Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo

This article is based on a visit made on Saturday, 12 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I wrapped up a long day in Hakone and moved on to Kyoto for a few nights.  The place we stayed at was the Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo (ホテルグレイスリー京都三条, Hoteru Gureisurī Kyōto Sanjo), located in Kyoto's centre-city area.

Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo consists of the North and South towers, the South annex having been opened only in May 2017.  The entrance hallway to the South lobby has a Kabuki theme, and I will explain why in a minute.

I've seen these helper robots elsewhere in Japan; this one was stationed in front of the breakfast restaurant.  When you check in, be sure of which annex, North or South, you'll be staying at, and check in at the appropriate one.  The staff will point you to the correct one if you try to check in at the other, but knowing ahead saves time, if nothing else.  As a hint, the South tower has most of the twin rooms.

So, what attracted me to Hotel Gracery in the first place?  That would be their concept rooms: the two vivid Kabuki Rooms and the subtly refined Kyoto Room.  I checked into the twin Kabuki room, also known as the Matsu-no-Ma (松の間, lit. 'pine room'). They also have a double Kabuki room called the Sakura-no-Ma (桜の間, lit. 'cherry blossom room').  The twin Kabuki room was inspired by the play Kanadehon Chūshingura (仮名手本忠臣蔵, lit. 'Treasury of Loyal Retainers').  This story, adapted into bunraku and kabuki productions, was in turn inspired by the Akō incident of 1703, where a band of forty-seven rōnin tracked down and murdered the man who made their old master commit suicide.  This room sticks to the more pleasant details, with a major inspiration being the (real-life) Kyoto teahouse from act 7, and patterns on the ceiling and bedsheets are based on costumes from the play.

The fun starts as soon as you insert your keycard into the holder by the front door.  The lights turn on, as expected, but then a sound cue plays: a series of woodblock-drum hits, and an announcer calling out some name or command which eludes my memory.  The curtain in front of the mirror has the same black-red-green striped pattern as is used in kabuki theatres nationwide.  When you start to pull it aside, a hidden motor triggers to pull it the rest of the way automatically, and another sound cue plays.

The beds lie on a raised, tatami-laden section of the room, so do be careful not to stub your foot on the ledge, or to leave your shoes on the mats.  The bedside console has the usual array of unmarked light switches, plus a pair of unmarked buttons, one on each side.  Press it, and another sound cue plays.  Quite the surprise if you press it at night, and you'll be tempted to because these buttons are lit, and there's no way to turn them off.  If even small lights are enough to keep you awake, I suggest bringing a mask or something else to cover your eyes with.

The bathroom arrangement is similar to that of most modern Japanese homes, except that the door and shower walls are decorated with examples of Kabuki actors' face-paint patterns.  In addition to the toilet being in a separate room, the bath room itself has two separate faucets, one for filling the tub, and one outside for washing yourself, similar to an onsen.  I tried to take a bath once, but the faucet didn't fill the tub very quickly, perhaps due to it being on the upper floor, so I was fine with just using the shower.

The hotel's surroundings are densely urban, but since the Kabuki rooms are on the hotel's top (9th) floor, there are a nice selection of roofs to look down upon.

Hotel Gracery stands along a covered shopping arcade named Teramachi-dori (寺町通, lit. 'temple-town street').  You could call this place a mini-Akihabara, since it has branches of the dojinshi comic stores Toranoana, Melonbooks, and Lashinbang, plus a movie theatre and a game centre.  There are also restaurants serving everything from churros to crepes.

There's even a branch of the crab restaurant Kani Doraku, with a scaled-down version of the famous crab sign from its Osaka store.

Staying in the Kabuki Twin room cost us an average of US$250 a night, over par for twin rooms in Japan, but not by too much.  For some reason, this and the other concept rooms at the Hotel Gracery cannot be booked through their own website, but are instead available from third-party booking sites like Orbitz, Priceline, or Booking.com.  For all its quirks, or despite some of them, staying at the Kabuki room was an enjoyable, whimsical experience.  I can think of more convenient locations if you'll be going in and out of Kyoto Station a lot, but the neighbourhood is a nice one to get lost in.  Find out where I'll be using this place as a base to travel to, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo South

Address: 420 Rokkaku-dōri, Sakuranochō, Nagakyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu 〒604-8035

Access: From Kyoto Station, take bus #4, 5, 17, or 205 to Kawaramachi Sanjo (15 minutes, ¥230).  Bus 104 is faster (12 minutes), but runs more frequently on weekends & holidays (4 per hour) than weekdays (1 per hour).  Alternately, take the Karasuma (K) subway line to Karasuma Oike (K08, 5 minutes), then the Tozai (T) line to Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae (T12, 2 minutes, ¥260).

Directions: From the Kawaramachi Sanjo bus stop, head south down Kawaramachi-dori, and turn right at the traffic light, onto Rokkaku-dori.  The hotel is 2 minutes ahead, just before the end of the road, with the North tower on the right and the South tower on the left.

From Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae station, take exit 1 and turn around.  Cross the street, turn right at Kawaramachi-dori, and continue to the second traffic light in 4 minutes.  Turn right onto Rokkaku-dori as above.

Alternately, when you emerge from the station, stay on Oike-dori, find the entrance to the Teramachi covered shopping arcade (it has signs in Japanese and English), and head down it.  Walk down for two blocks, bear right at the fork in the road, and turn left at the next block after that.  It is next-door to the Tully's Coffee on the corner.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Haha-no-Shirataki

This article is based on a visit made on Friday, 11 May 2018.

Edit 9 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I embarked on a private day-tour of the Fuji Five Lakes, where our guide took us to see some of the lesser-known, more out-of-the-way places in the area.  From our last spot, Kawaguchi Asama Shrine, he drove us uphill to a waterfall, the Haha-no-Shirataki (母の白滝, lit. 'mother white waterfall').

But first, we stopped at the parking lot for this.  It is one of Chris's favourite views of Mount Fuji, also overlooking Lake Kawaguchi (to the right, barely visible in this shot).  Wish I could say the same about the bugs...  I tried recording footage of this outlook for possible video projects, and many of my takes were thwarted by a stray bug flying across the shot.

It was a short walk from the parking lot down to the waterfall itself.  On the way we spotted some wisteria, which was growing a tad more healthy than in Ashikaga the day before.

The name "Haha-no-Shirataki" means "Mother's white waterfall".  If you were walk further upstream, you would eventually run into the "Chichi-no-Shirataki" (父の白滝, lit. 'father white waterfall'), where "chichi" here means "father".  I'm not that good at estimating distances, but I would guess these falls to be in the neighbourhood of 10 metres (30 feet) tall.  I wonder if anyone's tried meditating under that waterfall...

Speaking of meditation, Haha-no-Shirataki is something the Japanese like to call a "power spot", a place of solitude where one can soak up the natural and spiritual energy.  In terms of Shinto, most power spots are places where kami are believed to have landed on and departed from Earth.  Whether or not Haha-no-Shirataki is one such place, I did feel some sort of sylvan blessing.  Having a small shrine (barely visible on the left) helped, as well as there being only one other person around at the time.  He was a photographer who took our picture for us, although I don't have that photo on me at the moment.

For lunch, we stopped at Lake Bake, a bakery-cafe on the northern shore of Kawaguchi-ko.

The outdoor seating area looks over the lake.  Mt. Fuji may be seen as well, but from my seat it was obscured by this one tree and a few passing clouds.  What I did see consistently was the Oishi Flower Park, just next door to the right (west, not pictured).  It is a small place, and Chris usually includes it on his tours, but we agreed to skip it in favour of the Shibazakura festival, which we got to later in the day.

There are wooden animal sculptures scattered all around the grounds.

Many of them were bears.  I would have expected this trio to mimic the Three Wise Monkeys from Nikko (you know, "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" -- yeah, that's where that's from), but then how would they hold on to the fence?

I appreciate your welcoming spirit, mister bear.  I had a lovely time at your restaurant and shall recommend it to others.  But for now, I must be off.  Our party went on our way around the rest of the Fuji Five Lakes, starting with Sai-ko, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Haha-no-Shirataki

Hours: Open 24 hours.

Costs: Free.

Address: Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi-ken 〒401-0304

Access: There is no public transportation available to Haha-no-Shirataki.  From Kawaguchi Asama Shrine (read my previous article for info on how to get there), its parking lot is a 10-minute drive or a 40-minute walk.  The waterfall itself is a 5-minute walk beyond the parking lot.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Lake Bake Cafe

Hours: Open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Closed on Wednesdays, and the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month.

Address: 2585-85 Oishi, Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi-ken 〒401-0305

Access: From Kawaguchi-ko Station, take the Red Line (R) bus to Kita-Hamaso (#21 / 北浜荘前, 25 minutes, every 15 minutes, ¥490), and walk down the road for 2 minutes.  The restaurant is 180m (600ft) on the left.

Website: (Japanese)

Peace Kawaguchiko

This article is based on a visit made on Friday, 11 May 2018.

Edit 9 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I had begun my latest holiday of Japan with a few day trips in and around Tokyo.  Our third full day was dedicated to the Fuji Five Lakes, but with a twist.  Rather than plan our adventure around public transportation, we opted to take a private tour from someone recommended by my grandmother and travel partner.

We took a highway bus from Tokyo Station, as I had done on my last excursion to the area.  This time around, I had the good sense to reserve my departing bus tickets ahead of time.  (Coming back was a different story, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.)  To buy our tickets, I used the website Japan Bus Online, which is available in English.  All you have to do is print out the e-mail receipt, and show it to the driver.  This particular bus had livery and decor advertising Thomas Land, part of the Fuji-Q Highland theme park.

In the past, I have written how Mt. Fuji is notoriously shy, in terms of how often it gets obscured by cloud cover.  But for once, this was not the case!  The weather was so clear and pleasant that Fuji-san was visible for practically the whole day!  It popped up off-and-on during our bus ride in, with this shot taken from the parking lot of Fuji-Q Highland.

The next stop after that, before our eventual disembarkation at Kawaguchi-ko, was Fuji-san Station.  Until 2011, it used to be named Fuji-Yoshida Station, named after the city itself.  Along with the new name, the station got a redesign by industrial designer Eiji Mitooka (水戸岡 鋭治, Mito'oka Eiji, b. 1947), whose work record includes many trains and stations, including the 800-series trains for the Kyushu Shinkansen.  The station's new design includes a torii at the front entrance, which I imagine echoes the traditions of the past.  Just as the devoted would begin their ascent of Mount Fuji from one of the nearby shrines, the hikers of today are more likely to take a bus from here or Kawaguchi-ko to one of the 5th stations halfway up the mountain, and climb up from there.

When we finally disembarked at Kawaguchi-ko, we stood around wondering where to meet our guide, only for him to show up holding a sign with our names on it.  His own name is Chris, and he runs Hidden Japan Tours (English).  Originally a Pennsylvania native, he moved to and settled in the Fuji Five Lakes within the past couple of decades.  His father still lives at the same retirement home as my grandmother, which is how he was recommended to me.

Among their business ventures, Chris and his wife Yumi purchased, and are restoring, this disowned building, re-opening it as Peace Kawaguchiko.  Still in the process of refurbishment at the time of our visit, it nonetheless serves as an artisan craft store, a cafe, and rents out bicycles.

Souvenir stores are a dime a dozen around these parts, with many of the goods having been cheaply made overseas.  At Peace, however, everything on sale is hand-crafted by local artisans, one of which happens to be Chris's aforementioned wife.  A lot of these items were designed with inspiration from the five classical Japanese elements: fire (stones), water (indigo-dyed textiles), wood (self-explanatory), metal (jewelry), and earth (earthenware).

The painting in the back is an image of Konohana Sakuya-hime (木花咲耶姫), or "Sakuya-hime" for short.  In Shinto, she is the goddess of Mount Fuji, and many shrines around the area venerate her as their patron kami.  One legend had her jealously tearing up the Yatsugatake mountains, located northwest in Nagano Prefecture, for being taller than Mt. Fuji.  Right now, they are 2,899 metres (9,511 feet) tall, almost nine hundred metres shorter than Fuji-san.

I myself was charmed into buying this pair of Mount Fuji-shaped candles, as a gift to my mom for the then-upcoming Mother's Day.  They reminded me of a pair of lights I had seen set up in Shinjuku on my last holiday.

The second floor holds a tea bar and restaurant.  It was not open yet during our visit, but I found its rustic and eclectic decor also interesting.  One of the chefs on staff is from Peru, and has some of his local dishes on the menu, in addition to more standard Japanese fare.  Ingredients used throughout this menu include locally-raised pork and fruits, two of Yamanashi Prefecture's most famous agricultural products.

There is also a small stage for musical acts to perform on.

And from the cafe space, we can look out at Kawaguchi-ko, and the long bridge which spans its eastern half.  However, Chris instead drove us around the lake's coast en route to Kawaguchi Asama Shrine, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: The shop is open from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and the cafe is open from 11:00 AM to Midnight.

Address: 4042-1 Funatsu, Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi-ken 〒401-0301

Costs: Entry is free.  Bicycle rentals cost ¥500 per hour, or ¥1,000 per day.

Access: From Kawaguchiko Station, take the Red Line (R) bus to Funatsu-hama Onsen Town (#10 / "船津浜温泉街", 9 minutes, ¥160), and walk for 2 minutes down the road.  It will be across from the Lawson's convenience store.  It is also 10 minutes away on foot.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Shinjuku Night Walk

This article is based on a visit made on Wednesday, 23 November 2016.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku (新宿, lit. 'new lodge'), one of Tokyo's 23 wards.  I had never been to Shinjuku before, so once I got my fill of the nighttime views from that tower, I walked over there to finally kick it off my bucket list.

Shinjuku Station is registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's busiest railway station.  In 2007, for example, it handled an average of 3.64 million people per day.  The central cluster consists of the JR East, Odakyu, and Keio stations.  Nearby, Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway, and Seibu also have stations using the Shinjuku name.

The walk from the Tocho building to Shinjuku station is about 600 metres (2,000 feet).  There were a few light installations set up along the way, including these trees which had animated lights "falling" from their branches.  Coincidentally, the weather started getting misty off-and-on at this point.

My path then went through an underground passage, emerging on the west side of the station.  On the way, I encountered a branch of Megane Drug (メガネドラッグ, Megane Doraggu), an eyeglass pharmacy chain.  Many of their stores are identified by two things: 1) a statue of their mascot, a bespectacled samurai-looking person of indistinguishable gender, and 2) a free station for people to clean their glasses at.  I used it, and it helped a bit.

After re-emerging in front of the station, and briefly getting lost amidst the Odakyu and Keio stations/department stores, I had to get something to eat.  To that, I turned to Omoide Yokocho (思い出横丁, lit. 'memory lane'), a short and narrow alley, due west of Shinjuku Station.  Omoide Yokocho is packed with tiny restaurants serving quick Japanese bites, like yakitori chicken, ramen and soba noodles, and sushi.  Most of these places are so small, you could count the number of seats on your hands.  I can't remember which of those places I ended up eating at, but the yakitori I got there was delicious!

After leaving Omoide Yokocho and crossing under the train lines, I wound up here.  On the east side of the station, the plaza in front of Studio Alta is a popular meeting place.  Studio Alta is an advertising agency whose office is identifiable by its giant video monitor.  (This picture was taken during a revisit on Wednesday, 9 May 2018.)

The other side of the plaza also had a pair of Mount Fuji light displays, one in blue and one in red.

Pass Studio Alta and cross Yasukuni-dori, and you will wind up in Kabuki-cho (歌舞伎町, Kabuki-chō).  The name comes from a Kabuki theatre that was supposed to be built here in the 1940s, but never came to be.  Nonetheless, Kabuki-cho guarantees a wild time.  It has many restaurants and nightclubs including, Robot Restaurant, the now-world-famous dinner theatre.

It is also Japan's biggest "red-light district", owing to its concentration of massage parlours, love hotels, hostess clubs... pretty much everything short of actual prostitution (which is technically illegal in Japanese law).  If you do choose to venture out into that sort of thing, take extra-special care of your wallet, and your drink.  The cover charges on these places can be exorbitant, but that's nothing if someone spikes your drink, and you get charged for way more than you bargained for!  But if you stay on the more populated streets, and don't give the touts so much as a glance, you should be fine.  Really, the worst thing that happened to me is that I lost track of time at a game centre, time that I could have spent at other winter light places.

This avenue ends in front of the Toho Building.  Its tenants include a movie theatre and a hotel, the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku.  It's a nice mid-range hotel, from what I've looked up.  I have never stayed there, but have considered it on several occasions.

And up on the corner of that building is a statue of, you guessed it, Godzilla.  The most famous of Japan's movie monsters, Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira) first showed up on the scene in its self-titled 1954 film.  Since then, Toho Studios have made 30 official entries in the series.  This includes the latest movie, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, which should be in Japanese theatres and on Netflix by the time you read this.  In fact, not too long ago, Godzilla was appointed as the cultural ambassador of Shinjuku, [1] where we are now.

By 江戸村のとくぞう [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Once you're done with Kabuki-cho, another nightlife area you might like is just next door, to the east.  Golden Gai (ゴールデン街, Gōden Gai) is something of a cross between Kabuki-cho and Omoide Yokocho, in that it is a densely-packed collection of small bars.  Each of these watering holes has a unique character brought on by their distinctive decor.  Some cater to a few regular customers, accepting new patrons by recommendation only, but others welcome foreigners and locals alike, and are even run by ex-pats themselves.  While somewhat less seedy in nature than the rest of Kabuki-cho, the cover charges for these places can add up as well.

Back to places I actually did go to, this is what it looks like when you turn around from the Toho Building above.  There's a luxury goods store here whose front was decorated like an old-style warehouse, which I felt was kind of neat.

Not as neat as this building over here, though.  It is called the Yasuyo Hall (安与ホール, Yasuyo Hōru), and it contains public event space in addition to a bank, a hair salon, and an art gallery.

After much aimless navigating, I finally wound back up at Shinjuku Station.  Across from the main exit, "Busta Shinjuku" (バスタ新宿, Basuta Shinjuku) is a new bus terminal that opened earlier in 2016, replacing and improving upon the pre-existing one.  If you are taking a long-distance bus from Tokyo, especially to places such as Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi, chances are good that you will depart from here.

As for me, I had to head back down to the subways, as I was on my way to Roppongi for even more holiday lights.  Find out how that went, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Access: Shinjuku Station is served by the JR Yamanote (JY), Chuo (JC), Chuo-Sobu (JB), Saikyo (JA), Shonan-Shinjuku (JS), Odakyu Odawara (OH), Keio (KO), Tokyo Metro Marunouchi (M), Toei Shinjuku (S) and Oedo (E) lines.  From Tokyo Station, take the JR Chuo (Rapid) line to Shinjuku (JC05, 15 minutes, ¥200).

Note: If you are using the Toei Oedo line, be aware that there are actually two stations serving different parts of the line.  Shinjuku (新宿, E27) is on the south side of the loop, and is closer to Roppongi, Daimon, etc.  This station is shared by the Shinjuku subway line and the Keio New Line.  Shinjuku Nishi-guchi (新宿西口, E01) is on the north side of the loop, and is closer to Iidabashi, Ryogoku, etc.  Both stations are connected with the JR station by underground passages, and both are one stop away from Tocho-mae, so if you mess up and walk into the wrong station, you could go there and transfer to the other half of the line.  It is still best to be aware of this ahead of time, lest your commute take longer than expected!

Omoide Yokocho

Hours: Varies between restaurants.  Most are open from 5:00 PM to midnight; some are open for lunch.  Last orders are usually 30 minutes before closing time.

Website: (Japanese)

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/09/godzilla-recruited-as-tourism-ambassador-for-tokyo

Dotonbori Walk

This article is based on a visit made on Sunday, 20 November 2016.

Dotonbori (道頓堀, Dōtonbori, lit. 'Dōton canal'), also spelled Dotombori, is an entertainment district in Osaka's southern Namba region, built along a canal of the same name.  The MO of Dotonbori is gastronomic overload -- if you can think of any Japanese food item, odds are there's a joint here that serves it.  With delicacies like takoyaki, okonomi-yaki, ramen, sushi, and more to be found on the many menus, there is something for everyone to enjoy.  (Not me, though; I just ate.)

Named after Yasui Doton (安井道頓, Yasui Dōton, 1533-1615), the man who started expanding this river, Dotonbori saw its first developments under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century, when multiple kabuki and bunraku theatres were set up in the area.  Restaurants sprang up alongside them to serve the influx of patrons.  Most of these theatres have been lost to time, and more specifically the bombings of World War II, but the relatively newer Shochiku-za, built in the 1920s, survived and is active to this day.

The most iconic advert in all of Dotonbori could very well be Glico's "running man", seen here on the left.  The original Running Man was erected in 1935 and used neon lights.  The sixth-generation sign, seen here, switched to LEDs and may occasionally change its background.  The Running Man and its neighbours are best seen from the Ebisubashi (戎橋, lit. 'Ebisu bridge') pedestrian bridge, although it is very, very crowded.  Ebisubashi is named after the god Ebisu, since there is a shrine named after and dedicated to him 1.5km (4,900 ft.) to the south.

There's not as much to see on the eastern side of Dotonbori, but there are a few interesting sights here and there.  For example, the Don Quijote store on the north (left) side of the canal has an oblong Ferris wheel, called the Ebisu Tower (えびすタワー, Ebisu Tawā), running up and down the front of the building!  (11:00 AM - 11:00 PM, ¥600, Website: (Japanese))  Another good way to take it in would be one of many river cruises that flow up and down the canals.

Even more restaurants, signboards, and not to mention foot traffic, can be found on the street running parallel to Dotonbori canal.  Just off of Ebisu-bashi, turn around and you will see one of the area's other iconic adverts.  The mechanical crab on the left is the mascot for Kani Doraku (かに道楽, Kani Dōraku, lit. 'crab indulgence'), a crab restaurant, naturally.  There are multiple Kani Doraku locations around Osaka, with three along Dotonbori alone!

This is a billboard for Meiji, a snack food and pharmaceutical company, and a rival company of Glico, mentioned above.  Some of their most popular products are Hello Panda, small creme-filled cookies decorated with pictures of panda bears, and Yan Yan, cookie sticks with separate fudge for dipping (sort of like a do-it-yourself Pocky).  The farmer guy on this sign is holding a bag of Karl, a milk-cheese snack.  Also they put Osaka Castle in the background, for local recognition, I guess.

Here, an Indian/Thai restaurant finds itself next-door to a gyoza (ギョーザ, gyōza) restaurant.  Gyoza are pan-fried dumplings filled with ground meat (usually pork) and vegetables (cabbage, green onions, ginger, garlic, et al.).  They originated from China, where they are known as jiaozi (饺子, Mandarin Chinese: jiǎozi).  After being adopted by the Japanese, they took on a few changes, such as a thinner dough and a stronger garlic flavour.

Zubora-ya, the fugu restaurant in the middle of Shinsekai, also has a branch here on Dotonbori, it seems.

Speaking of Shinsekai, there's also a kushikatsu place here.  Although this chef doesn't seem too happy to see me...

This little drummer boy is known as Kuidaore Taro (くいだおれ太郎, Kuidaore Tarō), or Kuidaore Ningyo (くいだおれ人形, Kuidaore Ningyō).  The "Kuidaore" in his name is an expression known around Osaka, which means to eat oneself to ruin... yeah, that's pretty much a distinct possibility here.  He was first installed in 1950, but the restaurant that had originally placed him, also called "Cui-daore", closed not too long ago, so he was moved a few doors east.

Less ominous (and less creepy, IMO), is this motorised toy of Doraemon that someone had set up to bike around and around this pole.  Doraemon (どらえもん), created by Fujiko F. Fujio, is a robot cat sent from the future to a boy named Nobita.  It's kind of like a childrens' anime version of Doctor Who.  In America it's mildly popular at best, but is insanely so in Asia.  The original Doraemon anime ran for a staggering 1,787 episodes between 1979 and 2005, with another series picking up from there right after!

This fish may not have its own anime series like Doraemon, but I thought it looked cool nonetheless.  It stands in front of a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant called Daikisuisan (大起水産), so the fish motif makes sense.

Some of the side-streets offer a decidedly more quaint atmosphere.  Some of them, like Hozenji-yokocho (not pictured, but close), even remind me of places like Kyoto's Gion district.  I missed out on Hozenji itself, but nestled in between even more pubs, it has a small Buddhist temple of the same name.

When I re-emerged onto the main boulevard of Mido-suji, I found myself next to yet another restaurant with a distinctive mascot.  This is a branch of Kinryu Ramen (金龍ラーメン, Kinryū Rāmen). The name "Kinryu" means "gold dragon", hence the dragon decorating the side of the building.  Kinryu Ramen sets itself apart by staying open 24 hours a day, and by offering seating on tatami mats.  Their other branch, on Dotonbori, even has some of its tables set up outside, at street level!

And finally, I wrapped up the night with a look at a few Christmas lights along Midosuji (御堂筋Midōsuji).  Midosuji runs north-to-south between Umeda and Namba, and lends its name to the subway line underneath it.  You know, I've noticed that road names in Osaka tend to end in "-suji" (筋), rather than the more common "-dori" (通り).  The word "suji" alone means muscle sinew, but is also a synonym for line, string, stripe, or plot.  That may seem strange, but then the Kansai region, and especially Osaka, is famous for its distinct dialect of the Japanese language.  Maybe it's just a case of that, who knows...?

For my sign-off selfie, I'm taking it back to Ebisu-bashi and the Glico Running Man!  Although, it was hard taking a selfie in this place due to the difference in lighting.  Either I came out too dark, or the signs behind me were too bright.  In the end, I went for the latter.  Even harder is posing like the running man when you're holding your camera with one end, but I guess I gave it a fair shot.

Well, that's it for the Kansai region, for now.  For my next day in Japan, I would venture westward to the Chugoku region, or more specifically, Hiroshima.  That, and a new Know Your Trains article, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Access: As with the Osaka/Umeda station area, Namba has four distinct stations in close proximity to each other.  The closest stations to Dotonbori are Osaka Metro's Namba subway station (Midosuji (M), Sennichimae (S), and Yotsubashi (Y) lines) and Osaka-Namba Station (Kintetsu Nara (A) and Hanshin Namba (HS) lines).  Nankai's Namba station (Nankai (NK) Main and Koya (NK) lines) lies to the south, and JR-Namba station (Yamatoji (Q) line) lies to the west.

From Osaka/Umeda Station, take the Osaka Metro Midosuji line to Namba (M20, 7 minutes, ¥230).

Directions: From Namba Station (subway), take exit 14; you will emerge near Kinryu Ramen on Mido-suji.  Turn around and turn right at the next traffic light to get on to Dotonbori street.  Take the next left for Ebisu-bashi.  Alternately, take the second right (next right after Ebisu-bashi), and the second left afterward to get to Hozenji Yokocho.