Canal City Hakata, a Place I’d Long Dreamed of Visiting
There It Was at the End of the Riverside Walk
As I walked downstream along the Nakagawa River, a cluster of colorful buildings came into view. That was
Canal City Hakata
I had long been fascinated by its theme-park-like atmosphere, far more than just a shopping center,
and at last I was able to visit.
The way the entire complex was branded, along with its winding circulation routes, must have had an enormous influence on later commercial facilities in Japan. The architect behind Canal City Hakata, Jon Jerde, also worked on
La Cittadella in Kawasaki
the low-rise section of Roppongi Hills
Namba Parks
and more.
Step Inside and It’s Another World
The moment you step into Canal City, true to its name, a canal runs through it, and a self-contained world opens up, one where you can no longer see the outside world beyond Nakasu at all. So this was the Canal City I’d dreamed of. It felt far denser than I had imagined. A canal squeezed into the narrow gap between buildings, with paths running alongside it—I’d never seen anything like it.
It twists and turns in every direction. Even though the space is so tight, they chose to devote most of it to the canal, and I can’t help thinking that’s not the kind of decision an ordinary company would make. The canal is fairly deep and the water has a real current, yet there are no railings at all. In that sense too, I think it was a remarkable decision.
In the central area, a fountain show is held every 30 minutes.
The floor patterns are interesting too. There was greenery planted along the canal, and plenty of people were relaxing there.
A moon motif is worked into the design.
The fountain seen from above has its own charm as well.
Another interesting thing is that Canal City is directly connected to the surrounding shopping arcades by pedestrian deck. This canal-side street within Canal City is, in fact, a street that continues in from the shopping arcades via that pedestrian deck.
Mass-produced giant shopping centers these days, like LaLaport and Aeon, are so lacking in character that they feel like nothing more than cheap buildings, which is why I find myself hoping for the day when a truly ambitious commercial complex like Canal City appears in Tokyo again.
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