What were the six facilities in Imazu during the Showa era? Nishinomiya Quiz

This is the Nishinomiya Quiz corner, where knowing the answer proves you’re a true Nishinomiya expert.

This article is brought to you by “chotto,” a smoothie specialty shop that supports Nishi2.

Here’s today’s quiz↓

If you haven’t seen the answer yet, give it a try♪

At the Nishi2 office, we have several photo books that are kind of like “Nishinomiya Then and Now,” and while flipping through them, I found an interesting photo!

“Nishinomiya’s 100 Years in Photos”

This is the photo book I was looking at: “Nishinomiya’s 100 Years in Photos.”

It includes old townscapes and snapshots of people.
As I was looking through it thinking how different everything was from today, I came across a very unusual photo!!

Huh😳?!?!?! What is this??

The caption says↓

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Middle school boys really are the same in every era, huh〜😅
And please don’t expose them like that in a photo book〜😂

The correct answer is b. Movie theaters.

I was enjoying the photo book on my own, but then I started wondering,
there were movie theaters in Imazu🤔? (Yes, the trigger was that photo above😂), so I decided to look into it.

Apparently, Imazu used to have lots of movie theaters!
(Sorry💦 Kurayan from Nishi2 grew up outside the city and is still studying Nishinomiya history🙏)

Here’s what I used as a reference→ Imazu Then and Now Story – Nishinomiya Style

Movie Theaters in Imazu

We were allowed to view materials at Nishinomiya City’s Information Disclosure Section🙏

Here’s a map showing where the movie theaters were located at the time↓

In the early 1950s, Imazu apparently had as many as six movie theaters😳!

“Imazu Daiichi Asahi” closed in the 1960s.
Apparently, the photo of the boys who were taken into guidance was from this theater!
(* Normally, it seems to have been a movie theater that screened regular films😅)

Today, it has become “Kicona Town.”

“Imazu Daisan Asahi” apparently closed around 1962.

Here’s what it looks like now〜!
This is where “Nissan” used to be until a few years ago.

The other movie theater sites are now apartment buildings, so we can’t post current photos, but back when they were theaters↓

“Imazu Daini Asahi”
It seems to have changed names and repeatedly closed and reopened, before finally closing sometime before the Heisei era began.

“Imazu Bunka”
It seems to have been a theater that screened Western films.
It remained as the only movie theater in the city, but was damaged in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and apparently closed around that time.

“Imazu Daigeki” and “Imazu Shochiku”
There were two theaters here, but they apparently closed around 1965.

There were six movie theaters in total!!
Imazu really was a movie town!

Finally

Old Nishinomiya had amusement parks, an aquarium, swimming beaches, large pools, and lots of movie theaters!! I’ve even seen a photo of elephants marching!
There was so much more entertainment than there is now〜. It makes you a little jealous, doesn’t it〜😵