5 November 2026
Plenty of parking
Exploring suburban Toyama
Tonight I headed due south into the suburbs on approximately a 10km loop. At first it was dark and very quiet, but then after maybe walking 3km away from the city, lots of bright lights, and large parking areas. Everywhere was a family restaurant. Yes there was a KFC and Mcdonalds, but as you can see, many of what you are used to seeing as sit at one counter in a row tiny places, expand into larger drive thru take away with 100 car parking spaces restaurants. These are all probably similarly sized to a suburban Mcdonalds in Australia. So my top tip when the city area in a small Japanese place is closed is to head out of the city along a busy road.
In addition to eating places there were a lot of cafes, including a Starbucks, but a few similarly sized and styled unknown brands of cafe, plus a heap of 24 hour gyms and surprisingly, half a dozen fishing tackle shops, which must be the main hobby in Toyama.
And so now, prepare for a selection of photos of these establishments below.
There were also a lot of supermarkets, too many I would say. A few of them had a food cart out the front, this one is selling beef croquettes.
This is also a supermarket, my other tip for this evening, Japanese supermarkets all have public toilets.
Now for some restaurants. Jolly Pasta! I was tempted. Generally these places are a little more expensive than the tiny places in the train stations in the centre of town, you are probably looking at $12 instead of $10, I guess parking and floor space comes with a cost.
Daiso stores with parking also exist.
Coco's is not Coco curry. I knew the menu was different, but until tonight I assumed they were the same company just with 2 concepts, the big family restaurant seen here and the smaller curry only places most are familiar with. While waiting for my meal I looked this up and they are not related in any way.
For my dinner from Coco's not Coco I had a hamburg steak. The presentation is compromised because it came out (delivered by a robot) sealed completely in green foil which you can see balled up on the right. I decided to unwrap it fully and empty it out onto the hot plate, which was a delicate operation. It was actually delicious too, lots of vegetables.
Just to prove my point, just up the road, and seriously, one of fifty similar options i passed, the actual Coco curry house.
Everything is a drive in and park and sit at a table restaurant, even sushi, there is no sushi train conveyor thing in here, they also have a drive thru.
And for my final pic, the inevitable thing I did not talk about, pachinko parlours, there are a lot, this one is huge.