Shinsekai Market

The restaurants are very touristy and the food is ordinary. However the seafood restaurant was good. They have wagyu sukiyaki style, and fish cooked any way you want. Some restaurants charge extra for the pickled veggies. Went to the closest sushi restaurant near the Tower, and it was magnificent. Service was good too.

Another vibrant and bustling shopping area in Osaka, somewhat similar to Dotonbori with all the big food signage but with less crowd and a smaller area. It provides retro vibes and old charm. However here the highlights on the various gatcha shops, shooting galleries, archery galleries . There are also various eatries and street foods around and sovenirs and shops a few drugstores too. Famous food which can be found here include kishikatsu from the well known Kushikatsu Janjan and premium wagyu beef from Yakinku Manno Tennoji. There is also a specilaity store selling Pringles with special flavour unique here. Another famous not to be missed landmark here is Tsutenkaku Tower.

This is what happens when a turn-of-the-century dream collides with reality and decides to just keep on existing out of sheer stubborn pride. Think Blade Runner without the budget—retro, a little gritty, nostalgic in a way you can’t quite place, like your grandma’s attic opened a yakitori stall. The entrance sign promises a “New World,” and you know what? It kind of delivers. Not in the shiny, hyper-modern, AI-and-matcha-latte way—but in the form of red lanterns, shuttered shops, wild leopard print clothing, and a meat croquette stand that might just restore your faith in humanity. It’s not polished. It’s not curated. It’s not pretending. There are closed shutters, aging fans, and signage that looks like it’s been hanging there since the Showa era. But there’s life here—resilient, unapologetic, and deeply Osaka. You’ll see locals chatting, bargain shoes stacked like a sale bin exploded, and signs offering cleaning services next to tiger heads on a clothes rack. There’s a store called “Dragon Coffee” and another that seems to sell only melon bread and nostalgia. And that’s the charm. It’s weird. It’s raw. It smells like fried magic. You feel like you walked into a yakuza-owned thrift store run by Studio Ghibli characters in retirement. I’m going back tonight. Because I need to know what happens here when the sun goes down. Does it light up like a lantern-lit fever dream? Do the tigers come alive? Is Dragon Coffee still open? Stay tuned.

Really fun and colourful place for photos and food. Be mindful however most eateries don't open till at least 11.30am so if you come here early in the morning it will be nice and quiet which is fantastic for photos!

The market was actually a small shopping street that stretched from Ebisu station to Tsenkaku Tower. There were also many smaller alleys connecting to it, with shops and local restaurants surrounded. The area was quite good and worth to explore in Osaka.

This spot had such a cool vibe—felt like stepping into a little slice of Osaka right in Tokyo. I didn’t try the skewers this time, but the rest of the food hit the spot. What really stood out were the fun little games they had around the market—it gave the whole experience a playful, nostalgic feel. Super laid-back, and the energy was great. Definitely worth checking out if you want something casual with a local twist.

Nice area to walk around. Lots of restaurants. And games to play using bow and arrow and play guns for fun and prizes. A little less expensive than Dotonbori. Close to the zoo, a park and museum.

Shops on the street itself is quaint and interesting. Seems to cater to the tourists. What is interesting is that it has an observation tower on one end and the restaurants at streets near the observation tower has colourful facades. I felt it is a bit distinctive for Osaka.

The Shinsekai Market area is an interesting one for sure. You would have to actually get here at exactly the right time for it to be super busy, but otherwise, it's mostly a fairly lower foot traffic area, with many shops opened for short amounts of time throughout the day. The main Shinsekai Market is actually just a small stretch of the market in this shopping area after you get out of the station. The market is, really nothing spectacular, and I would just recommend going to Kuromon if you were just in a mood for shopping at a full on market, and getting that experience. This small shopping area is not the main Shinsekai epicenter of activity, so it's really more of a walkway more than anything. There are a few restaurants here that I'd recommend, but for the most part, the big hitters are really towards the back end as you head close to the Zoo entrance, so outside of a couple of places, I wouldn't dawdle here too much.

It's a convenient shopping center next to Tsūtenkaku, and it also serves traditional food.

This is another way from the subway Ebisucho station to the Tutenkaku Tower. I visited here yesterday, but most shops closed. Maybe they were holiday on Monday. The entrance is very showy. A large vinyl curtain with yellow and orange vertical strips is hanged. It is very Osaka-like. At the entrance meat shop stands. You can eat ham cutlet, Tsutenkaku croquette and other fried foods here. I was interested in Tsutenkaku croquette. However it takes a little time to fry one. Because I wanted to eat the croquette which had just finished frying, I gave it up. Fruits or vegetable shops, fish market, health products shops and the like are lined side by side. Each shop has its own individual atmosphere. It is a short arcade. But you can really feel that you are in Shinsekai.