It took its name from the Heiwa-kan cinema in 1951; the roof came thirty years later.
From Kokusai-dōri you walk in under a canopy and the temperature drops at once. Inside there are none of the souvenirs of the wide street: there are towels, tea, grocers, work clothes, and a bar from 1956 called Mon. To one side branches off an alley that the neighbourhood declares the shortest shopping arcade in Japan, twenty-four paces long. At the far end you come out at Makishi Market.
It began after the war as a spontaneous open-air market between the Tsuboya and Makishi neighbourhoods. It took its name in 1951, from the wish for peace and from the Heiwa-kan cinema that stood at the entrance to the street. It stayed open to the sky for thirty years: the roof was completed in 1981. Together with Ichiba Hondōri, which is its continuation, it links Kokusai-dōri to Makishi Public Market.
ℹ️ It is a street and you can walk through it at any hour, but the shops keep their own hours and close early in the evening. The entrance is on Kokusai-dōri, level with Mutsumi Bridge.
🚉 Hotel Collective mae · 5 min walk
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Makishi Public Market100 mphoto by Naha Mama Pavilionz · CC0
Sakurazaka100 mphoto by Kugel · Public domain
Kokusai-dori200 mphoto by Hikomi Moneru · CC BY 3.0
Tsuboya Pottery Street300 mphoto by Hajime NAKANO · CC BY 2.0