Japan · Toyama-ken · Toyama
Sogawa, Toyama — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Sogawa is a district at the centre of Toyama named after the outer moat of Toyama Castle, which was called the kuruwa.
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Where to stay in Sogawa
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
This is the largest shopping quarter in the prefecture. The Sogawa-dori arcade, the neighbouring Chuo-dori and the Nishicho streets together make it, and the third chome holds the core stores. Grand Plaza is the covered square.
It opened beside Sogawa Ferio in September 2007, sixty-five metres long and nineteen high under a glass roof, with a large screen and a stage that rises. A cinema and a hotel opened in 2016.
About Sogawa
What are the main landmarks in Sogawa?
The Sogawa-dori arcade was the fifth in the country. It was installed in 1953 along the street linking the Ote Mall to the Sakurabashi tram street, and the Chuo-dori got its own in 1956. A flower carriage hangs over the entrance.
The photograph reproduces a neon sign designed by the Japanese-style painter Yokoyama Misao, which once lit the same spot, and in 2015 two illustrations chosen from a public competition replaced it. Lamps came before the arcade. Twenty-three lily-of-the-valley lamps were put up on 30 July 1950 as the street recovered from the air raid, with neon arches that were later moved to the Ginza street in Nyuzen.
What is the history of Sogawa?
Sogawa was the outer moat of Toyama Castle. Domain offices and the residences of the Kochi-gumi stood beside the water until the Meiji era, and the name kuruwa, which the moat was called, is what the district carries. Filling in began about 1880.
Crowds came through on their way to the Jodo Shinshu branch temple, and after the fire of 1885 the rebuilt street filled with shops, playhouses and vaudeville halls. The first shopping-street association in Japan was formed here. That was the Shoseikai of the Taisho era, and in 1915 the Toyama Kokugikan opened in the district.
Fire returned twice. Twenty shops burned in July 1955 and the street was briefly threatened with ruin, and in February 1972 a fire in a restaurant took twenty-three buildings including two cinemas, on part of which Toyama Seibu was built.
Where is Sogawa?
Sogawa lies at the centre of Toyama in four chome, between the national route 41 to the north and the Heiwa-dori to the south, with the Sogawa-dori arcade running through the third chome.
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Updated September 2026