Sacred Places, Pilgrimage, and Tourism - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 138

Year shop opened
-1989
1990-1999
2000-
Closed/change
of use

Narita City Narita City Narita City

Right map Right map Right map

0 4km

Naritasan Shinsyoji Naritasan Shinshoji

Floor Space(m 2 )

Omotesando

70,000

Narita

30,000
10,000
1,000

Keisei Narita

Narita City

Tomisato City

0 1km

Shisui Town Shisuimachi

Fig. 4.5 Year large retail shops opened in Narita City, and the retail shop's fl oor space, 2009 (The
Narita City Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

The distribution of shopping associations in Narita is shown in Fig. 4.6 . Many
shopping associations are concentrated along the approaches to Shinshoji-
Monzenmachi, and two are on the grounds of Shinshoji. As well as Shinshoji-
Monzenmachi, the shopping associations are also distributed in areas surrounding
the city center, Narita Newtown, the Monzenmachi of Sogoreido, Sanrizuka, and
the Toyozumi area. Shinshoji-Monzenmachi and the shopping associations in
Sanrizuka have large numbers of active members, but other shopping associations
did not do as well when the customers started using the large shops.
After the 1990s, Narita started to attract customers from the surrounding munici-
palities because large shops opened in the suburbs, while small retail shops started
to become concentrated in the center (including in the Monzenmachi), and shop-
ping associations strengthened their functions. Commercial functions in the center
were different from those in the suburbs.

4.1.3 Response to Tourists by Shinshoji-Monzenmachi

4.1.3.1 Tourist Dynamics

Worshipers travel for religious and recreational reasons. Many tourists regard
Shinshoji as both a tourist spot and a place of worship, and hence worshipers cannot
be clearly distinguished from tourists.