CULTURE & MORE: As Nippori changes, a sweet reminder of the past

There's something you wouldn't expect to find in the spanking new tower that dominates Tokyo's Nippori area--a sweet taste of the past.

Candy dealers Mieko and Masayuki Murayama stock their shelves on their first day of business in the new Station Garden Tower.(LOUIS TEMPLADO/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The Station Garden Tower reaches 40 stories and anchors the city's newest train line, the automated Nippori-Toneri Liner that began running March 30.

Bringing in commuters from 13 new stations along its 9.7-kilometer route, the line is expected to transform Nippori in Arakawa Ward into a bustling commercial center.

There's a definite buzz to the area around the station, as new chain stores and offices move into the glass-and-steel construction for opening day. Looking out of place among them was an old-fashioned candy store where Masayuki Murayama and his family were busy unpacking candy drops, rice crackers, juice powders and jars of sticky-sweet squid bits in day-glo colors.

"It's good to be back," Murayama, 69, says, pausing for a moment in front of his shop on the ground level of the Station Garden Tower and pointing to a spot about 10 meters away. "That's where our old shop used to be, over there where those glass doors are now."

Along with another family, who've set up their shop--Oya Shoten--a floor above, the Murayamas--Masayuki, his wife, Mieko, and their daughter, Miyuki--are the last two candy dealers in Nippori, once known as Tokyo's center of sweets.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the Nippori area was crowded with about 100 wholesale dealers of dagashi--a generic name for the hundreds of varieties of cheap candies found in Japan. Candy storekeepers would come from all over to buy their stock here, before selling it to schoolchildren for as little as 5 or 10 yen a pop.

The businesses clustered mostly along an alley in front of the train station, where Murayama as well as two of his brothers each had their own shops. Three years ago, the last three shops moved down the street to make way for the tower and the Toneri Liner. Only two made the move back.

"Most pulled out because their children didn't want to take over," says Kiyoshi Oya, 68, of Oya Shoten. There are fewer kids to buy candies, he adds, and candy shops now have to compete with convenience stores.

Yet business isn't bad for the pair of holdouts. They don't do just wholesale anymore, and there's a steady stream of customers, made up mostly of seniors with fond memories of the candies they were weaned on. Often they buy in bulk, Oya says, walking out with bags of sweets intended for their grandchildren.

There are also plenty of foreign tourists since Nippori is a stop for trains heading to and from Narita Airport. An increasing number of them are Chinese, snapping up anything bearing the images of Doraemon or Hello Kitty, or even wanting to set up export deals--which the dealers have declined.

Murayama, who's been selling candy since he was 15, says he's not ready to stop. "At 10 yen a piece, you have to move a lot of candy to make any money," he says. "Besides, there are still candy shop owners who depend on us; we have to keep serving them."

Also, there's the Nippori neighborhood to think of.

"It's a lot better than before, really," he insists, if half-heartedly. "We want to stay in business because we want to keep Nippori's roots alive. Without us, they'd be no one to do it."

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UNTIL THE RECENT opening of the Nippori-Toneri Liner, commuters in western Adachi Ward, an area often dubbed an urban backwater, relied mostly on buses to reach JR Nippori Station and from there, the city center. Inaugurated March 30, the Toneri Liner travels between Minumadai-Shinsuikoen in Adachi Ward and Nippori in Arakawa Ward, covering the 9.7-kilometer distance in about 20 minutes. The fare is 160 yen to 320 yen.

Twenty-three years in the planning, the new transportation system is expected to transform the neighborhood by attracting tall condo complexes and commercial buildings.

The 40-story Station Garden Tower, located in front of the station, represents the area's new face. The fourth floor is reserved for a retail outlet run by Edwin, a leading jeans maker based in Nippori. A 36-story commercial/residential complex next door is set for completion in August 2009. A new railway scheduled for 2010 will cut travel time from Nippori to Narita Airport down to 36 minutes.

Other than dagashi candy wholesalers, Nippori is also known as a fabric market. About 90 fabric-related businesses, including dealers of thread and buttons, are located a couple of minutes walk from Nippori Station.

"Even if the town is renewed, it's no use if its attractive features fail to come across," an official of a local fabric trade union told The Asahi Shimbun. "We'll try to encourage people to come to our fabric trade quarters after visiting the new commercial complexes near the station."(IHT/Asahi: April 11,2008)