Welcome to “Miyakko Detective,” a section where readers can investigate Nishinomiya mysteries and feel like they’ve become detectives.Well, you actually are detectives. This is the kind of article that will be updated as more tips come in from readers(Miyakko detectives).
Here at @Nishi2, we receive lots of tips and emails every day asking us to “look into” various things.
The @Nishi2 team is excellent, of course, but there’s only so much we can do on our own, so we’ve decided to ask our readers for help～(^o^)／
(Added September 2022)
We received posts from Dokoka no Yasu-san and Tomo-san with detailed information about what things were like back then～!
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目次
What We’d Like Miyakko Detectives to Tell Us
This reader request comes from Hoehoe-san.
Key Points of the Request
We’d like to know the name of the shop near the north exit of Koshienguchi Station that sold chou ice cream
Location: A shop that was just outside the north exit of Koshienguchi Station, heading west
Period: Around 1984
Shop: A shop that sold chou ice cream
The area west of the north ticket gate at Koshienguchi Station
If you go west right after exiting, you’ll find Yakitori no Masaya. Previously, Sumibi Yakitori Haru was there.
A little farther west, you’ll find Kayottei and Onuki.
Along the tracks, there is a bicycle parking area.
Here’s the road diagonally west from the north exit↓↓
The requester said it was just west after exiting the north exit, but since there are shops diagonally west as well, we can’t rule out this road either…
Information from Miyakko Detectives
But you said it was the north exit, right?
There was also a Baskin-Robbins on the south exit side. It was around where Starbucks is now.
I’m 36 now, and I live on the north side, so I’ve always used the north side, but I don’t remember a chou ice cream shop.
Around where Masaya is now on the north side, there used to be Coffee no Aoyama, so I wondered if it might have been there, but I’m not sure whether they offered takeout. I also don’t know if they had chou ice cream.
Facing the tracks, next to Aoyama, around beside where Masaya is now, there was a bento shop, and I remember that a classmate’s mother worked there part-time.
I’m not exactly sure where it would be today, though σ(^_^;)
The Awajishima Burger shop used to be a flower shop.
Maybe it was where Matsukiyo is now???
I’ve heard from my parents that, long ago, Amashin used to be there. In my memory, there was something like a recycle shop there?
After that, I think it became a Lawson 100?
I’ll ask my parents too!
If I find out anything, I’ll let you know.
About the chou ice cream shop that was on the north side of JR Koshienguchi Station.
Afterward, I asked my mother.
According to what she told me, at the current Matsumoto Kiyoshi location, there may have been a Western sweets shop or Japanese sweets shop together with a used clothing store.
At first, my mother said, “There wasn’t any shop like that on the north side,” but when I mentioned, “The place where Matsukiyo is now used to be something like a recycle shop, right?” she said, “Come to think of it, I feel like there was some kind of Western sweets or Japanese sweets shop near the entrance.”
But she isn’t sure whether they sold chou ice cream.
I hope this is helpful.
When you think of chou ice cream, it’s Hirota!
In the mid-1980s, when you exited the ticket gate at JR Koshienguchi Station on the north side and looked to the left, there was a coffee shop, I think it was Aoyama-san.
Along that row was Yamamoto Fruits, and if you entered the bus road to the northwest, there was a recycle shop right away. That is now Matsumoto Kiyoshi. My mother apparently used to sell toothpick holders made of washi paper there.
If you went past that to the fork in the road and took the left side, there was Coop. At the time, the second floor had household goods.
There was a flower shop at the corner of the fork.
Next to the flower shop was a Chinese deli, now a takoyaki shop.
Before Coop, there was a bakery called Elsa.
Across from Coop was a shoe store called Fujiya.
I’m not sure whether it was to the left or right of that Fujiya shoe store, but both my mother and I remember that there was a very small shop, really just a place with an ice cream case, that sold chou ice cream.
For reference, if you went a little farther, Matsuya Denki was on the right. I bought a stereo set there, haha.
We’ve both forgotten the name of the shop that sold chou ice cream, so we don’t know it, but my mother said she remembers buying it there several times.
I’m not sure of the exact period, but farther back, where Amagasaki Shinkin Bank is now, there used to be a small convenience-store-like shop, and apparently Yamamoto Fruits ran it. After that, they downsized and moved to their current location.
After that, Amagasaki Shinkin Bank, which had been in front of the station, apparently moved to its current location, the former Yamamoto Fruits site.
This is still only vague information, and I apologize, but I hope it might help unlock someone else’s memories.
These are very old memories, so I’m sorry if there are any mistakes.
When it comes to chou ice cream, Hirota, the cream puff shop, sold various kinds at the time, but I don’t remember whether they sold them in Koshienguchi.
There was also a Baskin-Robbins on the south side of the station building.
To all our Miyakko detectives, thank you for digging through your memories.
Investigation Summary
- When the current Matsukiyo was a recycle shop, there may have been a Western sweets shop or Japanese sweets shop near the entrance
- It is unclear whether they sold chou ice cream
- According to information from Dokoka no Yasu-san, there was a shop next to the shoe store Fujiya that sold chou ice cream, with only an ice cream case inside.
We received information, but it’s still hard to say for sure, “This is definitely the shop!”…
The shop name has been forgotten, but this was very detailed information!
If we receive more information from everyone about the name of that shop, we’ll add further updates.
Finally, Let’s Review the Request
Location: A shop that was just outside the north exit of Koshienguchi Station, heading west
Period: Around 1984
Based on this information, if you think, “Could it have been that shop?” or “The shop’s name was XX!”, please send us any information you have, no matter how small.
Send Us Your Tips Here
Please let us know through the tip submission form, LINE, or Instagram.
Thank you!
Until 37 years ago, I lived in Tendocho, Nishinomiya, and now I live in Aomori Prefecture.
Back then, my father often bought chou ice cream for me on his way home from work, and I remember how happy that made me.
My father passed away this year, and when our family gathered for the first time in a while, we had a lively conversation about Nishinomiya.
But no one knew the name of the shop where my father used to buy the chou ice cream, so we all went home still feeling bothered by it.
My mother remembered that it was a shop just outside the north exit of Koshienguchi Station, heading west, but she couldn’t remember the name…
Would it be possible for you to help us find out?
I know this is a sudden request, but thank you very much.