Osaka’s Dotonbori – An Evening Walking Tour!
Hi everyone, this is TANC with Ken Sabalza and in this video we will explore one of the busiest places here in Osaka where many people come to hang out and have a good time. So join me as we explore Don Bori. [Music] So I’m on my way to Bori. right now and it is a nice evening out. It is 7:00 on a Sunday night and temperatures currently 75° F and not a lot of humidity which is really nice. [Music] Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Happy. [Music] [Music] So, I decided to get some tayyaki. I ended up getting two creamman custard ones. And I’m actually going to go ahead and eat it. And in Japan, it’s customary to actually stay put and eat something. And you can’t really walk around and eating and drinking stuff. So, you just find a spot and eat your food similar to what um these people are doing. Just eat it on the side. that’s a little bit more socially acceptable and not so much walking around and eating and munching on stuff. Nice and piping hot tayyaki. And tayyaki is basically like a pastry of sorts that’s shaped like a fish and there’s some filling inside. You can get a red bean, sweet potato, but I ended up getting the uh premium custard. So, here it is. Let’s open it. Wow. There’s our premium custard right there. Looks delicious. And and it’s hot, too. So, yeah, they just made it uh nice and fresh. There’s a tayyaki right here. [Music] No wonder they call it premium custard. That’s that’s delicious custard. Definitely premium and not just your standard custard. So, everyone here is pretty much heading to doi because if you keep on going straight, you’ll get to the river area. So, yeah, let’s just let’s just follow everyone. And here in Japan, we have these uh streets with shops on the left side and the right side. Some cars still go through, but typically they’re uh more so for pedestrians. I actually just saw a car go through this street. And yeah, you you see the occasional bikes here and there. [Music] M takoyaki. Yeah. Oh, 60 minute Japanese massage for 3600. That is how much? What’s 3,600 yen in US? Oh, 25 bucks. Wow. Really? 25 bucks for 1 hour, huh? The night life in Japan is amazing. Everything is still very well lit. The neon signs the different colors. Yeah, I really should find a place to eat. This is more of the touristy area because it’s Doon Bi. So, not sure about the quality, but a lot of the things here in Japan, the quality is either good or excellent. You can’t really find a terrible meal, per se. Wow, look at all the toys. Capsule station. So, welcome to Doon Bori area here in Osaka. Oh, look. That’s a cool Pikachu vending machine. And if we go straight, you will see the river [Music] that goes through this area. So, let’s check it out. Here we are. [Music] Aha, here we are. Finally made it. [Music] [Music] He’s playing Spirited Away. Nice. So here in Doon Bori, you can actually walk down here to the water area. You can see that there’s a lot of people out cuz it’s Sunday evening at 7:40 p.m. And the weather is nice. It is just a great evening for a walk and seeing the night life. And there’s a bunch of people on the other side. Trying to figure out why. I think it’s because of some photo ops. I think that’s a better position for for pictures. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, this is more of the spot. I started off on the other bridge, but this is the more I guess famous bridge here. Well, at least where most people are hanging out. So, this bridge reminds me of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. because there’s a lot of people. Of course, the architecture is different, but seeing people congregate on a bridge with the river in front that basically reminds me of it. And yeah, there’s a lot of people here on the right side and the left side. This is basically the the main strip of Don Bori. [Music] So, we’re here right in the middle of the bridge, and we will actually go on the left side because the right side is way crazier. So yeah, we’re going to avoid this side, but we’ll go on the other side just to make sure that we don’t get stuck in the crowds. And also here in Dongi, they have these little uh cruise boats that go along the river. And a lot of people enjoy this uh very simple ride. And there’s actually two of them heading the opposite directions. So yeah, let’s go ahead and explore Doon Bori a little bit. So what they’re making here is takoyaki. And this is basically the one of the busiest spots here in Nonvari. And takoyaki is uh there’s some octopus that is in the middle of some batter that’s shaped like a ball. And then there’s some um there’s some papi sauce on top of it, drizzled on top for added flavor. And as you can see, they’re making the papy right there. [Music] [Music] down. [Music] Yes. Happy happy day. Okay, I got my takoyaki and I found a spot. Perfect. But this is their most popular one and it’s the one with the mayo sauce. So, it looks like this. Scoot over a little bit. Okay, so we’re going to have some takoyaki. This may very well be my my dinner. And here here it is. If you can see it, it focuses. There you go. So, let’s try it out. Here we go. Takoyaki in Osaka, Japan and Doon Bori. [Music] It’s still hot inside. There’s a piece of octopus in there. [Music] And then the batter just kind of oozes in your mouth when you when you bite into it. And the sauce is good. It’s definitely much better than some of the other takyakis that I’ve had. It has that soy sauce mayo flavor to it. So it has some garnish, some green some green garnish on top. So yeah, if you if you puncture it, then the then the batter was just all over. And so there it is. There you go. Try another one. [Music] I keep covering my mouth because it basically burns your mouth inside until your mouth gets used to the temperature. They also have some bonito flakes, some fish flakes that they put on top. Overall, this is excellent. I think the sauce is what really makes it and it has a really good combination of the mayo and the soy sauce. And overall, yeah, this was this whole entire thing was 800 yen. So that’s roughly about seven bucks, which is not bad. So you can grab one of these and eat it as a snack or it could literally be your light dinner or light lunch of sorts. But yeah, this is takoyaki from Osaka here in the Tong Bori area. So, just finished at the takoyaki place and let’s go to the other side. Actually, let’s cross this bridge. [Music] I love you. [Music] [Music] Yep. The other side is way busier than this side. So, I’m totally okay being here on the south side of the more on the south side of the the bridge. Oh, so you have two competing uh variety in department stores. This one is Daoku and then on the other side is the very well-known Dong Kiote or Donkey for short. And it is this one is humongous. Holy moly, how many floors is this? But it’s a department store that basically sells almost everything that you can think of almost. It’s a great place to go souvenir shopping. And they have a lot of different donkeys in uh in Japan. And this is the biggest one I think in Osaka possibly. And then here you go. Yeah, Daikoku is another store here. And notice that they also are um making takoyaki over here. Oh, let’s see if we can catch some of the people here on the boat. There you go. That is building. I don’t know. Nice. So, there’s another uh tour boat that’s boarding on the other side. And again, take a look at Donkey. My goodness, this place is humongous. And so we came from that side, from that bridge right there, and we’re just walking along the boardwalk here on the river. [Music] Yeah, this is a happening place. Sunday night, weather is perfectly fine. Not humid at all. So, yeah, I don’t blame them. Oh, here’s another crew group. Check this place out. Wo! Barbecue cafe. So, it’s a cafe and they sell uh hamburgers and sandwiches. It looks like more burgers and craft beer. Wo! Barbecue. So, here’s the other bridge coming up. So, we’re going to go up or maybe we’ll probably just Keep walking. Oh, there’s Family Mart. And then again, that’s the view from where we came from. So, we’re going to go underneath here, this bigger bridge. [Music] Ah, yes. Here we go. This is the famous Gleo man. Gico running man here in Doonborei. Basically the mascot for Doon Bori and Gico. So the GCO running man is a symbol of Osaka and uh the candy company Gico and the inspiration is said to be the Filipino sprinter named Fortonato Catalon. And the Glico man is uh a large sign that depicts a runner on a blue track and was originally installed in 1935. And Gico uh makes snacks such as uh snacks Pocky, the ones that are the uh thin uh thin sticks with uh chocolate. So yes, this is the Gleo Man and this is the mascot and icon of Doon Bori here in Osaka. Oh, look. Look at everyone across the bridge posing as a GCO man. Yeah, I think I think we’ll join them. I think let’s let’s go across and let’s have the Gleo man part of the background. Do you know any man? You know after this bridge you can see the grful sign on your left side and [Music] so let’s make our way here to the middle area of this bridge. This is a bigger bridge than the other two. The other two are more wooden bridges. This one is made more of metal and concrete. Everyone wants to pose with a gleeo. Man, that’s pretty fun seeing people pose. [Music] Well, it is a mascot of Doon Bori after all. So, it’s like getting a ma a picture with a mascot for a sports team. Why not, right? Here’s the front of the donkey, one of them here in Doon Bori. And let’s actually step in for a moment so that you can see some of the things that they sell. Yeah, they have beauty products, they have household wares, they have snacks. They have toys. They have makeup. They have nail clippers. Yeah, they basically have almost everything that you you need. They have um they have sake. And look at that floor guide. Seventh floor tax-free center. Uh yeah, they have seven floors of shopping. So if you’re ever in Japan, you can check out Donkey. They have a lot of locations. So you can check out any of them. Oh, here’s the Osaka Expo mascot. And then look, they also have Gundam. Let’s just take a quick peek. Uh, they have wrist watches. You like wrist watches? They have Oh, um, handkerchiefs and they have fans. So yes, donkey is [Music] and chocolate. Wow, good chocolates. Um, for the small one, 1,200 yen. So that’s about 10 bucks. The big one, it’s about like 18 bucks or so. wooden bookmarks. So, yeah, this is a preview of Donkey. This is where you can buy pretty much a bunch of your either everyday items as well as your souvenir stuff if you’re planning on bringing some souvenirs back home. When you get away from the central busy area of Doon Bori, you can actually enjoy a nice leisurely walk here on the river because it’s not as busy as the other side. So on the right side heading east, that’s where Don Bi uh the busy part is. But if you just keep on walking west here on the river, you are left with a very nice leisurely walk. And it looks like I’ll just go up a little bit and go on the main main part. Yeah, but this is less crowded, less busy. So if this is something that you enjoy doing, this is uh definitely an option. So you can still enjoy the Doon Bori area without feeling overwhelmed if you just go away from that central uh busy section where all the tourists and everyone is located. I hope you enjoyed our time exploring the Doon Bori area of Osaka. This is Taste and See with Canabaza and I’m looking forward to sharing more videos and adventures with you here in Japan. So for now, take care and happy travels. Thank you for joining me on this brief tour of Osaka’s Doon Bori district. I’m looking forward to sharing the next video from Japan with all of you. So in the meantime, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel as well as hitting the notification bell so you don’t miss the next video. Take care and see you on our next adventure.
Join us for a brief walking tour through the electric heart of Osaka—the famous Dotonbori district! In this video, we’re exploring the main tourist area after dark, when the giant neon signs and buzzing nightlife truly come alive.
We’ll soak in the iconic views along the Dotonbori canal, complete with river tour boats gliding by, and of course, say hello to the Glico Running Man, Osaka’s most famous landmark. We dive into the world of Japanese street food, trying classic hot and fresh takoyaki (octopus balls) and a sweet taiyaki (fish-shaped cake). To top it off, we’ll take you inside the massive and chaotic Don Quijote (Donki) discount store to see what treasures we can find.
If you’re planning a trip to Osaka or just want to experience one of Japan’s most vibrant spots, this tour is for you!
00:00 Intro
00:26 Heading to Dotonbori
00:54 Found taiyaki!
01:57 Travel Tip
02:29 Trying out taiyaki
03:28 Going to the main area
05:54 Main tourist area
07:03 Walking by the river/canal
07:51 Crossing one of the bridges
09:56 Enjoying takoyaki!
15:08 Continuing the walking tour
19:26 Heading to Ebisu Bridge
20:18 Glico Running Man
22:08 Crossing Ebisu Bridge
23:23 Don Quijote (Donki)
26:08 Quiet part of Dotonbori
27:24 Outro
Thanks for watching! Have you ever been to Dotonbori? Let us know your favorite part in the comments below! Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more Japan adventures.
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