A Strange Encounter: Shiroto no Ran Shops, the Kitanaka Shopping Street Association and a Case of shotengai Revitalization in Koenji

Traditional shopping streets in Japan (shotengai) have been going through a long period of decline since the 1980s, and the efforts of shopping streets associations to regenerate them were in some cases ineffective. From the 1990s state-sponsored shotengai revitalizing projects have been implemented with mixed results. Past literature has been documenting many cases of collaboration between shotengai associations and external groups for the renewal of the shopping districts. This paper analyses the case study of Kitanaka shotengai in Koenji during the second half of the 2000s: here the shopping street association successfully facilitated the formation of youth-owned second-hand shops, called Shiroto no Ran (‘Amateur Riot’), through the engagement of young artists and activists who contributed to the regeneration of the district. The study will use local surveys to reconstruct the recent evolution of Koenji shopping streets, and direct testimonies of the actors involved to explore the formation of the connection between Kitanaka Shotengai Association and the activists who gave birth to Shiroto no Ran shops.

Parole chiave:Shōtengai Kōenji Shirōto no Ran Rivitalizzazione delle strade commercia

Filippo Dornetti, A Strange Encounter: Shiroto no Ran Shops, the Kitanaka Shopping Street Association and a Case of shotengai Revitalization in Koenji in "STORIA URBANA " 181/2025, pp 138-155, DOI: 10.3280/SU2025-181008