The Motomachi Shopping Street Association set off in 1967 on a pilgrimage across Europe. By 1969, the association had circumnavigated the globe over four separate journeys. In Europe, the association signed sister street agreements with seven shopping districts, among them streets in Paris, Rome, London, Amsterdam, and Hamburg. These agreements were forged at a time when $1.00 was worth 360 yen. Traveling outside the country was as yet out of reach for the average person in Japan, and “foreign cultures” were quite revered.
The sister agreements with European shopping districts served to forge ties of goodwill as the association studied the ways of shopping districts outside of Japan and exchanged information with these counterparts. Another major objective was to establish distribution channels by which individual shops in Motomachi could import foreign goods.
The direct import of foreign goods is nothing unusual in Japan today, but thirty years ago, the attempt by shopping street retailers to directly import foreign goods was actually ground-breaking. Looking to join the ranks of world-class shopping districts, Yokohama Motomachi broke its Japanese mold to debut its European style.
All of the Motomachi sister street agreements were signed with preeminent, fashionable shopping districts throughout Europe at a time when Japanese commercial delegations were a rare sight in these countries. The association was followed closely by local reporters, and details of its travels in Europe were covered extensively in newspapers and on television. Yokohama Motomachi was now known by name around the world.