[RIDGELINE] The Shops Atop the Canal in Toyohashi

Ridgeline subscribers —

Hello from Toyohashi, a city between nowhere and somewhere else. A Tōkaidō city I’ve walked through on my two trips back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo. A city with a space shuttle on top of a building and the letters USA strangely emblazoned below.

On both of my Tōkaidō walks, one particular bit of Toyohashi has stood out to me and has intrigued me in ways few other little bits along the old road have: A stretch of shotengai called (variously) Daiho Shoten or the Suijyō Buildings — literally, “Above the water.”