An arcade about 1.6 kilometers long, running east to west between the sea and the hills. It is made up of five shopping streets, Ichibangai, Naka, Honmachi Center-gai, Chuo-gai and Onomichi-dori, with some 400 shops. The Center-gai and Ekimae signs in the photos belong to this street.
Sources: gltjp.com
This moment in the journey
Shopping arcades along the railway
Just outside the shop ran the railway line, and a yellow train crossed right in front of me. At the entrance to the arcade hung a sign reading Center-gai. Onomichi's main street is a shopping arcade about 1.6 kilometers long, running east to west between the sea and the hills.
I walked under the glass roof. A freight train slipped past at the end of an alley, and I passed a former public bathhouse that still carries the name Yamato-yu, said to have opened around the end of the Meiji era. Beyond the awning of the Ekimae shopping street, a hillside packed with houses came into view.
Onomichi is famous as the setting for many movies and anime. Just walking around, you keep meeting scenes you have seen somewhere before.
Watch this scene on YouTube0:52
More notes from this journey
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Onomichi-yaki
Onomichi's okonomiyaki is called Onomichi-yaki.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Cinema Onomichi
The only cinema in Onomichi, the movie town known for Ozu's Tokyo Story and Obayashi's Onomichi trilogy.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
Onomichi, Hiroshima
The former Yamato-yu bathhouse
A former public bathhouse in the Onomichi Hondori arcade, with a concrete facade and an arched entrance.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Setoda lemons
Hiroshima Prefecture grows more lemons than any other in Japan: 4,861 tons in 2020, or 56% of the national crop.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Onomichi ramen
A soy sauce broth combined with stock from Setouchi small fish such as dried sardines, topped with pork back fat.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Yakuza 6 and its Onomichi setting
The poster on the ramen shop wall was for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, released in December 2016.
From: Onomichi ramen and homemade okonomiyaki
More notes from Chugoku & Shikoku
Onomichi, Hiroshima
Octopus rice (tako-meshi)
A regional dish of Hiroshima handed down in Mihara, Onomichi and Fukuyama.
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Shippoku udon
A winter dish found throughout Kagawa.
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Niku mosso
A beef version of mossou-meshi, a traditional dish of Mitoyo.
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Mackerel sandwich with Setouchi lemon
Breakfast in a fishing village on the Seto Inland Sea, made with the region's Setouchi lemon and eaten on the beach in front of the inn.
From: Shimanami Kaido: sea-bream rice and a salty breeze
Matsuyama, Ehime
Jako-ten, prawns and Ehime wagyu on a charcoal grill
Jako-ten is a deep-fried fish-paste cake from the Nanyo region of southern Ehime.
From: Shimanami Kaido: sea-bream rice and a salty breeze
Matsuyama, Ehime
Tai-meshi, sashimi-bowl style
Ehime has two kinds of tai-meshi.
From: Shimanami Kaido: sea-bream rice and a salty breeze