Shinsekai downtown
City : Osaka
Shinsekai (新世界）is an entertainment and eat-and-drink district where many restaurants and pubs offer Osaka specialty kushikatsu at a reasonable price. For tourists, there is a symbolic tower with an observation deck called Tsutenkaku, so the town is popular both among local people and tourists. The neighborhood has very cheap hotels for day workers, and homeless people are also found, but it's completely safe to walk even at night within the Shinsekai quarter.
For more information on Shinsekai, refer the website http://www.shinsekai.ne.jp/en/index.html
We recommend a visit to Shinsekai at dusk, and firstly enter the Tsutenkaku tower (通天閣）to enjoy the view of Osaka city when the sun sets, and out of the tower, stroll around, then pop into kushikatsu restaurant. Kushikatsu goes well with beer, and a glass of beer is priced relatively lower here, so you will probably have more glasses.
Tsutenkaku :
Despite the tower's height of only 100m, it is surely one of the most notable landmarks of Osaka city. Also regarding the view from the observatory, I would recommend here rather than the Umeda Sky Building, because Tsutenkaku is still high in the neighborhood and you can see the city center including the Sky Building from away there. Tsutenkaku tower was originally built in 1912, dismantled in 1943, and re-erected in 1956. It is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. At the deck, you will find the doll named Billiken, an auspicious American doll introduced to Japan in early 1900's. There is sometimes a long line waiting to get in the tower especially on weekends.
Hours : 10:00-18:30 (no closing day) | Admission : 600 yen | Website : http://www.tsutenkaku.co.jp/
Walking around :
Centering on the Tsutenkaku Tower, most kushikatsu restaurants are found in the southeastern area. There are also variety of business like theaters, low price barber shop (700yen), old fashioned pinball game shop, Shogi（将棋）,or Japanese chess-like game shop（right photo), and so on. Some are accessible for foreign tourists alone, or accompanied by the Japanese, and for some, you and your Japanese guide even hesitate to enter because you see a full of highly local people inside.
Eating Kushikatsu :
Kushikatsu is a bamboo skewered cutlet. Wide varieties of meat and vegetables such as pork, chicken, onion, pumpkin, potato, mushroom, and unconventional ingredients like cheese and mochi rice cake etc. are cut into bite size, battered (sometimes also breaded), deep fried, and served on a stick. You dip them into special sauce which usually comes in a deep tin. No chopsticks are used, so eat them directly from a skewer. As you might notice, the sauce is not only yours, but could be used throughout a day, week, month, or year (don't know..), so never dip what you have half eaten. You should not order many sticks at a time because it tastes the best right after cooked. A stick is usually around 100 yen. There are so many kushikatsu eateries and people queue for popular ones. Three reputable names are indicated on the map below.
Map
