When you're on the 19th floor but the label under the window says "emergency exit" π (There's a balcony)
Gari Gari Kun is the most popular ice cream in
Japan. It sells over 400 million portions a year! The flavour is
pleasant*, and the price is low - it used to be 60 yen, then raised to
70, and generally can be bought for under 100 yen even in the shops that
rip you off!
* some say it's not sweet enough.
* some say it's not sweet enough.
The most popular variant of the ice cream is
sky blue, and the stick sometimes has "YOU WON!" printed on it,
indicating that you can get one more ice cream for free (you can get your prize at any store that sells the ice cream)
The ice cream is featured in many anime and films, including Chaos;Head
It is also the prototype of the ice cream from Kingdom Hearts
Our Osaka exploration day begins at Shinsekai ("New world"), dubbed the most dangerous neighbourhood in Japan.
Osaka was founded at least in 300 AD, as can be figured out from the age of its oldest Shinto temple; it also homes the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan built in the 6th century. It used to be a capital very briefly, but Kyoto has better nature, and Osaka is a port city, so it was the most important economical hub in Japan from Heian and until the Meiji restoration. Meiji moved the capital to Edo/Tokyo; thus, Osaka stopped being close to the capital and became "the Manchester of the East". It was the most populous city in Japan up until 1920s, but the wealth moved away, and slums appeared around the Shinsekai area.
Naturally, there wasn't a trace of those by 1990s, but the poor fame sticked.
Osaka was founded at least in 300 AD, as can be figured out from the age of its oldest Shinto temple; it also homes the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan built in the 6th century. It used to be a capital very briefly, but Kyoto has better nature, and Osaka is a port city, so it was the most important economical hub in Japan from Heian and until the Meiji restoration. Meiji moved the capital to Edo/Tokyo; thus, Osaka stopped being close to the capital and became "the Manchester of the East". It was the most populous city in Japan up until 1920s, but the wealth moved away, and slums appeared around the Shinsekai area.
Naturally, there wasn't a trace of those by 1990s, but the poor fame sticked.
Shinsekai is a lively shopping district, its
South was modelled after New York in 1910s, its North was modelled after
Paris in 1910s, but it still looks unmistakably Japanese.
The smug guy heavily featured there and all across Osaka is Billiken, a made up god of good luck invented by an American illustrator around 1900s. The guy is so popular that sometimes its statues are enshrined in Shinto temples around Japan.
The smug guy heavily featured there and all across Osaka is Billiken, a made up god of good luck invented by an American illustrator around 1900s. The guy is so popular that sometimes its statues are enshrined in Shinto temples around Japan.
There's a TV tower in the centre of Shinsekai,
it was designed by the same person who designed the Tokyo Tower. Outside
of the tower there's a long line of tourists interested in checking it
out.
The area to the North of Shinsekai is called
Nipponbashi ("Japanese Bridge"). It is also known as Den Den Town
("electric electric town").
There is even a saying: "Akiba in the East, 'Ponbashi in the West"
Nipponbashi is still what Akihabara used to be before the tourists came: many, many hobby shops about different subcultures. It still has some great electronics shops, but much like Akihabara, it starts getting to be overrun by anime, kawaii, and so on. Even so, the anime shops are far more niche than generally in Akiba.
There is even a saying: "Akiba in the East, 'Ponbashi in the West"
Nipponbashi is still what Akihabara used to be before the tourists came: many, many hobby shops about different subcultures. It still has some great electronics shops, but much like Akihabara, it starts getting to be overrun by anime, kawaii, and so on. Even so, the anime shops are far more niche than generally in Akiba.
Our first stop in Nipponbashi is a massive (and very fun!) hobby electronics shop called Digit. It has robots...
It has little fun kits everyone can solder...
It has three floors of all sorts of components and parts...
There are very cheap ancient microcontrollers, even (including somewhat unusual these days H8 and MSP430)
There's an area for soldering right at the shop
There are ancient PCI and AGP connectors in stock (good luck making your own Pentium II computer from scratch!)
Japan is always Japan though. Do you want to build your own Bluetooth to USB?
"this is an example of an incorrect way of etching the PCB"
The book section of the shop has a book on Python with anime girls...
... And a manga on domestic electronic wiring!
For all your nuts and bolts needs, go to the section F at the third floor
Vending machines outside sell solders, boxes
with parts, screwdriver kits and microcontrollers. Who knows, maybe you
need one at 2am!
Nipponbashi has Animate, Mandarake, Melonbooks
and all the other otaku shops. There are train shops, plastic model
shops, model gun shops, trading card game shops, and so on.
Many cultured shops sell thin books and 18+ produce.
The yuri section in the local animate is quite satisfactory.
Of course, popular works like Re:Zero or Fate/ have their own bookshelves.
An area known as Dotonbori is slightly further
to the North. Dotonbori ("Doton's channel") is probably the most popular
neighborhood in Osaka. It emerged around a channel built in ~1615 by
some guy named Doton.
The proverb "Ruin yourself with fashions in Kyoto, ruin yourself with meals in Osaka" and the word Kuidaore ("eat until you drop") are associated with Dotonbori. It used to be a cultural area with many kabuki theatres, too, but all of them were destroyed during the WW2 bombings. The food culture survived.
The proverb "Ruin yourself with fashions in Kyoto, ruin yourself with meals in Osaka" and the word Kuidaore ("eat until you drop") are associated with Dotonbori. It used to be a cultural area with many kabuki theatres, too, but all of them were destroyed during the WW2 bombings. The food culture survived.
The area has not just restaurants but also host
clubs. The poster on the right shows the most popular hosts in the
club; another ad someplace else said "this host brought the club 20
million yen last month!" (something like ~150,000 USD).
Japanese host club culture is weird; people spend a lot of money on hosts to feel loved, and hosts work really hard to remember their patrons and make them feel special. This is all very superficial, though. Perhaps, this culture is related to the culture of geisha? Apparently, the host clubs first opened in 1966, and cater to married women neglected by their husbands [citation needed]
If you're interested in spending all your salary there (and maybe getting into debt, too), consider two things:
1) most host clubs start working after midnight;
2) after you decide which host you love the most in the club, you cannot change the host; the only way to "divorce" is to change the club
Japanese host club culture is weird; people spend a lot of money on hosts to feel loved, and hosts work really hard to remember their patrons and make them feel special. This is all very superficial, though. Perhaps, this culture is related to the culture of geisha? Apparently, the host clubs first opened in 1966, and cater to married women neglected by their husbands [citation needed]
If you're interested in spending all your salary there (and maybe getting into debt, too), consider two things:
1) most host clubs start working after midnight;
2) after you decide which host you love the most in the club, you cannot change the host; the only way to "divorce" is to change the club
This unusual Ferris wheel is one of the most
popular locations in Dotonbori. It features Ebisu (God of fishermen and
luck) holding a penguin mascot of the discount store Don Quixote.
Naturally, the Ferris wheel is a part of the shop.
The other famous place in Dotonbori is this athletic man, an advertisement for Glico running here since 1935 (pun intended).
* Glico is the manufacturer of Pocky, chocolate-covered wheat sticks
* Glico is the manufacturer of Pocky, chocolate-covered wheat sticks
Pocky is, of course, iconic too, featured in endless media, including Robotics;Notes.
Pocky is sometimes used for "Pocky game", a
flirtatious invitation to eat the same Pocky stick from the both sides.
(fandom: Lycoris Recoil)
Hey, why are we posing with LycoReco cosplayers at the Dotonbori channel?!
(Also wow I wish we weren't so tired, and weren't such clueless tourists)
Well...
(Also wow I wish we weren't so tired, and weren't such clueless tourists)
Well...
Turns out, there is a cosplay festival acosta!
in Osaka! Usually there are over 200,000 participants, and - hear me out
- it is held every month or so!!!
The shops around are cosplay-friendly, and the cosplayers are clearly having the time of their lives, too - exchanging business cards, praising each other cosplay, taking crossover photos together!
We've seen so many great cosplayers... B-Komachi from Oshi No Ko, Junko from Danganronpa, Evangelion cast, Chainsaw Man, and so on, and so on, and so on.
The shops around are cosplay-friendly, and the cosplayers are clearly having the time of their lives, too - exchanging business cards, praising each other cosplay, taking crossover photos together!
We've seen so many great cosplayers... B-Komachi from Oshi No Ko, Junko from Danganronpa, Evangelion cast, Chainsaw Man, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Welcome to the Multiverse, or something. We felt odd without wearing any cosplay π
Even further to the North you'll find
Shinsaibashi ("bridge of the mourning heart" or something) in the Namba
underground area. Namba ("difficult wave") is the old name of Osaka
("large hill"), used before 1496.
Shinsaibashi is an intense shopping area, full of fashion, night clubs and enter centres. It is fairly large yet very dense.
Shinsaibashi is an intense shopping area, full of fashion, night clubs and enter centres. It is fairly large yet very dense.
The host clubs around feel surreal. "Hey wanna hang out with this handsome guy? He's super popular"
Osaka is a lot of fun. Being vegan won't stop
you from eating yourself until you collapse, there are many places
catering to vegans, and even popular vegan okonimyaki and tako(?)yaki
shops, like this one.
Takoyaki is probably the most popular food in
Osaka. It is said that almost all families in Osaka have at least one
takoyaki frying pan! It is also popular as street food.
Takoyaki, normally, is a bit of octopus fried in batter in a semi-spherical frying pans. By rotating the batter you can make balls out of it! This one uses soya instead of octopus.
A liquid in the white cup is, of course, miso soup - a standard side for a full Japanese meal. This one is white miso with sweet potato.
Takoyaki, normally, is a bit of octopus fried in batter in a semi-spherical frying pans. By rotating the batter you can make balls out of it! This one uses soya instead of octopus.
A liquid in the white cup is, of course, miso soup - a standard side for a full Japanese meal. This one is white miso with sweet potato.
We decided to pay a visit to one of the hip shopping malls in Shinsaibashi. The reason is...
The spiral escalator! Mitsubishi was the first to ship commercial spiral escalators back in 1985, right here, in Osaka.
Ha-ha, no, that's not why we're here, we didn't even know about this before we visited the place, lol
The real reason for the visit is The Silver
Ball Planet, a pinball shop. It is basically a living museum of pinball
machines, from vintage to retro to modern. It is a lot of fun to play,
but the place probably doesn't make much profit, considering how much it
costs to service basically unique at this point machines. There are
over 100 machines available!
It's getting late. Time to go home! Here is a metro poster "I would hate Osaka Metro if it was like that!"
The area next to the Osaka train station has this bakeneko
There is a huge Cup Noodle sign, seen from
everywhere in this area. Cup Noodles and instant ramen were invented in
Osaka by the founder of the Nissin company (the one on the sign).
Final note: to me, Osaka is much more fun than
Tokyo. The history is richer, the shopping is more intense, people are
much more down to Earth, and then there's Kyoto, Nara and Kobe nearby.
Tokyo feels much more claustrophobic and overwhelming. If you're
planning a trip, make sure you stay around the area long enough to enjoy
all it has to offer.
γγγγΌγγ(@kenzuu02 )οΌKOγγ(@KO72172931 ) as Jinshi and Maomao from Apothecary Diaries.
Photo by https://xcancel.com/10up_TheA
Photo by https://xcancel.com/10up_TheA