Photo/Illutration The Marugamemachi Ichibangai-mae Dome, seen here in Takamatsu on Jan. 26, stands on the Marugamemachi Shopping Street, which is undergoing redevelopment. (Naoko Sato)

TAKAMATSU—On a shopping street in this prefectural capital, a dome replicating a landmark in Italy highlights a redevelopment project that is now more than 30 years in the making.

Despite the prolonged period, officials in charge say the plans are already showing signs of success.

Measuring 25 meters across and 32 meters tall, the Marugamemachi Ichibangai-mae Dome resembles Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the famous arcade in Milan.

The Takamatsu dome won the Grand Prix in a 2022 contest for identifying sites on Shikoku island that look like popular tourist destinations around the world.

The dome’s resemblance to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was given 88.4 points on a scale of 100 by an AI system.

Designed by Sakakura Associates and completed in 2007, the three-story dome stands at the northern end of a 470-meter shopping street in central Takamatsu. The nearest train station is Kataharamachi.

Beside the dome, which looks like a translucent umbrella, is a department store, and the dome’s ground floor houses luxury brand outlet stores.

The plaza beneath the dome is the venue of as many as 250 events a year.

“It was not planned by people of the shopping street like myself,” said Kozo Furukawa, the 66-year-old chief director of the Takamatsu Marugamemachi Shopping Street Promotion Association. “Citizens came forward to propose the plan, whose concept was to create a venue that they can use as they like.”

It all started in the late 1980s, when officials of the Marugamemachi Shopping Street felt a sense of alarm about the 1988 opening of the Seto Ohashi Bridge, which links the main islands of Shikoku and Honshu.

The street area was developed as a commercial district in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

The officials were also worried that residents would flock to the big-box outlets popping up in the suburbs and render the city center a ghost town.

They studied different areas of Japan and decided to redevelop their downtown shopping street on a private-sector initiative to lure back local residents.

Then they worked out a plan to build a symbolic plaza, but they faced many regulations regarding public roads, even those in covered shopping arcades.

The officials asked building owners to move back from the shopping street they faced and offered vacated private land plots for public use.

They held talks with relevant organizations, who agreed that the plaza would be administered by the shopping street officials.

“The plaza being a ceremonial space, we wanted to build something there that is recognizable at first glance,” said Takanobu Ota, an 89-year-old former head of Sakakura Associates, who helped design the dome.

Special glass panes with high transparency and durability cover the steel frame structure on the dome’s outer side.

The designers also took extra measures to strengthen the steel skeleton to prepare for earthquakes.

Although the dome is complete, the redevelopment project is still in progress, more than three decades since the planning stage.

Apartments on the upper floors of a newly built commercial building were initially intended for elderly occupants, but younger people have taken an interest in them in recent years.

“People are evidently returning to the city center,” Furukawa said, proudly.

WOOD AROMA

Sanuki Toy Museum, a three-minute walk from the dome, mainly serves people raising small children.

One of the museum’s focuses is to have children play with wooden toys, including Kagawa Prefecture’s traditional craftworks.

Wood is used in the museum’s floors and other furnishings, and the interior is filled with the aroma of wood.

Admission to the Sanuki Toy Museum is 900 yen ($6.11) for those in junior high school age and older and 700 yen for those 6 months old and older. The museum is closed on Thursdays.

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