Japan, Day 6: Dotonbori

Exactly four years ago to the very day, my family and I were in Dotonbori, that touristy part of Osaka in Japan which featured the Glico running man advertisement that I had written on previously. How we had ended up in Dotonbori is a story by itself.

When I booked our holiday tickets to Japan in 2017, we did not realise that the Malaysian Budget would be presented in Parliament on the 27th of October. It was my wife's job to monitor the Budget proceedings for her boss, now her ex-boss. That was her job to get into the finer details because, let's face it, bosses are generally useless. They greatly depend on others to gather information for them. What they spew in public as "their opinion" is nothing more than the parroted opinion of other people working around them. At least, that's what happened in her workplace from 2014 till 2020.

Faced with this dilemma, I had to plan a way out for my wife. Since we were going to be in Osaka, we decided to go into one of their tourist centres, plant ourselves in a place with a good wifi connection and she could then work for a few hours while the rest of us were free to explore the area. That was how we ended up in Dotonbori, within walking distance from the Kuromon market.

My first impression of the place was that it was full of entertainment and food outlets. Karaoke joints and sake bars. All sorts of popular food were available. Ramen. Snow crabs. Fugu. Sushi. Yakitori. Gyoza. Eateries along both sides of the canal too. Then there was Starbucks outlet in the Tsutaya store, which we eventually gravitated to. We chose the second or third levels for some privacy but later, decided to go downstairs when the floor closed at five o'clock. But generally, we were still at Tsutaya.

Kinryu Ramen honten outlet with crap seating arrangements for non-Japanese customers who are forced to sit sideways in order to eat properly. 

Crappy attitude too, trying to prevent me from taking a picture of their open kitchen which was open for all to see

Snow crab restaurant

Fugu fish for those willing to skirt with danger, but I guess since this has been on the Japanese menu for centuries, it should be safe enough to eat

But sushi should be a safe bet for everybody 

Souvenirs, anyone?

Gyoza joint

Tsutaya book store with a Starbuck outlet on the ground floor

But books in Japanese, generally

Some entertainment along the Dotonburi canal

Human traffic in the Shinsaibashi shopping mall

A different crowd of tourists when the lights were turned on. The Shinsaibashi shopping mall was in the far distance and the Ebisu bridge just ahead of me

We were caught on a CCTV camera and our image appeared on a huge LED screen on one of the buildings