Today marks a small milestone for my hometown.
One is that Aeon Kita-Urawa temporarily closes its doors today.
It opened in 1980, the same year I was born, originally as Nichii. One of my earliest memories is the slope leading up to the car park.
When I returned to Urawa in 1995, the name had already changed to Saty. My school route ran along Saitama University Avenue, so I passed by every day. One of my secret pleasures back then was dropping in a few times a month after band practice to play the very first “Densha de GO!”, a train-driving-simulator arcade game. There was even a McDonald’s on the first floor🍔
In recent years, they still had the newest “Densha de GO!” machines, and during the pandemic, I would sometimes stop by alone to play. Yesterday, I had my final run there.
It wasn’t a place I shopped at all that often, but it was always convenient to stop by on the way.
The building, with its strong “Showa-era” feel, was something I’d grown very used to, but the reality of ageing was undeniable (and of course, I too have aged just as much! 😂).
At today’s closing ceremony, it was announced that the store will be reborn here. I look forward to seeing it return in a fresh, Reiwa-style form as a central hub for the community once again. (Hopefully with a Densha de GO! arcade machine, too 🚃😂)
Today also happens to mark another local milestone: the 40th anniversary of the Saikyō Line.
Even now, it’s still JR’s newest line in Saitama Prefecture, but as a five-year-old, I innocently thought of it as just “one of many new lines that would surely keep opening.” I was actually more excited when a brand-new Series 205 train arrived than when the old light-green Series 103 did.
Looking back, Nichii Kita-Urawa Shopping Centre opened in 1980, and the JNR Saikyō Line in 1985. Just from these two examples, you can sense how rapidly this area was developing at the time.
