Osaka Sept 2019 : Janjan Yokocho

Shinsekai area also hides some more local alley that is super worth a visit if you have the time. I knew about this place when I was doing my research on Youtube and Rion Ishida-san recommended this place call Janjan Yokocho. And just like the secret shrine we found in Dotonbori, I knew what I was looking for, and managed to find this hidden eating place just off Shinsekai.

There are some tell tale sign from the main Shinsekai area. Like maps leading you to restaurants or shops in Janjan Yokocho.

When you step inside, it's the usual design of a shopping street of a typical Japanese town, but the alley was so much smaller. And one thing interesting about this place was, it was a food alley! So most of the shops here well selling food! And some were like small hole in the wall type of establishment. Some shops, you just stand at the counter and eat and drink while the owner serves you from behind the counter. It was a very local, community kinda place. This is what the real Japan is like. Not Dotonbori!

The most popular food here is either Takoyaki, matcha ice cream, or Kushikatsu! Everywhere, every shop was selling their version of Kushikatsu. Some have queue so long there was a policemen there maintaining order. The queue was partly because some shops were so small they can only serve maybe 20 people at a time. 

There were some game stalls there too. It's so pasar madam like, and it feels really retro and, I dunno. Comforting. Kinda like returning to your childhood era. There is an era or time period that I like especially in Japan, and I think it's the 60s or 70s period. I don't know why, I love going into places that are stuck in time at that error. With their deco, their music, the ambiance. Everything about it, is just so wonderful to me. Like a forgotten era, stuck in time. That was how it felt like when I was in Katsura Wakayama. That town felt exactly like this. It had a feel of everyone knows everyone, and everyone lives here, and people were just friendly and living a simply life....

There was a chess parlour in the alley where all the aged man gather. Don't you love places like this? Any place where people sit and play chess together is my kinda place!

And of course, there is the lucky mascot of Osaka. This is call a Billiken. And apparently, he is a God. And he can be found in almost every shop here in Shinsekai. “The God of Things As They Ought To Be”

Ref: Billiken