Shikemichi is a single quiet street of preserved Edo and early Meiji merchant houses on the west bank of the Horikawa river, ten minutes' walk west of Nagoya Station. It was the wholesale district of the castle town, lined with the residences and warehouses of rice and timber dealers, and a surprising amount of the original streetscape has survived — clay-walled storehouses, low overhanging eaves, and the wooden shrine to the local fire deity, tied to the wooden walls of every building.
A handful of the old shophouses now hold art galleries, a coffee roaster (Trunk Coffee), and a couple of contemporary restaurants. The street itself is the attraction; allow half an hour to walk its length end to end, longer if you stop for coffee. Combine with Endoji shopping arcade two blocks east, which has a similar Showa-era atmosphere.