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Tsutomu Nishiwaki raises the shutters of his store, the rattle marking the start of a new day at a shopping arcade in Tokyo. He wheels a display case into the foreground and stands behind the counter, framed by a sign proclaiming that this is a family-run noodle store.

It is a ritual Nishiwaki has been performing almost daily for 60 years. But like the fresh noodles its owner makes every morning, the store has a limited shelf life: in a few years from now, the 80-year-old will pull down the shutters for the last time.

Dozens of shops, restaurants and bars lining the streets of Tateishi Nakamise, a covered shopping arcade – or shotengai – in the capital’s eastern suburbs will make way for a new development. It will transform the skyline, but also change beyond recognition an entire community whose roots lie in the destruction caused by the second world war.

Across Tokyo and other Japanese cities, shotengai that sprung up during the Showa era [1926-1989] are in a losing battle against property developers, depopulation and a consumer culture that demands convenience.

On one side of the local railway station, a tall screen partially hides cranes preparing the ground for apartment blocks, shops and a multi-storey local government office. On the other, families that have run shops, bars and restaurants for two or three generations are bracing for the inevitable arrival of the wrecking balls.

“It is a shame that the shotengai will disappear,” says Nishiwaki, who is also head of a local association of business owners. “Half of me is hopeful about the future, but the other half regrets what is happening to the neighbourhood. I think people around here just want to get it over and done with.”

They include Koichi Ozaki, whose family run an izakaya pub they accept will probably not survive the redevelopment. The threats of powerful earthquakes, fires and, in this part of eastern Tokyo, catastrophic flooding have convinced him that the destruction of the arcade’s dilapidated buildings is inevitable.

“In any case, people don’t shop in the same way any more,” Ozaki says. “We live in the age of the supermarket, and family-run stores are on their way out.”

The Tateishi redevelopment has divided locals, about two-thirds of whom see it as an opportunity to sell up and acquire a nest egg to see them through their twilight years. The rest say they will reopen elsewhere.

More parts of eastern Tokyo, known as shitamachi, literally “lower city”, are being disassembled and rebuilt in the image of the affluent Yamanote neighbourhoods on the city’s west side. Tateishi Nakamise was originally a black market set up after the US’s wartime bombing of eastern Tokyo that, on a single night in March 1945 killed an estimated 100,000 people.

Before long, about 50 stores lined narrow streets packed with shoppers during the boom years of the 1960s and 1970s. “There were no supermarkets or convenience stores back then,” says Nishiwaki, who recalls a time when his father’s shop was one of about 20 noodle makers in the area.

“But there will be no third-generation owner,” he says of his shop, the last noodle seller still standing. “Supermarkets are cheaper and more convenient. Nakamise’s shops will disappear, and the local atmosphere along with it.”

Some shotengai have managed to market nostalgia, spurred by record numbers of foreign tourists keen to experience a less varnished side of Japanese urban life. Janjan Yokocho, a covered mall in Osaka, has capitalised on its Showa-era origins with retro game arcades, old-fashioned confectionery stores and parlour for shogi, a two-player game similar to chess.

Last year, businesses in Asakusa Kokusai Street declared their 3km shotengai, located near a Tokyo tourist hotspot, as the longest in Japan, claiming the title from the Tenjinbashisuji arcade in Osaka.

But success stories are rare: restaurant and shop owners in Tateishi Nakamise are not alone in wondering what the surge in new commercial developments will mean for their communities.

Earlier this year small business owners in a northern Tokyo neighbourhood demonstrated against the construction of a main road and high-rise buildings along Happy Road Oyama, a 560m shopping arcade built in the late 1970s.

Apartment buildings and condominiums are spreading through other Tokyo neighbourhoods, as developers capitalise on rising real estate prices and show little inclination to preserve their traditional atmosphere.

“The cult of convenience and fast service is unstoppable in a society that increasingly values ‘quality time’ and efficiency,” says Stephen Mansfield, author of Tokyo: A Biography. “Under the banner of promoting and energising older districts, areas that should have enduring historical appeal are being levelled or recreated in ersatz versions of their original.

Mansfield says he has been frequently left “heartbroken” when he revisits “historic, aesthetically pleasing and architecturally accomplished buildings in Tokyo and around Japan to find they have been eviscerated in the misguided name of progress”.

He adds: “The demolition of shopping malls mirrors the pulling down of old wooden homes, the shopping streets replaced with modern commercial complexes, homes with high-rise mansion blocks.”

At Tateishi, Osamu Tsuizaki is preparing for the lunchtime trade at the Chinese restaurant he has run for 42 years. “I feel uneasy about the future as I don’t know how it will affect my livelihood when the restaurant is gone,” he says.

“I’m 70, so even if I start again, I’ll be pretty old. A lot of people around here feel the same way. And we still don’t know exactly how much compensation we’ll get from the developers.”

Ready-to-eat dishes and pickles are still in demand at the corner delicatessen Kotaro Nagatani’s father opened in 1946 after returning from the battlefields of the Pacific war.

From its green-and-white awning, analogue scales and a hanging basket for loose change, Suzuya Shokuhin belongs to a time when housewives would stop and chat as they looked over the store’s produce.

“People didn’t have fridges at home, so they only bought what they needed and then came back and did the same again the following day,” says Nagatani, 84. “That’s how we prospered.”

His wife, Michiko, confides that her husband is more anxious about the demise of his family business than he is willing to let on. “His father opened the store, so he really wants to carry on,” she says. “I’ll also be sad when it goes. Our customers have been coming for decades, not just to shop but to chat. You can’t do that in a supermarket.”

ISLAMABAD:

Temu, a Chinese e-commerce platform, has come under the radar of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) over alleged misleading practices that are said to distort the local market.

Temu entered the Pakistani market a few months ago with an aggressive digital advertising campaign, flooding platforms with promotional content. These ads, which promoted heavy discounts and seemingly risk-free purchases, quickly attracted consumers while putting local sellers at a disadvantage due to the scale and pricing Temu offered.

A coalition of independent retailers and sellers, the Chainstore Association of Pakistan, submitted a grievance to the CCP, alleging that Temu’s practices are anti-competitive and harmful to both consumers and domestic businesses. “We write to alert the Competition Commission of Pakistan regarding growing anti-competitive market behaviour stemming from the influx of unregulated foreign e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein,” the statement said.

These platforms, which have no physical or legal presence in Pakistan, are operating freely via online portals, offering artificially underpriced and/or substandard products shipped under the De Minimis exemption, without paying any taxes or import duties. Meanwhile, local retailers, online sellers, and manufacturers are fully compliant with tax, customs, and regulatory obligations. This creates a distorted and unfair playing field, with serious economic consequences.

The association has pointed out the massive displacement of formal, tax-paying local businesses, along with the loss of consumer protection, quality control, and regulatory oversight.

Temu is currently encouraging pre-payments in foreign currency with no cash-on-delivery option, which the association claims is likely to undermine the country’s current account balance.

“We request the CCP to take action and initiate a formal investigation into the market practices of such foreign platforms operating without compliance.”

The association has recommended regulatory collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, FBR, and SECP to enforce registration and fair competition. It has also urged logistics and courier companies to only process shipments with valid commercial invoices and ensure each parcel has the correct declared retail value.

It further called for the use of a verifiable tracking system and the submission of all shipment data digitally to relevant authorities for monitoring.

Pakistan’s formal retail sector, manufacturers, importers, and e-commerce players are being rendered uncompetitive by these practices, which pose long-term risks to the integrity of the country’s tax and trade ecosystem.

“These foreign operators are violating the spirit of fair competition and undermining Pakistan’s regulated economy. CAP is ready to provide any assistance in this matter and supports all actions CCP deems appropriate,” the association said.

Additionally, a separate complaint has also been filed through the Office of Fair Trade in Islamabad by a group of independent sellers who claim that Temu is distorting the market and misleading consumers, making it difficult for local businesses to compete.

One of the central allegations is Temu’s pricing strategy, described by complainants as predatory. By selling products at extremely low prices, Temu is accused of undermining fair competition and threatening the survival of small local retailers who comply with all regulatory and taxation policies.

Logistics and import industry insiders have reported that Temu frequently under-declares the value of goods, breaks high-value orders into smaller parcels to stay below tax thresholds, and mislabels products to avoid customs duties. These practices are not only unethical but also illegal and raise concerns about whether newly introduced policies will be effective if enforcement is not strengthened.

Despite increasing evidence, customs authorities have taken limited action. While local businesses are often penalised for minor issues, platforms like Temu continue to operate without proper enforcement, creating an uneven playing field. Domestic sellers face growing regulatory and financial pressure despite contributing to local employment and the economy.

KARACHI: official KCA spot rates for local dealings in Pakistan rupees on Thursday, (July 17, 2025)

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The kca official spot rate for local dealings in Pakistan rupees
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                     For base grade 3 staple length 1-1/16"
                    Micronaire value between 3.8 to 4.9 ncl
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Rate              Ex-gin   Upcountry   Spot rate    Spot rate    Difference
                    for      price     Ex-Karachi  ex. Khi. as   Ex-karachi
                                                   on 16-07-2025
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37.324 KG        16,300        285        16,585        16,585          NIL
Equivalent
40 KGS           17,469        305        17,774        17,774          NIL
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