Back in March my wife and I saw Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope), a movie about a trio of high school kids who bond over jazz in 1966 Sasebo. It was kind of a big deal in Sasebo because it was partially shot here, especially the schools, slopes and distinctive landmarks but to shoot the rest the cast and crew had to go across Kyushu to Oita Prefecture’s Bungo Takada and its Showa no Machi.
Showa no Machi, “Showa Town,” is a stretch of shopping streets that has been preserved as a mid-Showa (1955-1965) living time capsule. The shops and streets maintain their midcentury appearance, but are otherwise normal shops selling normal goods. The movie made good use of this pre-built set and now, like in Sasebo, fans are encouraged to visit and see where the film was shot.
We used the filming location guide map to find all the spots around our home, Sasebo, after the movie came out and so when we planned our next big holiday trip we decided to bring the now slightly crumpled map to Showa no Machi and find the locations here too.
Unlike Sasebo, Showa no Machi has an extra slight assist in finding the filming locations in that signs have been added to many spots with information and a movie image on them.
Our foray into Showa no Machi would be a little different than it was in Sasebo to find these sites. For one thing Showa no Machi is a hybrid of functional shopping street and unique tourist destination that I just wanted to take in details at and do other things than just shoot film location photos. So there’s going to be some digressions along the way with this story that didn’t exist with “Hitting the Sasebo Slopes,” but by adding them I hope this article will be more interesting and possibly help enhance your visit to Showa no Machi as well. There were also a few movie-related places and things that aren’t in the guide, but if you’re here you should check out.
Unlike Sasebo, where the locations where all spread out, almost everything here is in one condensed area and no work was needed to figure out how to get to different spots. The other big difference between the real Sasebo locations and the ones here are how the sites were handled. Sasebo seemed to require just careful cropping or blocking of satellite dishes and covering up the odd sign. Showa no Machi received a full-on facelift to better represent Sunka-cho Shopping Street and other bustling parts of Sasebo. Businesses repainted and resigned, public telephones were added in odd places and the like so even though this place does look like it belongs in the movie’s era still, it’s missing little elements that were seen in the film.
We visited most, though not all of the filming locations. Some were due to distance and time constraints and others because, like in Sasebo, there’s no point to seeing the exterior of a place that was only used for interior locations.
To follow along, this website has the guide map info for Bungo Takada and can be translated with Google Translate: http://www.city.bungotakada.oita.jp/page/page_04045.html
Sunka-cho Shopping Street (Showa no Machi / Shinmachi 1-Chome & 2-Chome)
This is the main shopping area that Mukae Records is shown to be on, its full of Sailors at all times, just so you know this is Sasebo and not some other Kyushu city.
Though never named as Sunka-cho in dialogue, the Mukae Records T-shirt and tote bag both give the address as Sunka-cho Shopping Street. In reality this is the heart of Showa no Machi and the further you get from it the less Showa and more Heisei it becomes. Though all the movie modifications have been removed, this is still very much a midcentury shopping street and maintains the old-fashioned atmosphere making it a joy to walk around. For the most part shops seem to be normal and not tourist oriented, but a few put up vintage products in the windows; even if they sell modern equivalents which are a pleasant touch for maintaining the façade.
To get this shot I put Nomura Electronics (Mukae Records) to the right of the frame. I was standing in front of the former Kyodo Nomura Bank and recommend standing a little more to the right than where I was at the time. Also, the bus tends to come through Showa no Machi from behind and exit under the street sign, not enter under it like in the film guide snapshot.
1957 Isuzu Bonnet Bus
Though it doesn’t have the Sasebo Station destination on it anymore, we saw the 1957 Isuzu bonnet bus roll through just like it did in the movie. The bus gives free area tours on weekends and holidays. It arrives and departs at Showa Roman-gura, where passengers can sign up inside the information center beside the wooden bus stop. The main parking is next to Showa Roman-gura so we actually rode the bus and toured Showa no Machi this way first before walking and I recommend this to any other visitors as it’s a unique way to experience the place.
We had a comedic tour guide in period clothes onboard telling us about the bus, which was once reduced to little more than rust on a solid frame, the city and cracking jokes the whole time as the it bounced with every bump in the road and engine vibrations pulsed through the sea foam green interior and wooden floor. They don’t build them like this anymore.
Pulling off the main road and under the Showa no Machi signs it felt like we filled the whole of the narrow shopping street. As we rolled through shop owners came out and waved or held up goods. I thought it a bit cheesy, but after walking around and talking with a few of these same people throughout the day I changed my mind.
Mukae Records (Nomura Electronics)
The Mukae Records Shop was the best filming location in Showa no Machi. It’s easy to mistake and I had to do a double take to make sure I was looking at the right building. In the film Mukae Records has a drab grey exterior, which was just a façade placed over the vibrant brown Nomura Electronics Shop, so other than its windows and door it doesn’t look like it did in the movie.
This is the best spot because the owner got to keep a bunch of props and actively uses them in the store. Nothing fancy, but practical. Even though we weren’t paying customers, he gave us the grand tour, showing us around and telling stories about the production.
The wood veneer counter is for checkout, a record bin is full of lights and small electronics with a smattering of records placed on the shelf above them and the wood columns were left intact. Though not from the movie, to keep with Showa no Machi’s vintage vibe he has mid-century televisions and radios in the windows.
Great attention to detail was paid to location modification and he pointed out the minor scratches and dents in all of the wood paneling on the walls that was added to give the shop a very lived in feel, even if it’s unnoticeable on screen.
He also invited us to see the basement. I don’t usually take up strangers on such an offer but how could I refuse this one?
He went to the door behind the counter, undid the latch and opened it up to reveal the wall behind it. The actually basement was shot in a factory, though it’s a convincing door to nowhere I hope will be amusing customers for years to come. (We didn’t see the basement, but we did see the basement furniture later.)
A total of three days was spent filming in the shop, but there was a lot of prep that went into the transformation of this and the other shops. Mr. Nomura had two binders of production photos he shared with us that were taken day by day as shops were repainted and new signs put up. Some of the shops kept their signs and display them inside, like “Sawada” across the street.
Looking the other direction down Shinmachi 1-Chome toward the other entrance is where the movie’s motorcycle accident took place. (I’m assuming if you’re reading this you’ve already seen the movie.) This is also right by the alleyway where Sentauro’s home is.
We stopped by the Morikawa Candy Shop that’s on the right of the picture, just beyond the white building. It’s a very vintage little shop inside and out that sells homemade mid-Showa style ice cream pops “Ice Candy” I can’t recommend enough. They sell matcha, milk, azuki bean and seasonably strawberry pops, all of which are mounted on the stick at a peculiar canted angle.
We bought two pops and ate them, returning to the shop to toss the sticks and wrapper but then I asked to take a picture of the interior and old Coke bottles behind glass then the next thing I know we’ve been talking with Mr. Morikawa for half an hour as he shared his vintage Coke and toy collection with us and regaling us with stories about them, Showa no Machi’s revival, movies that have been shot here and being an extra in some of them. He was in Kids on the Slope and another NHK movie about him and how he led the revival of the shopping district. Before we left he gave me a toy bike and noted that he still used the vintage bike with a hand bell on the handle bars out front to make ice cream deliveries.
Alleyway (Sentauro’s House)
This is a little alleyway parallel to the main Showa no Machi shopping street. It looks like the only thing that was changed for this was the post box, as well as the addition of a notice board and a wood door for a home entrance in the background. It’s a private residence but they’ve put up the movie location sign so I imagine they’re just used to people coming around by now.
Eki-Dori (Station Street)
This is where the scene of Sentauro and Ri-chan riding a motorcycle was shot. It’s a side street that feeds into the main Showa no Machi street, exiting right before the giant overhead Showa no Machi sign. My point of reference was the baby blue Sony shop on the left. I couldn’t duplicate this shot as the guide image is of the production vehicle towing the motorcycle during shooting and not the actual scene itself.
Coffee House Brazil
Not on the location guide, but at 1:18 in the trailer you can see Kaoru running past Coffee House Brazil, which is just beyond the Showa no Machi entrance overhead sign near Nomura Electronics. I didn’t know that when we visited though. We just stopped here for lunch because it looked pleasant and an older gentleman was playing guitar inside.
We sat at a table in the back, near a collection of antiques and fine glassware. The owner, Mr. Hayashi, came over and was very friendly, talking with us before our meal, asking about where we came from and about our visit. Since we were from out of town he gave us some homemade pure grape juice and shared his European glassware collection, as his hobby is collecting fine glass cups. A real stand up guy and the food was excellent too, my wife and I shared a rice dish with half curry and half Hayashi rice demi-glace sauce followed by a mid-Showa style thick-foam topped café latte.
Later that day as we prepared to leave town Mr. Hayashi saw us again and asked how our day went. He then helped us find a good place to eat, ultimately recommending an excellent oden restaurant near our hotel in a nearby city. He had quite the knowledge of restaurants even outside of the Showa no Machi area.
Showa no Machi Exhibition Hall
This wasn’t in the movie, but currently they have the couch, coffee table, piano and random basement junk from Mukae Records set up in a room that’s just full of movie stills and the trailer running on a loop. They also have the cup and string “phone” Kaoru and Ri-chan talked on, which was random.
Tenjin Shrine
The shrine is just off Showa no Machi and down a side alley, for the shot I just got closer until the power pole that’s right in front of the shrine is out of frame. This is where Kaoru kisses Ritsuko without warning. It’s pretty secluded and hemmed in on all sides by buildings. You could really recreate a movie scene here. Not saying I did… but the important thing is I left with my wife, hand in hand, and not her darting off yelling “Uchi yuru sanken!” at me. That’s always important. (She has the keys to the car and we are very far from Sasebo.)
One of the Christmas scenes was shot at this dressed up abandoned warehouse just off the main Showa no Machi area and down the shrine’s residential street. To be precise, it’s in an alley behind an abandoned public bath on private property. Though the gate was open we didn’t come any further than the mouth of the alley.
Ginza Street Shopping Arcade
The furthest out part of Showa no Machi is this arcade, separated from the rest of the area by a bridge. This area was a bit disappointing as there’s nothing really notable still here except for the exterior of Jun’s apartment. The rest are now gone props and an interior location which is not open to the public. Still, it’s an interesting little street with a decorated path. I debated adding this to the article but since it’s here, we did walk to it and it’s on the list decided to keep it in. I also realized after getting back to Sasebo I completely botched matching the guide shot for this one.
I think Mr. Morikawa’s bike with the baby blue “ICE CANDY” wood box on the back is in the guide snapshot. Though it didn’t have the blue box when I visited, it was attached in the image of it at his shop on Showa no Machi’s Japanese webpage.
One of the neat period bits in this film is when Ritsuko uses a red public phone next to an old British-style post box. In the U.S. public phones never looked like this so it’s a novelty and I expected that this being Showa no Machi they would actually have a public phone on site. They have a 1957 bus and a diner that hasn’t changed its prices since the Showa era so it’s entirely possible. Sadly those were just props and there’s nothing here except for the red Coke machine which I later realized was the thing covered by rusty corrugated metal and flyers. That’s a smart way to hide a modern appliance when you can’t move it.
Jun’s Apartment
The only good shot I could really match here was this one with the historic stairs in the background. It’s also just a few steps from the spot the public telephone was installed.
This was the one ‘interior’ location we went by. As it’s a real hospital access is not permitted but there’s a movie sign up, though the exterior wasn’t used during the film it’s all I could get. We only stopped here because its right next to the last two locations.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our trip to Showa no Machi and seeing what the movie locations really look like. It was still fun trying to match shots, but even more so just to take in this peculiar place. Not only does it look old-fashion but the atmosphere was made by the people who live here and everyone we came across just seemed to be genuinely friendly people-people. Kind of the stereotype of the 1950s place where you never had to lock you doors, except here in Japan in 2018.
Coming this far, you’d be missing not to also visit the Showa Roman-gura museums. One is a mid-century toy museum, Dagashiya-no-yume Museum, and the other, Showa no Yume Town 3rd Street, also has a large collection of vintage cars outside including a few of those weird three wheeler trucks and midgets (it’s the car model) on display.
I didn’t think I’d care for the toy museum but got sucked in once inside. The wall-to-wall toys, antiques and movie posters are quite the time capsule. The other museum stood out for its presentation of a mid-century home as I walked through an “outdoor” side street with changing lighting to effect time of day/night, then through a backyard and into the home itself with everything laid out as if in use. At “night” distinct whistles were made that made no sense to me but made my wife happy as she explained that one was for tofu and the other for ramen. If you brought out your ramen bowl the peddler would fill it up for a low price.
The working candy shop/gift shop had a pop-gun shooting gallery and pinball machines we could try our hand at. For 200 yen I played the shooting gallery, which gives players a unique city postcard just for trying.
There was also a classroom with a load of school antiques that unlike the rest of the museum was all over the place decade-wise as it had a 1980s computer and an ancient cut-away anatomy model in a box.
The outdoor vehicles are free, but the two museums can be seen on single or a joint ticket.
Finally, just on the other side of the parking lot, not the Roman-gura side, is a shop that sells record shaped taiyaki. I told my wife we should come back after lunch to get one and by time we returned they had sold out.
Then she darted off yelling, “Uchi yuru sanken!”
For visitors coming by car, there is a rather large parking lot adjacent to the museums. Go to the address here:
Showa Roman-gura & Dagashi no Yume
1007-5 Shinmachi, Bungotakada, Oita 879-0628
The English web page for Showa no Machi is almost empty, go to the Japanese one here and run it through a translator:
https://www.showanomachi.com/special/syowa.html