Day 1: Osaka (Dotonbori)

In the afternoon, we mainly wandered around the Dotonbori (道頓堀) area. This is a popular nightlife and entertainment area characterized by its eccentric atmosphere and large illuminated signboards.

We saw most of the famous attractions here, including the Glico running man billboard, the kani doraku crab, and the blowfish lantern.

We lso walked along another covered shopping street 相合橋筋商店街 which was very reminiscent of Blade Runner – lots of cyclists wearing black whizzed past us and the shops all looked a bit seedy and run down.

Had dinner at Chibo which is an okonomiyaki restaurant but we didn’t really feel like eating okonomiyaki so we ordered pork omelette and mixed yakisoba.