Where could this be?
Is it Kyoto?
Or a traditional old Japanese street?
Believe it or not, it’s part of the indoor facilities of Haneda Airport, the sky gateway to Japan.
With souvenir shops and paper lanterns hanging from the roofs, it looks just like a traditional Japanese town.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s actually here.
This is Edo Alley, a reproduction of a main street in Japan 200 years ago.
It is lined with restaurants serving various Japanese food including noodles, sushi, tempura, and more, and shops whose business was established more than a century ago selling traditional goods such as wrapping cloths, towels and so on.
Here you can see some uniquely Japanese ukiyoe-style paintings hanging above a shop.
The sunlight streaming through the ceiling and the tiled roofs of the buildings make you feel that you are really walking outdoors.
This is a sitting area where you can drink green tea and eat green tea sweets.
Red Japanese umbrellas and seats invoke the atmosphere of Kyoto.
During the summer, many morning glories, a traditional summer flower in Japan like the sunflower, are put on display.
The blue, purple, pink and green colors entwined around a bamboo fence look very beautiful.
In old Japan more than 200 years ago, such walls of bamboo woven with plants were used because they let a fresh breeze through, instead of walls made of earth and wood, which gave little ventilation and got very hot.
It looks refreshing too, and shows how the wisdom of our ancestors is still being used today in diverse ways.
Looking down from here, you can see the counters in the departure lobby.
That’s where you will check in your luggage and start your journey from Japan to foreign countries.
When we think of international airports in Japan, the best known is Narita International Airport.
But Haneda Airport has the convenience of being just 20 minutes away from the center of Tokyo by road or rail , and its use has risen sharply in recent years as its number of flights has increased.
Haneda Airport has many other facilities that are untypical of an airport, by the way.
We’ll bring you details of these in our next report!
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