Hokancho is a long covered single shoping street in Okayama. A five minute walk from the rear exit of Okayama Station, walking in the direction of Toyoko In and the International Language Center. Hokancho is a shopping street with a mix of old (Showa Era ‘20s-‘80s) and brand new retail businesses. Cafes, small restaurants, curio shops, used clothing, etc. Medel Music is located on Hokancho just near to KAMP Backpackers Inn.
ATTENTION #vinylcommunity No vinyl records are shown or discussed in this video. No vinyl record stores are visited or mentioned. We talk about (gasp) other things.
Chapters
00:02 Introduction
00:32 Rice Fields
00:46 Audrey Hepburn is still a very big deal in Japan
01:03 Yakiniku for One
02:14 McDonalds in Japan
02:42 New housing construction
03:01 Thai Restautant
03:33 Entering Hokancho
03:39 Morimoto Mens Clothing
04:04 Slow Cafe
04:19 Yummy Coffee
04:23 Babylon Used Clothing
04:28 La Luce Dolce Candle Shop
04:47 Onsaya Coffee
05:02 HA HU
05:17 Showa Era Restaurant
06:01 Swastika Used Clothing (English is decoration in Japan)
06:14 Showa Era Hat Shop comparison to new shop opposite facing
06:33 Cinema Memorabilia Shop
07:19 Design office
07:38 Tokunaga Harmonica School
08:19 Yakinuku Angie
08:34 Gotz Used Clothing
09:22 Reggae Restaurant (not the correct name)
09:32 Satellite Gallery and Artist Book Store
10:20 Organic vegetables
10:38 Kizuna Ramen
11:01 Walking Back to Okayama Station
11:29 Taj Namaste Indian Restaurant
11:54 Rice musing on making YouTube Videos
17 Comments
30 days to finish? Wow!!😳
If you don’t mind me asking Mike, what you do for a living in Japan? I’ve heard that there’s a demand for teachers. Especially an English speaking teachers but, I also hear complaints regarding treatment and long hrs demands that go along with those jobs. Any truth to that?
Love these videos. The real Japan without cherry trees and samurai theme in them cheesy postcard. 😂❤🍺
Great stuff Mike. Did you ever stay in the U.K. I sense Brighton would have been a favourite with you.
Wonderful tour Michael. Best way to see a area is just by getting up on your hind feet and walking and exploring. Cheers.
This is the type of Japanese walk around that I have been waiting for. Truly fascinating. Thank you.
I love yakiniku. And sabusabu would be nice to eat also… So many great foods over there. Is okayama more okonomiyaki or yakiniku place? Or what is the thing over there?
mr. Finglish (Bäd English Recs)
Very intriguing. Thanks for sharing.
A very nice stroll around, I would have been tempted to get the Thomas crown affair, Windmills! This brings back a lot of memories of these kind of covered shopping streets. I got a funny feeling watching this that if you had dressed a bit more like a detective with a Japanese version of Avenues and Alleyways by Tony Christie it would have been perfect 😉
Fantastic video RFR-san!!
You ate it Ralph 😂
Such great scenes…. These are better than a lot of “travel vlogs”. You are great at keeping interest. Another beautiful job✊🏽
Super enjoyable to see you enjoying my usual circuits.
PS Just off the main shopping arcade is a place called “Kamp” which hosts DJ night, live music, makes funky curry and has sort of a hostile all baked in… It’s a real central hub for kind of counterculture travelers and renegade locals
Coming from “always drizzly except for three glorious months” Vancouver BC, these kind of indoor/outdoor covered shopping arcades makes so much sense.
And I love that little small businesses making one or two specialty products can really make a go of it in Japan and not just become some mass produced “turning tables” operation .
Michael, do you ever get the “hairy eyeball” from Mrs Rice Field when you bring home more vinyl? 😉🙂
We were near Park Life a few hours ago digging for books at Green Apple. 4 Star Theater recently re-opened and we caught a Wong Kar-wai double feature.
Interesting to see, THANKS. I’Mm surprised at how much of the signage is in English, how light the foot traffic is, how dreary and Vancouveresque the weather is and how much infrastructure, meaning AC units, wires, meters, junction boxes and such seem to be adjacent to the street right on the pedestrian sidewalks rather than “out back” behind the buildings.