1965 on the initiative of the mayor of Asahikawa, Igarashi Kōzō, and a 1968 report explicitly recommended it as a response to commercial competition from Sapporo, which was preparing to host the 1972 Winter Olympics.
ℹ️ It is a public pedestrian street, open at all times. It hosts the Asahikawa Winter Festival in February, the Asahikawa Summer Festival in August and a food market in September: check the dates before your trip.
🚉 4-jo 7-chome · 1 min walk
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Nearby
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