Wondering what these "free guide centres" were about, I wandered in... turns out it's a thinly disguised place to tell you where to find the hookers.

This part of the street was full of them.

Shinsaibashi-suji.

 

HOLY SHIT SEA OF PEOPLE

HOLY SHIT IT'S RYU GA GOTOKU 2

 

You see that Donkey Hotee store over there? WELL IT'S IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE IT WAS IN THE GAME.

Ditto for the giant crab and dragon ramen place.

Look, it's Sonic!

 

Yaaaay Sonic!

The creepy moving clown.

 

I'll post a video of this later.

It's seriously creepy.

Giant fugu! Bonus:shitload of lanterns!

 

Demon takoyaki!

 

Dragon ramen place.

 

Giant moving crab.

 

One thing that's really cool about Osaka is that a lot of stores have really impressive signs advertising them.

This is the giant moving crab, a Doutonbori landmark.

There are lesser moving crabs elsewhere nearby too.

Shrine in the middle of the city.

 

 

I wanted to try takoyaki but didn't know which store to go to.

 

So I found the one with the longest line-up.

Trust the lines.

..and a place across the street from it where you can buy pastries shaped in their likeness!

 

Yoshimoto's theatre for budding comedians

 

Nanba.

 

Toho Cinemas theatre building.

Starting to show its age, but sort of spiffy at the same time.

 

Osaka Shoutengai

 

Osaka is famous for these. While they're just covered streets essentially, it's got its own sort of special atmosphere to it.

Osaka!

 

Okonomiyaki!

Unfortunately, the okonomiyaki at this place was sort of weak. Meh.

 

Actually, none of us knew what Yasaka Jinja was famous for.

 

But holy shit that's a lot of lanterns.

and at the bottom of the path...

 

Holy shit, we found ourselves at Yasaka Jinja, and we didn't even intend to come here!

Bonus!

 

Once again, very traditional theme.

Full of tourist trap stores, as expected. ;)

and the path leading downhill from Kiyomizudera...

 

Kiyomizudera engulfed by snow.

 

Definitely not something you get to see every day.

The famous "koi no uranai ishi"

 

Apparently, if you can touch one stone, close your eyes and make your way to the other stone successfully, your relationship will go well.

Apparently.

Note how most of the visitors to this shrine are female.