The development of underground shopping streets in Nagoya.

Abstract

The author investigated underground shopping streets in Nagoya. The main results are summarized as follows: 1) Underground shopping streets in Nagoya were constructed at the traffic junctions, below public roads, simultaneously with the construction of subways. They were connected with the subway stations. This provided easy access; 2) The process of development on underground shopping streets - a historical survey; 3) According to the categories of business they contain, underground shopping streets can be classified into 2 types; 1) containing restaurants, coffeehouses and food stores with a choice variety; 2) containing many speciality shops dealing in clothes; 4) The many chain stores have lost regional characteristics peculiar to Nagoya; 5) Floor space of shops is rather small and rents are very high, so they specialize in goods which attract the young; 6) There are many branch stores on underground shopping streets and very few run by proprietor in person, thus they constitute a community of employees; 7) Underground shopping streets have developed in CBDs of large cities in Japan because many people use public mass transport and they have been constructed at its junctions.-from English summary