Unhurried in Osaka: Finding Joy in Small Bites and Backstreets

We are still on the mend, but have slowly started to explore Osaka. The area we are in feels vastly different than our neighborhood in Tokyo. At first glance it feels a little dingy and rundown. As we walk along the main street that runs through our neighborhood, there’s grafitti, people smoking/vaping in the open, and everything just feels a bit drab. It’s hard to know if our perception would be the same if we hadn’t just left the pristine streets of Tokyo. My guess is yes.

Once you tuck yourself back into the neighborhood though, it’s extremely charming. The houses are all unique and you can wind through alleyways and backstreets for what feels like forever. We stumbled upon a shotengai, which is a covered shopping street. These are very popular in Osaka with the longest one stretching about 2.6 km!

The one in our neighborhood is probably about 1/2 mile long. We’ve walked through here multiple times and it’s somewhat like a farmers market. There are shops selling a variety of homemade goods, there’s a stall selling fresh fish, a bike tire repair shop, a laundromat, numerous restaurants, and much more. The smells can be a bit overwhelming, and we always see something new. I snapped this picture when most of the stores were closed. It’s usually a bustling sea of people, both on bikes and on foot.

Dotonbori Street

We took the train to one of Osaka’s most famous and colorful districts – Dontonbori Street. This area is known for its giant flashy signs, street food, and bustling nightlife. We walked along the Dotonbori canal and took in some of the extraordinary signs. Here’s a few of our favorites. We are definitely looking forward to exploring this area more!

Street Food

For lunch we enjoyed some street food. Dave and the kids had Kobe beef skewers and we all tried the famous takoyaki. Takoyaki are small, round, savory balls made from a wheat-flour batter, filled with diced octopus, green onion, pickled ginger, and crunchy tempura scraps. They’re cooked in a special molded pan and brushed with a sweet-savory sauce. They were fun to try, but no one declared them delicious. Alexis said the beef was the best meat she’d ever had.

7 – Eleven Smoothies

We finally tried out the iconic 7 Eleven smoothies today and they did not disappoint. Alexis was worried we wouldn’t figure out how to make the machine work. She was having flashbacks to our first morning in Tokyo when I started the convenience store coffee machine without the cup inside (I blame jet lag). The directions were very clear (and in English), so we had no problems. It was the perfect after school treat!