Ura Namba: The Entertaining and Welcoming Street

Once you step inside Ura Namba by passing through Sennichimae from Dotonbori where all the tourists gather, you might feel as if you stepped into a completely different world. Sennichimae is a shopping street that is still referred to as “Doguya Suji” (tool alley), which is filled with a lot of kitchenware stores.

As a place that has supported the Osaka culture of “flour foods” represented by takoyaki and okonomiyaki, as well as the culture of artistic banquet halls and Japanese traditional cuisine, it’s a place that cannot be left out when discussing the Osaka food culture. When you take a single, small alley from there, you enter an area of rows of small stores that are completely different from the rest. You’ve then arrived at Ura Namba, which is the topic of this story!

After-work drinks at 4pm

As a retail store of a brewery, “Kujira” carries rows of colorful bottles all lined up. It’s great to be able to try a single, small dish of obanzai (light Kyoto-style dish) and oden, which pair well with sake. Mr. Takada, who guided me through Ura Namba, says, “It might seem like all Osakans are overtalkative, but some stores can read between the lines and leave you alone at times (laughs). The same is true here. Parties of more than 3 guests are seated outside to drink. You also see plenty of women out and about by themselves.” While having our conversation, Ueda (in picture), the store owner who looks seemingly grim at first, kept pouring our glasses with different types of sake to compare the taste.

After quenching our thirst, we headed to “Teppo,” which specializes in pufferfish and sushi. Owner-chef Ishikura, who the customers call "Shin-chan," brings out the pufferfish from the outside fish tank. “Do you know why you refer to a pufferfish as a gun in Osaka? Because it’s a one-hit KO if you get ‘hit’ by it,” says Mr. Takada, who joyfully cracked an Osakan joke characterized with black humor.

I tried a glass of the rare “Hiyashi Hire Sake” (chilled fish sake), which gave off a soft, sweet aroma without any fishiness to it. While enjoying my drink, a nearby cheerful regular customer suggested a specialty item that “you have to try if you come to Osaka” called “battera,” which is not on the menu every day. Its sour taste is mild compared to a normal mackerel sushi, and the gentle flavor of kelp spreads in your mouth. Thanks to the at-home atmosphere of the restautant created by the owner-chef and the customers, we started naturally relaxing and smiling ourselves.

This vast neighborhood comprised of Sennichimae and Ura Namba was once a cemetery during the Edo period. Because it also served as a prison, the name "Sennichimae” (one thousand days ago) seems to have come from the fact that the “chopped heads were dangled in mid-air for thousand days.” But it’s also a run-of-the-mill for great night culture to arise especially in such places with a complicated past.

One famous spot is “Misono Building.” With the launch of snack bars and dance halls, the place was once considered to be a sacred subcultural spot in Osaka in the 70s, like the Shinjuku Golden Street of Tokyo. One of its tenants called “Universe” is a cabaret whose history became widely known due to its film adaptation in 2015.

It closed its doors in 2011, but its culture lives on to this day. The oldest cabaret in existence, "Miss Osaka", founded in 1937, is where the ladies of up to 70s keep the tradition alive even now.

For those that enjoy cabarets but also want to eat a proper meal, they can head to one of the numerous small eateries in Ura Namba. Ever since the district began to be frequently taken up by the media starting about 7 years ago, various new stores started becoming launched by young entrepreneurs from regions outside Osaka, alongside their long-established competitors. Examples include yakitori shops, kushiyaki stores, seafood restaurants, Italian, Chinese, etc., which characterizes Osaka as a mixture of various cultures. Many bars and snack bars open until morning, and the conversation between customers never gets dull. Whether you had a bad day or not, it is guaranteed that you will feel welcomed anytime.

The people of Ura Namba generously provides 20 answers to each question you ask. They would even tell you the secret to a happy marriage within 5 minutes of meeting each other. But there was one question that they were unusually shy about.

I asked, “how would you define the charm of Osaka?” As soon as they heard this, they all suddenly started to become shy, poking the elbow of their neighboring person, or started laughing out loud. They started thinking with a serious face while crossing their arms. And some even suggested that it’s probably the fact that you can drink even during daytime.

If there’s one thing I can teach them about, it’s this: The essential charms of Osaka are its strong service-oriented spirit, the thoughtfulness of looking out after their peers, and their capacity to enjoy themselves. But they’re bad at talking boastfully about themselves, and become surprisingly shy when they try to describe themselves. These are the adorable people of Osaka whom I've met on my journey. Their existence made the gastronomic tour of Osaka an unforgettable experience.