Ninjō Yokochō

Born in 1951 from street vendors evicted from the centre: today 38 shops in 160 metres.

The covered alley runs for about 160 metres along Shinzuya-kōji, with a zig-zag roof added in 1956 for its fifth anniversary. It came into being in 1951 when the street vendors of the Honmachi market, evicted from the centre in the city's post-war reorganisation, moved there en masse: at the time there were about eighty of them, mostly fishmongers and greengrocers; today there are thirty-eight shops, among them restaurants, fish shops and dried-goods shops. Inside it, a small shrine, Hakuryū Daigongen, founded in 1953, protects the traders' business.

Founded in 1951 as a market of street vendors moved out of the centre of Niigata in the post-war reorganisation, under the original name of Honmachi Chūō Ichiba Shōtengai, the alley has kept the narrow layout and the working-class character that earned it the nickname ‘Niigata's kitchen’. In 2013 the remains of Urasugi Bridge, and in 2014 the buildings of the alley, were recognised as cultural properties of the city of Niigata.

ℹ️ The public alley can be walked through at any time; opening hours are those of the individual shops, mostly daytime for the fish shops and evening for the restaurants. ⚠️ No precise street address found for Shinzuya-kōji: the coordinates are only approximate, at neighbourhood level.

🚉 Niigata Kotsu Bandai City Bus center · 20 min walk

Sources: ninjo-yokocho.com

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