Keep Tsunami-Stricken Isatomae Community Alive

Two months have passed since the temporary Isatomae Fukko Shopping Arcade was opened. A very serious problem which shop owners in the arcade face is that the number of visitors to the shop drastically declined. Unlike the previous temporary place, this arcade was located much closer to the ocean. To make the situation worse, many trucks drive by for the construction of dikes. Besides, the entrance to the arcade is difficult to be found, and access there became uneasy for drivers. The road was originally planned to be built much closer to the ocean, situating the arcade looking closer to the inland and enabling to guide customers to the arcade much easier. However, the construction of the road was suddenly stopped. Over weekends, no car has been parked, though a significant number of visitors walked to the arcade. These days, they do not even see any visitors walking to the arcade, simply because it involves quite a long walk and even going across a traffic heavy road without any signal or crossing. It is quite natural for many visitors simply not to come to the arcade.

To overcome this difficulty, only solution is to make the arcade more attractive. They are planning to have many events, such as an event of eating local sea food, a summer festival with famous singers and fire work in August, a stop of Le Tour de Tohoku in September to which over 3,000 cyclists will attend, etc. However, visitors are mostly coming from outside of Isatomae and are not likely to purchase many goods from shops which are basically selling the necessities for daily living. Since there is only one restaurant, some of shop owners close their main business and try to sell food at the arcade during events. Thus, increased attractions are not necessarily strengthening the attractiveness of the arcade. Besides, the police these days warn about the safety of visitors, thus requiring more cost for security guards. May be, much more efforts are necessary to nurture long-term attractiveness of the arcade itself.    

In April, a new school year starts. There are five grade schools close to the arcade. The total number of newly entering students is less than 80, suggesting a decline of newly entering students. These schools may be unified in the future, and even high school may not be continued. Shizugawa whose population is about twice bigger than Isatomae, located about half an hour away from Isatomae by car, is now trying to build a public housing complex starting this year, while the land level of a large area still requires to be raised. Once Shizugawa is fully redeveloped, small shop arcade in neighboring areas may face a difficulty of attracting customers in a car-based rural living. It is a serious problem. And in March 2017, the renewal open of the Isatomae Fukko Shopping Arcade will take place, while construction to raise the land level continues until February 2017. The planned date of Arcade Renewal is different between the government and shop owners, while abrupt changes of plans by the government are rather frequent. Shop owners just have to tolerate and cope with such uncertainty.

Links:

• Isatomae Fukko Shopping Arcade