The market was bustling with life, long before convenience stores emerged

The Marugo Market was established in Nagata Ward, Kobe in 1918. When it was established, the market comprised the central market and the new central market. In 1932, following the opening of the Kobe City Central Wholesale Market, the Marugo Market was reorganized as one single market. Approximately 130 shops lined the alleys in its heyday, making it one of the largest markets in Kobe. The Nishimura Poultry Shop was opened in Marugo Market in 1934. Masayuki Nishimura was born and brought up in this area as the first son of the shop owner. He graduated from university in the midst of Japan’s Izanagi economic boom (1965-70), when the country’s population exceeded 100 million and the private car boom was triggered by popular economy cars such as the Toyota Corolla and the Nissan Sunny.

Every company needed to recruit university graduates, and all of my seniors were employed by famous trading houses. Fortunately, I also received many job offers. After wavering, however, I decided to succeed to my parents’ shop with my younger brother. My parents never told us to do so, but I made this decision because I grew up while watching them working.

My father is a stubborn old man, born in the early 20th century. He never made an exception of me, being his first son and successor. He told me: “It is true that having graduated from university is a great asset to you, but just keep it to yourself.” Our family had two shops and ten workers at that time, but no one taught me what to do. Newcomers had to learn by seeing how my father or other seniors did their jobs.

Along the labyrinth-like alleys of the Marugo Market, there were over 100 shops. This was long before supermarkets and convenience stores emerged. Every market, filled with people buying foodstuffs every day, tried to attract more shoppers than the other markets did. Mr. Nishimura got married in 1967, aged 30, and would later go on to have three daughters.

It was like a heavily bombed area

Meanwhile, the economic bubble crashed and Japan moved from the Showa to the Heisei era. Due to the so-called inner-city problem, the population of Nagata Ward dropped by approximately 100,000 in 10 years. As the needs of consumers changed, the number of shops in the market was reduced to 80.

And then the earthquake occurred. Luckily, it was a Tuesday; I mean, the regular holiday of the market, so we didn’t suffer any fires. What if it had not been a holiday? Just the thought of it makes me shudder. After 5:30 am, tofu shops begin preparing to deep-fry tofu.

Nishimura had been out for a drink the night before, and returned home late at night. When he was sleeping at the kotatsu (low table with electric heater), a wood-framed sliding door fell on him. Although the house did not collapse, it was completely destroyed. He confirmed the safety of all his family members, and rushed to his shop. The microwave oven and refrigerator had been thrown all the way to the other side of the shop, and the street looked like a heavily bombed area. However, the market somehow kept its shape because the market’s old tenements had been reinforced with steel H-beams and no fires broke out. “We were lucky,” says Nishimura.

Photo:Nishimura talking about the aftermath of the earthquake. “I called on younger men for cooperation and started a night watch on the day of the earthquake.”

I looked around to find all the shops’ frames squashed and the shutters flapping in the wind. It was such an unsafe situation. Every shop had safes and stocks because they had been doing business as usual until the day before. We couldn’t do anything sitting in the evacuation center, so we decided to start a night watch from the day of the earthquake in some groups. As I was the chairperson of the cooperative and the community association leader, I called on people around me for help and was able to gather some 30 people.

I also asked them, “If you have some warm foods or alcohol, please bring them to me, but only bring what you can spare,” and cooked the ingredients for evacuees in large drums. I did whatever came to mind. I was able to conduct such activities because I had a good relationship with the market members and neighbors. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people referred to the importance of people’s ties. Without help from others, we can’t do anything. What’s more, if there are 100 supporters, we get the power of 1,000 people. I realized the true meaning of “Mastery for Service,” the motto of my old school, Kwansei Gakuin University. That awareness is still alive in me.

The town begins to restart, based on people’s ties

Now, shopping streets with arcades spread in four directions from the south of JR Shin-Nagata Station. There are many high-rise condos near the station as well. The area suffered tremendous damage from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the large fire that broke out just after the quake. Nishimura himself used up his savings to reconstruct the shop. The consumption tax hike from 3% to 5% two years after the disaster was a hard blow. Due to complex reasons, the area’s population dwindled. Many vacant shops with closed shutters appeared.

Photo:Marugo Market today. Even after the disaster, they have kept the nostalgic streetscape that evokes the image of the golden days of Japan's postwar economic growth.

In such a terrible situation, all shopping streets and markets in Shin-Nagata cooperated to host the “Reconstruction Bazaar” in 1999, assisted by a 20 million yen subsidy from the Hyogo Prefectural Government. We managed to make a success of the event. Before that, events were held individually by each shopping street or market. It was the first challenge for us to work together as one, over the boundaries of associations and communities, which ended in success. Inspired by the spontaneous voices of the participating shops, “Don’t make this a one off”, we have continued monthly community-building meetings for the 15-odd years since then.

Kobe City gave a helping hand to enhance the community members’ ties. The Kobe Nagata TMO (Town Management Organization) was launched, connecting Kobe City, the Kobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shoes Plaza, shopping streets and markets. One of the testaments to their ties is the large Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor) Monument in Wakamatsu Park. This is the outcome of a project to create a monument of the representative work of the late Mitsuteru Yokoyama, a manga artist who spent his youth around that area, as the symbol of reconstruction from the earthquake. Out of the total construction cost of 135 million yen, the local communities managed to gather 90 million yen by themselves (45 million yen was given as a subsidy by Kobe City).

Photo: The huge Tetsujin 28-go Monument with a height of 18 meters and weight of 50 tons, completed in October 2009. It attracts fans from around the globe. (©Hikari Pro/ KOBE TETSUJIN PROJECT 2009)


How the old-style market found a way out

The Marugo Market had 73 shops right after the earthquake. The number continued to decrease little by little as a result of some shops transferring to supermarkets as tenants, as well as the aging workforce. Now, 20 years after the earthquake, there are only 13 shops left. “One-tenth compared to the days when my father owned the shop. A market is a place that offers everything the shoppers want. Now, we can’t offer what they want. This is not a market.” Driven by frustration, Nishimura took further action, supported by public help.

I had the idea of revitalizing this area that has lost its function as a market by adding the concept of “Asia-yokocho” (Asian alley). We rented vacant shops from former shop owners, subsidized interior finishing costs and rent, and invited two shops selected from many candidates—a Taiwanese food stall and a Thai restaurant. We hoped that, after we closed our shops in the evening, they would attract many visitors to energize the street. However, giving only financial aid was not enough. We couldn’t manage and assist them in the evening, and they failed to get regular customers. They were soon stuck in a dead-end situation.

The project fell through in just a year. Yet Nishimura, after the earthquake, had learned to turn everything to good account. Taking advantage of this experience, he newly launched the event “Marugo Asia-yokocho Night Yatai” (Asian alley night food stalls).

This time, we planned an event which we, shop owners in the market, could also participate in. During summer, food stalls appear in the Marugo Market once a month. The food stalls include those offered by the shops in the market, as well as an Asian cuisine restaurant that opens on this occasion only. When I decided to host this event, I persuaded the market members into doing the event together. Here again, the awareness of “doing together as one” was important.

A total of five events were held from June to October 2008. They caused a buzz among the locals: “I felt as if I had wandered into a street corner somewhere in Asia!” Every time, there were many visitors, even in the rain or typhoon. During the course of 35 events in seven years, some shops that ran “trial businesses” began operating regularly in the Marugo Market.

Photo:Marugo Asia-yokocho Night Yatai. Scheduled to be held next year as well, on the 3rd Friday of every month from June to October.

Photo:He frequently attends meetings, implements various projects throughout the year, issues a PR paper and participates in events as a member of the Kobe Nagata TMO.

Many of Nishimura’s contemporaries in their 70s have retired from their jobs and are leading a leisurely life. After rushing through the post-war period, what prospects does Nishimura have for the next decade?

I can’t back out now since I myself have evoked such local revitalization that has surprised everyone—our customers, the Mayor of Kobe, and the shopping street organizers who came to see our projects from all over Japan—and made them say, “What in the world is this?” Of course, we are holding Marugo Asia-yokocho Night Yatai next year. I will continue my job also for my own health. There’s more to come!

(Photographed by Takuya Oshima, interviewed and written by Maki Takahashi)