Kansai 09 - Ebisu Bashi (戎橋) in Downtown Osaka

After visiting the two castles,  my friend Sa-chan and I had one more place to visit.  We took the train back to downtown Osaka and went to the Nanba part of downtown,  after some CD shopping we went to the Ebisubashi (戎橋) landmark of town and its neighboring street and canal called 'Dontonbori' ( 道頓堀).

さ-ちゃん友達とお城跡一緒観光した後、大阪の中央区へ行った。難波の隣の 道頓堀へ行った。実は僕の目的は関西の一つだけの一蘭ラーメン屋！下の写真を見て下さい。

This area was pretty nice, a lot of restaurants, shops and 'nightlife' areas.  I'm not super familiar with Osaka,  but apparently this is one of the main downtown meet-up spots (a la Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo (or Tenjin in Fukuoka)).  The Glico Man neon sign on the right is apparently quite famous throughout Japan.

That Crab restaurant is a famous landmark, supposedly it moves too. I didn't notice.  :-P

Speaking of nightlife areas:

In Japan the euphemism 'nightlife' can mean a lot of things, 'snack' bars, hostess clubs, etc, etc.  In this case its actually a billboard for a 'host' club. (and a Love Hotel in the background)

Handsome boys, aren't they?  I think they should consider not all using the same hair stylist...

Nearby they also have what looks like it may be the biggest Don Quixote store in Japan.

Its so big that they apparently have a giant ferris wheel type amusement park ride on the side of the store. (The Roppongi one has a roller coaster on the roof, but they can't operate it apparently, this one wasn't being run when we were there either).

but my interest was next door along the canal:

Here's our objective. The only Ichiran Ramen in this part of Japan. ;-)

For those who aren't familiar,  Ichiran is the best, most delicious, and simultaneously more bizarre ramen chain in Japan.  I like to visit them and blog about it:

http://www.alivenotdead.com/etchy/Fukuoka-Trip-1-Nakasu-Ichiran-Ramen--profile-184013.html http://www.alivenotdead.com/etchy/Fukuoka-09-Ramen-Run-profile-529832.html http://www.alivenotdead.com/etchy/Tokyo-pt-10-Street-Fighter-IV-Yet-more-Ramen--profile-203270.html http://www.alivenotdead.com/etchy/Tokyo-pt-7-Ramen-Meal-2-What-to-do-after-Clubbing--profile-198847.html http://www.alivenotdead.com/etchy/Tokyo-pt-2-Ramen-meal-1-profile-192528.html

Sa-chan had never heard of Ichiran before this.  She didn't quite get it when I tried to explain about the whole private booth, etc etc.  But once she got there, she figured it out.

Here's the pay-off:

Oh yes, it was quite good.