A Small Memory of Japanese Shopping Streets

I found a new flavor of biscuit, which my daughter always loves: kinako flavor.

I like kinako too, but when I saw it at the supermarket, I immediately thought, “My daughter will love this!” So I bought it for her.

When I came back home, I found the exact same package on the table.

Then I realized that my mother-in-law had bought the same snack, thinking the same thing.

This reminded me of a memory from more than a decade ago.

There was a small shopping street near our home. There was a small greengrocer — a shop selling fresh vegetables and fruits — and the shop owner knew his customers and their families well.

One day, while I was choosing some vegetables, the owner told me,“Hey, your mother already bought spinach earlier today!”

Even back then, many traditional shopping streets, called shotengai in Japan, were already declining in many cities.But our local shopping street was one of the ones that was still doing its best.

Sadly, many of those small shops have now closed and their shutters remain down.

Of course, life is much more convenient now. We can buy almost everything we need at one large store.

But sometimes, I feel a little nostalgic and miss those days when shop owners knew our families and looked out for us.

Perhaps that is why finding the same snack at home brought back this old memory.

little family story behind this snack

Nat