The arcade continues without a break. The Shikamachi shopping street in Sasebo is a long, straight covered arcade, and taken together with the neighbouring Sankamachi it can be walked from one end to the other without ever stepping outside. That matters more than it sounds: in rain or in wind, the conditions along the whole length of it stay exactly the same, and a shopper's decision about whether to come out at all is not affected by the weather that morning.

The straightness matters as much as the roof does. With no corners anywhere along it, you can see how far the street runs from wherever you happen to be standing, which is unusual — most arcades of this length bend somewhere and lose sight of their own far end. Sasebo station is within walking distance of the arcade, there is work connected to shipbuilding and to the naval base, and the facilities needed for daily life are gathered nearby rather than strung out along a bypass somewhere.

A long, straight, covered street makes the people in it walk faster than they otherwise would. Because the view does not change, there is less reason to stop, and the natural behaviour is to head for the shop you came for and cover the intervening distance briskly. That is a problem for every business between the entrance and the destination. The displays pushed out into the aisle, and the events held partway along its length, are all attempts to slow that traffic down — which means the street spends a good deal of effort working against a condition it created for itself.