Dotonbori Area

Kon'nichiwa! I'm back with the next installment of my Osaka and Kyoto adventures. The next place I am going to introduce is the Dotonbori area, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Osaka.

Dotonbori is located in Minami, meaning "South", and is one of Osaka's two major city centers. Dotonbori is located around Namba station, and can be reached by three train companies, as well as three subway lines. You can take the train that is most convenient from your location.

Dotonbori runs parallel to the Dotonbori Canal. It was historically a theater district, but now it is a popular night life and entertainment area characterized by large illuminated billboards.

One of the most prominent features in the area is the "Glico Man", a billboard for the confectionery company Glico, which is an image of a runner crossing the finish line.

We went there just after 9 am on our first day, just to see how it is without the crowds. And then we went back several days later in the evening to see the billboards lit up.

Cruises are available at the canal, but we are not into those things, so we just looked around and took pictures.

The nearby area is full of retail shops and various restaurants, as Osaka is known as a food haven. It gets pretty crowded during the latter part of the day, especially in the evening.

Dotonbori got its name from a locla entrepreneur, Yasui Doton, who was hoping to enhance commerce in the area by expanding the tiny Umezu River by connecting two branches of the Yokobori River with a canal.

Doton's project was interrupted when he was killed during the ill-fated Siege of Osaka. His cousins then finished the project, and it was completed in 1615. The new lord of Osaka Castle named it Dotonbori, from his name and the word bori, meaning canal.

This six and a half meter crab is the billboard of the Kani Doraku restaurant. This is also another icon of the area, because it is mechanized, being able to move its legs and eyestalks. 

We enjoyed taking pictures the first time we went there as it was early morning and there were no crowds at that time.

Some food specifically associated with Osaka are okonomiyaki, takoyaki and kitsune udon. We tried takoyaki several times, I had udon at one time as well, the okonomiyaki, sadly, no.

The contrast between the crowdless place in the morning and the crowds in the evening was so great we wanted to get out of there the soonest when we went.

By early evening, the lights on the billboards get turned on one by one, and they soon light up the whole area, giving the area an eccentric vibe.

Look at all these people all wanting to take photos, check out the goods from the shops, maybe queue up in one of the restaurants. So far from the peace and quiet we experienced in the morning.

Ebisubashi Suji is a shopping street, which mixes high end retail shop and local stores that sell souvenirs and foods and cosmetics as well. No wonder it was so crowded.

I was still all smiles copying Glico Man the first day. The other time all I wanted to do was get out of there. Crowded places are not my thing.

The good thing about a covered shopping street is that you can walk around without getting wet if it is raining, or snowed upon when it is snowing.

The place that has a yellow structure, which is actually a ferris wheel, is the Don Quijote store, a store that sells basically everything you can think of. From foods to cosmetics to medicines and every other Japanese product you can imagine, this is the place to buy it. If you want to buy in peace, go early. Otherwise, it is not possible to shop leisurely. Honest.

Another shopping street in the area is the Shinshaibasi Suji shopping street, which is like the Ebisubashi suji. More shops than you can imagine, but with this crowd, there's no way to enjoy it.

Look at the contrast. If you just want to take pictures, you can have the whole place to yourself if you go early. There will be no shops open, but you can take your time walking around the area.

I guess the crowds add charm to the place. If you're into these kind of things, you'll definitely enjoy this place. I enjoyed the night market in Taiwan more.

It was nice seeing the neon lights and the lit up billboards though. And once we took some pictures, we tried our best to get out of there asap. It was just too crowded.

If only this Spider Man was real and he could take us away quickly. :-)

Well, there you see the difference between night and day. And there was such a  big difference. We went again in the early afternoon on our second to the last day and we did some shopping. So it does depend on what time of the day you go.

Hope you enjoy this article as well, and if you do go to Osaka, this is a place to visit, if only to experience and see the Glico man! Stay tuned for more and you can read other travel articles here.