The Oldest Shopping Arcade – Tanukikoji

(Tanukikoji Street 1)

Have you ever been to a shopping arcade which has been around for over 135 years? Well, today I’m going to introduce to you the oldest shopping arcade - Tanukikoji, which is located in the heart of Sapporo!

Tanukikoji was developed in the 18^th century, it was the first organized shopping district ever created in Sapporo. The word Tanuki comes from “raccoon dog” in Japanese and the word Koji means a narrow street. This street is an approximately 900 meter long roofed arcade that runs from east to west. It is the best place to go regardless of the weather!

(The mascot of Tanuki)

Tanukikoji is a MUST GO when you visit Sapporo. We went there at about 10:00am but we were probably too early because shops usually start operating from 11:00am onwards. Tanukikoji shopping arcade starts at Nishi 1-Chome to Nishi 7-Chome. There are around 200 shops including restaurants, hotels, cafes, Karaoke, and night bars!

In Sapporo, even if you don’t speak Japanese or don’t have a portable Wi-Fi, you can still see Wi-Fi and English signboard almost everywhere.

Hokkaido tourism information center

This is the most interesting tourist information center I've ever seen! It is located at Street 5 (5 Chome). They provide varieties of information from accommodation, car & bike rental, meal coupon, baggage storage, money exchanger, Japanese cultural experience like wearing kimono, DIY traditional fan and more. They also sell luggage and few traditional products such as handkerchiefs and chopsticks where you can bring home as a souvenirs. If you’re worrying about language problem, you don’t have to! Because they have staff who can speak English, Chinese and Japanese. Unfortunately, they start operating from 2:00pm onwards.

Happiness owl pie (Fukuchan yaki)

We discovered owls standing in front of this pie stall and decided to check it out. At first I thought it was just a pet store but it was a stall that sells owl pie! Pretty interesting!

Owl in Japanese is “Fukurou” and “Fuku” means fortune. That's why Japanese believe owls (fukurou) bring fortune (fuku). There are 7 flavors of this pie. I will recommend you the “Apple cream” flavor. It is similar to apple pie but the difference is they are using Aomori Fuji apple and the skin of the pie is really crispy! You should definitely try this out!

You can also enjoy watching owls while having the delicious pie!

おいしい福ちゃん焼きを食べる間に、かわいいフクロウを見る事も出来ますよ。

Hug Eat

Hug Eat is a food court. It looks small from the outside but they actually have 11 food stalls in it! You can try different variety of food such as sushi, yakitori, yakiniku, seafood, ramen and Korean food. I think it is a nice place to take a break after a long walk.

Souvenir shops

There are more than 3 souvenirs shops here in Tanukikoji. You can get all kinds of souvenirs from Hokkaido with reasonable price!

Last but not least (Don’t miss this!)

There is a mini shrine called “Honjin-Tanuki-Daimyo-Jinja (the headquarters raccoon shrine)”, where people worship a raccoon as a god. It was built in 1973 to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the shopping arcade and is commonly called Tanuki Jinja (Raccoon Shrine) too. It is said that Tanuki has 8 goodness/virtues. If you are having a difficulty with business, touch the raccoon’s account book on his left hand; if you’re looking for a good match/succeed in love, touch the raccoon’s shoulder to the chest. Sounds interesting, right? Why don't you give it a try!

I hope you enjoy your wonderful Sapporo trip!