With the New Year just around the corner, the Nishiki Market shopping street in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, known as the ''Kitchen of Kyoto,'' is being visited by tourists and people looking to buy New Year's supplies. On December 30, 2023, the store was so crowded that it was difficult to walk in a straight line, and the voices of store staff and security guards echoed through the crowd, making it a lively place.
Nishiki Market has 135 stores lined up approximately 400 meters from east to west. According to the Kyoto Nishiki Market Shopping District Promotion Association, the number of customers that fell due to the coronavirus pandemic has almost recovered by the end of last year, but this year the number of foreign tourists is particularly noticeable.
The streets were crowded with people, with shops selling take-out food for tourists such as beef skewers and shops displaying items prepared for the coming of spring, such as herring roe, kelp rolls, and white miso for zoni. In some sections, it was so crowded that there was no room to stop, and security guards asked people to drive on the left.
A 65-year-old man from Shimogyo Ward who visits regularly said, ''Although there are a lot of foreigners and it doesn't have the atmosphere of the past, I felt the vibrancy of the end of the year due to the large number of people there.''
