Fancy a little budget shopping in Japan’s energetic city of Osaka? Famous for excessively long undercover shopping streets, you can walk unlimited kilometres of intriguing shops until you drop!
Where to shop
Japan is a shopaholic’s dream. I’m not a shopaholic, but I am a foodaholic. Check last week’s posts for great and cheaper places to eat in Osaka.
Osaka boasts several major undercover shopping streets (known as marketplaces) and outdoor flea markets. Marketplaces are open most of the year and offer an abundance of fresh food, souvenirs, and budget shopping. Some sections of the shopping streets also offer expensive shops to explore if you have loads of cash.
Shinsaibashisuji Shopping Street
The best-known shopping street in Osaka and a bustling retail centre since the mid-18th century, Sinsaibashisuji is brimming with high-end shops and tax-free stores to revel in, while savouring scrumptious Japanese or a few Western restaurants along the way.
At roughly 600 metres long and all undercover, you can relish a shopping experience in rain or shine before heading to Dōtonbori for an action-packed evening of food, frivolity, and neon lights. (Post on exciting Dōtonbori to come in a couple of weeks.)
Kuromon Ichiba Market
Stretching around 600 metres and running parallel to Sakaisujidori Street in Osaka’s Minami area, Kuromon Ichiba Market offers about 150 shops. Predominantly selling fish, meat, and produce in bulk or as street food. Varieties of smoked, pickled, raw, dried, or flame-roasted spill out of stalls and shops. Taste luscious seafood delights cooked right on the spot while you wait.
Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street
You will definitely, clock up your daily walking steps traversing the never-ending 2.6-kilometre undercover Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street. This is the longest undercover shopping street in Japan and starts at Tenjinbashi.
Hosting around 800 stores including old-fashioned restaurants, a delicatessen, traditional knife shops, chinaware, and even a tea shop established in 1868. Walking from one end of the street to the other takes a solid 40 minutes. But of course, if shopping, then this takes endless hours. Did I mention that my attention span for shopping is a maximum of an hour?
Because of the sheer length of these undercover shopping streets, a pedestrian crossing typically splits one covered section from the next along the way. Not only does this provide a little snippet of daylight, but the break also provides respite from the plethora of ceaseless shops.
Depachika (underground food avenues)
A Depachika (department store basement) is located on the bottom floor of most department stores. The Umeda District in Osaka is renowned for department stores and holds almost as many Dapachikas as Tokyo.
With each Depachika featuring its particular specialities, such as fish, unusual sweets, incredibly fresh produce, Wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery), and many onsite eating areas, these basements are a delight to explore. You are assured to pick up some a bargain, whether delicious authentic Japanese food, a tantalising cake and heavenly sweet, or good fresh produce.
Lucua Osaka
Whilst visiting the Umeda District, another large shopping mall, the Lucua Osaka offers 10 floors of wonderful restaurants for all budgets. You quickly learn later that all shopping malls in Japan are massive and infinite – a slight exaggeration, but malls are extremely long.
Enjoy loads of speciality fashion stores for women, men, and children, cosmetic and beauty shops, and lifestyle goods thrown in for good measure. Lucua Osaka has something for everyone.
Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Umeda
In addition to everything camera and multimedia, this Yodobashi multi-storey complex sells absolutely everything household, and this chain is in most major Japanese cities.
Open from 9:30am until 10 pm, you can easily lose hours of the day in these windowless multi-storey complexes, as I have in this Osaka superstore, searching for a new camera.
Typically, a BIC store, which is another chain, seems to replace Yodobashi if the city doesn’t have a Yodobashi centre.
Something odd about the Osaka Yodobashi is that its security guard repeatedly paces up and down all of the aisles like a soldier while making a bizarre alerting sound walking. Very disconcerting. Not sure what it all means but maybe he is saying ‘excuse me’. Can someone enlighten me?
Gachapon
Now jumping to a Japanese passion – Gachapons. These are capsule toy machines and are definitely worth mentioning, as this can only be described by an outsider as a national obsession.
Discovering these all over Japan, keep an eye out for Gachapons draped with locals as they are definitely a Japanese addiction.
Whether in supermarkets, shopping malls, on footpaths, or numerous machines taking up a corner of a building, these coin-operated machines have been a part of Japanese culture for over 50 years.
Various-sized capsules at differing prices are filled with figurines, small toys, and varying collectables. Although not my thing (dust collectors), dedicated Gachapon stores are big business.
7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson
The more you travel in Japan, the more you discover that without exaggerating, the 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson chains are absolutely everywhere in Japan. Almost on every corner and mostly just a few doors down from each other. Osaka isn’t different. These chains are in the Japanese psyche (as is Starbucks, sadly) and the go-to for quick food or grocery supplies, including takeaway meals that staff heat up in a microwave.
Family Mart is cheaper than 7-Eleven and Lawson. All three convenience stores sell similar products and are good for cheap eats, drinks, limited alcohol, and more.
Kohyo Supermarket
A good selection is offered at the Kohyo Supermarket’s two floors in Osaka. You will find the bottom floor selling an array of fresh produce and meats, with the upstairs floor selling groceries, alcohol, and some household items.
Where is Osaka?
What to see
Osaka’s lively energy is infectious and is not all about the food and shopping.
Bursting with activities and delightful sights, the city is definitely not short of breathtaking attractions. Easy day trips will also keep you occupied on your visit to this marvellous city.
Check back in 2 weeks for a detailed post on what not to miss on your travels to Osaka. I’ll share with you the splendid Osaka Castle, the funky and vibrant Amerika-Mura district, the astonishing Umeda Sky Building, a day trip to Nara, and more fascinating sights.
Coming next week is my take on the iconic Glastonbury Festival after volunteering at the 2023 festival from camping out there the past few days.
Visit Nilla’s Photography for more global images. More posts at Image Earth Travel.
Note: All photos by Nilla’s Photography unless otherwise mentioned. No part of this post was composed with the help of ChatGPT or AI.
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