30 October 2026
Now even more abandoned
Niigata Furumachi area
I was last here in 2019, when I marvelled at how quiet the bit of Niigata between the river and the sea is, the area is known as Furumachi. Last time I stayed in a hotel on that side of town, this time I am not. So to do a comparison between 2019 and now, I decided to walk to the quiet old area of town for more marvelling at quietness. The phrase 'marvelling at quietness' has never been written before.
The highlight of this quietness is the Rosa underground mall. Last time there were a handful of shops, and now there are none. Yet it is still completely open and maintained, in a hope that one day, shops will return. Who pays for this I wonder?
Despite it being a Friday, it was actually quite difficult to find a dinner in Furumachi that was not Yoshinoya or a similar chain. There were a lot of places behind curtains with no sign that I suspect are semi private bars, they do not want me, and near the market a few fish only places that did not interest me, but then eventually, Chinese noodles.
Surprise rain! I was not expecting that. Thankfully it stopped about 5 minutes after I left my hotel. It is however forecast to rain tomorrow and on Monday, my 2 hiking days.
As you can see, right under my hotel is a Sukiya. If all other dinner plans fail, this shall be it (it was not it).
Crossing the river into no mans land. Actually this is looking back into the busy side, but you get the idea.
A bank has a lot of themed windows with different fairy tales. Banks and fairy tales, interesting choice.
There are a lot of covered shopping areas on this the dead side of town, this one and a few others are fully covered.
We also have the partially covered variety.
The back streets look nice when the roads are wet.
Now for the COMPLETELY DEAD underground mall named 'Rosa'. Not a single store still in operation.
The ornate decorations remain untouched by vandals. It is a very strange place, all the signage is maintained, and someone is cleaning and maintaining it all, and yet no one is ever coming back.
The shopping streets go on and on, and even though there were a few clothing stores along here, it is mostly abandoned. At least 90% empty shops.
Eventually I found a spot specialising in Dan Dan noodles, numbing and spicy, it was not as numbing or spicy as I might have liked, but not bad.
And since I had not taken too many photos, here is a shot of the outside of the noodle store. It appears to be called King noodle.
Tomorrow is a wet hiking day. I am going to a smaller less bear filled mountain because the risk of rain is high which is likely to mean less other people (bear food).