Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street 天神橋筋商店街 stretches approximately 2.6km north to south, and is said to be the longest straight shopping street in Japan. Approx. You find around 600 shops 600 shops, including good old specialty shops, and many restaurants. You may go there on the way to worship at Osaka Temmangu Shrine. Tenjinbashi neighborhood was one of the earliest shopping streets in Osaka. Shops were already lining the area in the early Meiji era (1868-1912).
Ten Ichi (Ten-1-chome, 天神橋１): We start with an open-air shopping street. If we turn into a side street at our right we find an art gallery in Fujihara Building, a brown-brick structure constructed in 1923. Today it houses a graphic design firm on the second floor with an accessory showroom above. The building was used as a set for a TV drama in 2009. The basement is home to Fujihara art gallery アートギャラリーフジハラ, a multi-media space that is only open for special exhibitions. On weekdays, you can enter the main part of the building and discover the artwork in the public areas. There are creative displays everywhere, including a looped recording of a static-filled lecture wafting up from the darkened halls of the basement. The art continues outside as well, as an adjacent parking lot hosts a permanent exhibition of paintings and sculpture attached to the walls.
Window of Fujihara building
Heading back to Tenjinbashisuji we will enter the arcade in the middle of our way.
Entrance of Ten Ichi 天神橋１
If you turn right before entering the arcade you find Torii Miso とりゐ味噌, a shop specializing in miso, established in the Edo era (1603-1868). Heihachiro Oshio, a Confucian scholar, was a regular customer. Torii Miso sells its fermented soybean pastes from wooden barrels. Read more: 100 years of fermenting miso in Osaka. Inside the arcade you discover restaurants.
Ten Ni (Ten-2-chome, 天神橋2):
We are greeted by four dolls suspended from the entrance of the shopping arcade. These are replicas of the mukae ningyo, or welcome dolls, which are adorned to the floating procession of boats during the Tenjin Matsuri, held every July 24th and 25th at Osaka Tenmangu Shrine.
In this part of the arcade you will pass Osaka Chakai 大阪茶会, a green tea shop with an attractive second floor lounge space with free wi-fi. Visitors can enjoy the drink menu from the cup of their choice, with over 100 different varieties to choose from on shelves that line the interior. Cups include mug cups, matchawan (traditional tea bowls) and free-style cups made by artists from western Japan. See more pictures of Osaka Chakai.
Later on your way you probably see people queuing at Nakamuraya 中村屋コロッケ, famous for its hot croquettes and ground meat cutlets. And you will pass Maruichi Bakery, where you get success-wishing buns, which are popular among students taking examinations.
Ten San (Ten-3-chome, 天神橋3):
Kunkundou 薫々堂, a Japanese sweets shop, has been here for over 150 years. The shop makes rice cakes and dry confectionary for Temmangu. Also popular are their novelty sweets such as “Hatsutenjin”, associated with a rakugo piece. Walk on and find Bunkyudo イナガキハイツ. An ordinary stationery shop, but you get here the “Toryanse Pencil” and “Success Eraser”, useful for students who search success in examination. You also discover the wooden storefront of Kurume, a store specializing in traditional, high quality wooden items including chopsticks, shoehorns, ear picks, and tableware.
Delicacies at Le Moule a Tarte
T'Green's Café looks inviting and has also vegetable dishes.
Ten Yon 天神橋4: The area near Ogimachi station is nicknamed “Tenyon”, while the area north of 4-Chome near Temma station is nicknamed “Tenshi (“angel”) Kita”. You find bargain-priced supermarkets as well as sophisticated interior shops.
Entrance of Ten Yon block
Ten Go, 天神橋5: The street becomes narrow, the bars are fairly crowded even in the daytime. Lots of discount shops. Narita-ya 成田屋呉服店 may be the only kimono shop where kimono are sold in auction style (from 14.30 every Sunday). Aiming further north you can enjoying the crisp crust of a hand-baked fish shaped cake of “Taimu”. You will also pass Kitaoka, a shop specializing in curtains since the Taisho era (1912-1926). if you turn right soon after passing the railway subway of Osaka Loop line, you will arrive at Purara Tenma ぷららてんま Market.
Sushi shop Harugoma (春駒), which often has a long line of waiting customers.
You have the possibility to turn west to Tengo Nakazachi-dori Shotengai 天五中崎通商店街, another arcade with many food options including a cat cafe, a freshwater fish bar and a cramped sushi joint. Read more: Naniwa: The taste of summer in Japan
Tenroku 天神橋6: You arrive in a stained glass style arcade. A retro coffee shop offers good taste. Or you can experience Osaka in the Edo–Showa era at the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living.
Read also: How to have Fun in Osaka: Tenjinbashi-suji Shotengai
Walk and you will know! Charm of the shopping street and shops you cannot miss
Tenjinbashi by Inside Osaka
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