The Castle Town of Goldfish
As you walk in the vicinity of the station of Kintetsu-Koriyama Station, you will encounter goldfish all around you. The gracefully swimming figures of these creatures are portrayed on manhole covers, bollards, fences and other public objects; live goldfish even swim in a converted microwave oven on show in an electrical goods store’s display window and inside a telephone box in one of the cafes.
The station itself even houses a fishtank that has been transformed into a ticket gate, and was awarded a Best Artwork prize in a nationwide goldfish-themed interior design competition. Items like “Goldfish Soda” and “Goldfish Anmitsu” (a type of traditional Japanese jelly) are found on the menu of a restaurant on a shopping street. It goes without saying that the local mascot of Yamatokoriyama is a goldfish character, “Kintotto.” This mascot is the community’s way of letting the world know about the “town of goldfish.”
During the 1960s, production levels in Yamatokoriyama’s goldfish-rearing industry rose year after year due to economic development and advances in cultivation techniques. The town began supplying goldfish not only to the rest of Japan but to other countries, including in Europe and Southeast Asia. Currently, the industry is smaller than it was at its peak, but there are still around 50 goldfish farmers in Yamatokoriyama, and around 60 hectares of land in the town are devoted to goldfish cultivation. Annually, around 60 million fish are sold, bringing fame to Yamatokoriyama as Japan’s leading “town of goldfish.”
Many small pathways still remain around the Koriyama Castle ruins, and visitors will enjoy getting lost in the network of little streets around the neighborhood. Around the streets are dotted many stores both old and new, creating a unique streetscape that fuses together the ancient and the modern. With its unique “castle town” atmosphere, this is a community of great charm. Strolling along the streets of the town looking out for goldfish images is one of the pleasures of a trip to Yamatokoriyama.
The station itself even houses a fishtank that has been transformed into a ticket gate, and was awarded a Best Artwork prize in a nationwide goldfish-themed interior design competition. Items like “Goldfish Soda” and “Goldfish Anmitsu” (a type of traditional Japanese jelly) are found on the menu of a restaurant on a shopping street. It goes without saying that the local mascot of Yamatokoriyama is a goldfish character, “Kintotto.” This mascot is the community’s way of letting the world know about the “town of goldfish.”
During the 1960s, production levels in Yamatokoriyama’s goldfish-rearing industry rose year after year due to economic development and advances in cultivation techniques. The town began supplying goldfish not only to the rest of Japan but to other countries, including in Europe and Southeast Asia. Currently, the industry is smaller than it was at its peak, but there are still around 50 goldfish farmers in Yamatokoriyama, and around 60 hectares of land in the town are devoted to goldfish cultivation. Annually, around 60 million fish are sold, bringing fame to Yamatokoriyama as Japan’s leading “town of goldfish.”
Many small pathways still remain around the Koriyama Castle ruins, and visitors will enjoy getting lost in the network of little streets around the neighborhood. Around the streets are dotted many stores both old and new, creating a unique streetscape that fuses together the ancient and the modern. With its unique “castle town” atmosphere, this is a community of great charm. Strolling along the streets of the town looking out for goldfish images is one of the pleasures of a trip to Yamatokoriyama.
