For the intrepid tourist, shotengai offer a fascinating range of commerce that is diametrically opposed to the regular mega department stores that typically characterise the Japanese retail experience.

In the average shotengai, one will find a sushi train offering cheap and cheerful sushi, miso, and beer, a discount store selling inexpensive household goods, a pharmacy, a convenience store, perhaps a soapland, a video game arcade, a pachinko parlour, and several old ladies selling fresh produce.