What’s to be done with Kokori?

About This Post

Aeon, the company which brought a mall to Showa, took over ロックタウン (Rock Town) and made イオンタウン (Aeon Town) in Chuo, and has Aeon Big supermarkets scattered here and there, will be closing its supermarket (and ground floor liquor store) in the Kokori building basement in downtown Kofu. This article announces the closing in November 2020 but says nothing about what will open in its stead. With sympathy to Aeon’s employees and regular customers, I’m excited to see the replacement. But what should that replacement be? While I can dream of used records, a bar and grill, a station for a new Kofu subway system, all I really want is some operation that will bring some life to the building and the Orion shopping area. And while I’d love some shops that cater to me, the truth is the second floor of Kokori already has dedicated clientele - it would be better to target interests other than mine. So instead I got the opinions a long-term foreign resident, some short-term (or so they think) visitors, and neighboring café staff.

About Kokori (but really about me)

Kokori isn’t all that old. Although the Okajima Department Store predates the war, the city block where Kokori now stands seemed to all about lots of small shops (though there was an Ogino supermarket) through the Showa Era (1926 - 1989.) Then in the 90s, Paseo arrived.

From 2001 to 2003 I lived in Showa (town) but frequently came downtown to hang out. This was before Laza Walk and the Aeon Mall came to Yamanashi. Ogino River City, Ogino Joy, Ito Yokado, and Amino Pax were pulling shoppers away from central Kofu but weren’t such big youth hangouts. I rarely bought anything in Paseo but always stopped by. The place was dense. Rows of stands that came to dead ends. You’d run into someone if you took a corner without looking. Get off the escalator and get out of the way. Every night after closing, kids would hang out on Orion Street and practice dance routines, studying their reflections in the display windows. This was also before quality camera phones. I always carried this heavy Pentax around with me. I can’t believe I didn’t photograph every inch of the place.

I left Yamanashi and came back in 2008. And Paseo was gone. The building was renovated and re-opened as Kokori in 2010. From the top down, there are apartments, a jewelry school, a parking garage, and shopping. Premium outlet jewelry shopping. I didn’t really get it. And to be blunt, it was not successful. A few years passed and the shopping floors had all changed. What you have now is not what we had then.

From an old Kokori pamphlet

So what you’ve got now, and what you’ll have until November 2020 - 

Basement - Daiso (100 Yen Shop) and an Aeon supermarket

1st Floor - Saint Marc Cafe, a Liquor shop, and some services rather than retail

2nd Floor - “Hobby Town” with Animate, Dospara computer supplies, Lashinbang, C-labo, Studio Primo games, & Grape Blood Donation Center. (That’s my infrequent hobby.)

Now to restate the question - When Aeon leaves, what would make Kokori a better place?

And why my own answer is inconsequential - I want it back the way it used to be (Paseo) which obviously wasn’t sustainable (or it wouldn’t have closed.)

Ideas (1)

Mathew Pitts has lived in Yamanashi since 2007. He also remembers an Orion Square that was lively and youthful. He majored in Asian Studies and Japanese and is into the products and atmosphere of the 2nd floor of Kokori. So he’s always looking for more reasons to come downtown. He liked that Animate, the プリクラ (photo booths), Studio Primo, C-labo, and Dospara complement one another. He pointed out that the foundation of many tourists’ interest in Japan comes from “otaku” culture. Just watch the TV Tokyo Program Youは何しに日本へ (Why Did You Come to Japan)? 

He suggested having a tourist office in the building, perhaps with some interactive stuff like dressing up in Sengoku period costumes. This could be fun not only for foreign tourists but also with Japanese visitors, with whom Takeda Shingen was really popular following an NHK drama.

To try to keep the customers on the second floor hanging around longer, he suggested having a good toy shop or a 駄菓子屋 (dagashiya, a kind of old-style candy shop). Even recently, Book-Offs have been crowded, so how about one in the basement? But if he could really have his way, Mathew would have something akin to the amazing Mandarake in Nakano. (I’m trying to promote Kofu as a fun place independent of Tokyo but even I have to recommend checking out Nakano Broadway and Mandarake. You just have to see it for yourself.) It’s definitely the kind of place that would pull in both serious shoppers and spectators.

Knowing that Yodobashi Camera has plans to take over the Yamako Department Store by Kofu Station, I asked Mathew if he thought Yodobashi Camera could instead fit in Kokori. He said that while he’s excited that Yodobashi is coming and that it will have a positive impact on downtown Kofu, he imagines the new Yodobashi to be too big for Kokori.

Ideas (2)

CC, TC, and OM meant to stay in Kofu for just one or two months. Quarantines forced them to extend their stay but they’ll be going back to their home countries when there’s a safe way to do so. Early on in their stay they started getting their groceries at Aeon and are thus familiar with the Kokori building. They can provide a valuable visitor’s perspective.

One of the first suggestions was another supermarket. They were already in the habit of shopping there - they liked the prices and it accepted credit cards that were not accepted elsewhere. They floated other ideas such as an inexpensive clothing store, a food court, a Book-Off, or an ice-skating rink. Their final suggestions were CC - Mandarake, TC - a Uniqlo, OM - an Inkpot (stationery store.) I can vouch for Inkpot. A few years ago a Thai friend and her high school-aged daughter came for a visit. The daughter spent almost three hours browsing Inkpot. When I told them of Mathew’s tourist center idea, CC said she’d like to take themed walking tours around Kofu that featured Sailor Moon (creator Naoko Takeuchi is from Kofu) or Osamu Dazai (the novelist stayed in Kofu during World War II.)

Ideas (3)

Kokori’s main entrance shares an intersection with Terasaki Coffee. I know it’s my favorite coffee shop. Toshi, Ryo, and Erina from Terasaki had pretty dynamic ideas about what to do at Orion Square. First, Toshi said he’d like the basement to be filled with small shops and places to eat. When I asked Ryo, he said to knock the whole building down and have a park instead, where people could eat takeout, relax, and of course, drink coffee. I think the final decision was to fill up the basement with food stalls, takoyaki and yakisoba and such, leave the 2nd floor and the parking garage in place, but clear out the first floor and make it an open air area. Again, the people of Kofu could relax outside and eat takeout (from the basement) and drink coffee (from Terasaki) but this way they could enjoy themselves on really hot days or rainy days as well. Erina said she’d like to have a Muji. My wife also likes this idea. Some may remember that there was a Muji in Yamako Department Store that closed when other branches opened in Laza Walk and the Aeon Mall. The Yamako store was usually pretty busy, despite being hidden away in the rear of an upper floor.

Please share your own ideas in the comments.

Links

Department stores have Wikipedia pages (in Japanese.) Here are Paseo’s and Kokori’s.

This page provides a history of Orion Shopping Street and has some old photos and simple layouts of how the block changed.

There are some 駄菓子屋 in Kofu. Here’s a list.

Mandarake at Nakano Broadway