Osu, Nagoya, Part 2

We continue with our photo tour of Osu in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Crammed into alleyways off the main covered drag are tiny, cool specialty shops like these- interior floor space ranges from 25 to maybe 70 square feet.  Used and retro / vintage clothing stores seem to be the most common.

There is a large Brazilian population in Japan, especially in cities like Nagoya with large manufacturing industries.  This place is a taste of home for Brazilian expats, and a treat for everyone else who wants some stick-to-your-ribs fare.  You can smell the rotisserie chicken a mile away.

More restaurants, with colorful advertising… a takoyaki (fried dough balls with octopus bits in them) on the left and a yakisoba (fried soba noodles) place on the right.  Nestled in the middle (under the dragon / dinosaur’s head, behind the fish curtain) is a tiny window that sells taiyaki, which are fish-shaped (not flavored) cakes stuffed with anko (sweet red bean paste).

Along the covered street, immediately across from a huge game center / video arcade, is this cool Shinto shrine, tucked safely under the roof.

Lanterns, votive candles… behind the case with the candles can be seen the rope (attached to rattles) that you shake to get the shrine god’s attention.

The stand at the shrine where you can buy talismans and charms for everything from safe driving to success on school exams.  To the right, you can see…

…this.  These are requests that petitioners have made, written on paper, twisted into strips, and tied to a line for the god to consider.  You also do this if your new year’s fortune is a bad one… tie it to something on the shrine grounds, so it will take the bad luck instead of you.

Lanterns… glowing beautifully…

…And one more small shop, about the size of a walk-in closet, called “PATCH”, which sells… iron-on patches for clothing.

More to come.  Thanks for visiting!

Osu, Nagoya… Part 1

Now to introduce you all to my favorite district of Nagoya… Osu.

It’s one of those places that hasn’t changed much at all since I first went to Japan eleven years ago (how time flies…)  Right outside of subway exit number 2 (Osu Kannon station on the Tsurumai (blue in diagrams) subway line) is the Osu Kannon Temple, dedicated, as its name implies, to Kannon (the Chinese call her Guan Yin).  Besides the temple itself, the temple grounds are famous for an excellent antiques market that pops up at odd times and for the flocks of aggressive killer pigeons.  Seriously, if you pay 100 yen or something you get a plate of feed, and the pigeons know the drill… pretty soon you’ll look like an extra in Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Looking right from the last photo, there’s the bell tower in the middle (where the pigeons like to lurk).  Love the mural on the apartment building to the right.  To the left of the bell tower is the entrance to the covered market streets.  Let’s go inside…

…and, through the magic of the Intertubes, you are there.  This is a normal street, covered, with a tile floor.  The second stories are either shops or private residences.  It’s a noisy, bustling place, and a real magnet for the young and hip.

Little-known fact about Ayn Rand:  In her later years, she went to Japan and founded a chain of small fashion accessory stores (enlarge the photo if you can’t read the name).  Yuk yuk yuk.  Philosopher humor 101 will continue in a moment…

Osu is loaded with shops like “Market Spanky” (?), little holes-in-the-wall selling specialty items, in this case toys based on Japanese animation.  Out front you can see a bank of those awesome capsule machines that dispense cool toys and figurines…

A vanishing sight throughout Japan.  In an uncovered alleyway off the main drag is this little public bath.  Many older city dwellings lack private bath facilities, and small, functional public baths fill the need to keep clean.  These are basic facilities, without the bells and whistles available at the “super sento” baths (super sentos are large, almost amusement park-style bath houses that are a popular relaxation spot for individuals and families… I see a future article coming up…)  The only places they can still generally be found are in the older quarters of larger cities, since almost all new construction has private bath facilites.  I myself would prefer a nice, tiled public bath of decent and comfortable size to cramming myself into a sterile private shower with the floor space of a postage stamp, but…

The red symbol on the sign above (three wavy lines over the open oval, showing steam rising from a pool) is the universal sign for public baths in Japan, as is the large pink “yu” on the noren (curtain) over the entryway.

One of the great smells of Japan… roasting tea, outside a tea shop.  The tea roasts in the rotating drum before falling out into the bin.

A closer view of the process.

Osu is also a place to buy some interesting fashions, and to show up wearing them.  These two young women show off the gothic-lolita look…

This group was kind enough to let me photograph them.  The guy in the back (under the mask) designs clothing like this for a living.

Another entrance, where a major street intersects the covered market road.  The big lighted things on top (left to right) are the kanji characters “O” and “su”.

I’ll be back soon with part 2 of the tour of Osu.  Until then, take care and thanks for reading.