On the first day we were in Osaka, after having our breakfast at the hotel, we took the free shuttle bus down to Namba area. Our first stop was a streets that sells kitchen items and cooking utensil. When the bus dropped us at Namba, we got kinda lost due to the high rise buildings and our GPS not seems to be working properly, but eventually we saw the sign that literally translate to "Before a thousand days".
It's just one alley, spread across maybe 2 street, and it's covered. And it's filled with kitchen utensils which me and my husband loves to browse at cause the kitchen is our favourite part of our house for experimenting with food. So it's no wonder this is our very first "tourist attraction" for us. If you don't cook, it's ok, you can still come here, they have cheap souvenirs like chopsticks and cups etc where you can buy in bulk home.
It's a covered alley, so there is no fear of rain here. And all the shops are just filled with beautiful things. I just learned how to make wagashi (japanese sweets) before I came to Osaka, and was thrilled to be able to spend time looking at the tools used to make these sweets. As I'm not an advance maker of wagashi, I didn't buy any. Still, it was fun to see how they make those beautiful shapes of the sweets.
There were also many cutlery shops filled with Japanese craft bowls, glasses, iron ware etc. My husband managed to buy a few things and found some wagashi making tools that can be used to make ceramic ware for his cousin. Initially I thought we'll just spend an hour here or so, but by the time we were ready to leave, it was almost lunch time!
We took a short walk down to the river side of Dotonbori, the famous street, but everywhere people seems to be queue up for food. So we decided to walk back nearer to the kitchen street, and found a small shop with no queue selling seafood rice bowl. We went in and ordered to bowls and Asahi beer. Not the best seafood, but good enough! With our tummy filled, we headed back to Dotonbori again to enjoy the sights.
Dotonbori is famous for the crazy shop deco, river cruise, and all of Osaka's famous food available here. And oh yes, Glico man! To date, I still have no idea why he is so famous that everyone that comes here must take a photo with him. I've never taken my photo with him before even though I have been to Osaka before many years back. Anyway, above is the river view with Donki Quidote there. Denki Quidote here even has a ferris wheel attached to it! Amazing!
Here are some crazy shop deco found along the food street. Osaka is famous for Kushikatsu, which literally means fried stuff. On the left with the human head is one of the famous chain Kushikatsu shop in Osaka. I took many photos of it, but never went in once as there are usually long queue there. Instead, we went to a nice local Kushikatsu restaurant at some ulu remote place instead and had ourselves a nice leisure lunch.
You can also find Ichiran Ramen shop here. For some reason my husband didn't want to try it. I had Ichiran in Tokyo Ueno area before, and I really like their dining-solo seating concept where you can enjoy your ramen without having to interact with another human being. I find that so considerate!
There is also this Wally look-a-like boy that is famous in Osaka. The shop mainly sells souvenirs and snacks. We went in to browse around, but didn't buy anything.
They have so many weird deco and signs along the road. Like the one above were if you stand at a certain spot, you will appear on the TV on the board and you can then take a souvenir shot of it. But the time frame for you to appear on the TV is limited , so while wait your turn, they play advertisement on the TV. So it's really just a big advertisement board that forces you to watch their advertisement before you can take your photo with it. Smart idea!
Another long queue shop is the Takoyaki shop. I think we didn't eat any takoyaki while we were there as it's kinda expensive. But now I kinda regret it, cause when I was watching one of the famous Japanese Drama, my lead actor had a business trip to Osaka and he skipped a luxurious company lunch so that he can eat takoyaki on the streets. When asked why, he said "it's a sin to come to Osaka and not eat the Takoyaki by the street".
Here's our photo together at the river side. OMG, no Glico man! Haha. We did take many shots with Glico man. I just don't know why he didn't make it on this blog. Maybe in the future post?
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