Dotonbori - Blog Posts
More faces on Dôtonbori
There are the classics on Dôtonbori: Kuidaore Tarô, there's a well-known animatronic crab, and of course the Glico man. I reckon this ramen-loving dragon is my personal favourite.
... though, giving it some thought, I quite like the hand holding a sushi and Spiderman reaching for a pearl too.
But oh boy, are you ready for some real randomness?
This is the front of the Dôtonbori Hotel. According to Atlas Obscura, the hotel had these pillars made to symbolise them welcoming people from all over the world - the faces represent East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe -, at a time when domestic tourism was dwindling (early 1990s).
Friendly faces on Dôtonbori
Dôtonbori is the street to go restaurant crawling in Ôsaka (if you have the stomach). As there's a lot of venues, there's a lot of competition, so a lot of wacky stuff to draw the passer-by's attention.
If anyone knows why this restaurant is called Shôwa Hormone, please let me know. Shôwa, I can guess, is nostalgia for the post-war Shôwa era; but Hormone needs a good story behind it!
Is this guy mad at people double-dipping their fried skewers?
By the way, that's two fronts featuring another monument of Ôsaka, Tsutenkaku tower, just in case you forgot where you were.
Finally, we have this guy, a true local hero: Kuidaore Tarô. This animatronic was introduced in 1950 as a mascot for the Cuidaore restaurant, which has since closed, but Tarô and his drumming were such a stable of Dôtonbori, that people clamoured to have him back.
I dunno. I think he looks like Brains from Thunderbirds under the influence of the Mysterons. A figure of his time though.
"Kuidaore" by the way, is from the proverb:
京都の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ Kyôto no ki-daore, Ôsaka no kui-daore Spend all your money on clothes in Kyôto, and on food in Ôsaka
Today, "kuidaore" is colloquially translated as "eat until you drop" - so go restaurant crawling if you can!