Comments on: Where is Osaka’s Korean Town? (Tsuruhashi)

By: Saitoko

Saitoko — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 07:41:47 +0000

There’s an open air shoutengai area in Momodani that has an actual Koreatown gate on both ends. It’s not quite as seedy feeling as the under-the-tracks parts of Tsuruhashi, and has a nice, festive feeling about it. Worth a visit whenever you want to take a stroll in a nice, open Korean area, full of shops and restaurants, but where you won’t constantly get bumped into, squeezed past or blocked by too many people in skinny little walkways.

I like Tsuruhashi’s evening vibe along the Loop Line, but I can’t say I’m really sold on their yakiniku. It’s rather touristy there, so prices are high for not exactly top quality. My personal favorite place for yakiniku is in Fuse.

P.S. I live very close by Tsuruhashi, and we walk over there or through there to have lunch or dinner pretty regularly.

By: Ian Cheung

Ian Cheung — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:01:47 +0000

Thanks Janne,
I didn’t know about Shimanouchi. From my understanding Tsuruhashi isn’t non-authentic because it is catering to Japanese but because the Koreans there came to Japan from an earlier period (some before the war, and some against their will). There was more pressure to fit in and be more Japanese-like than now, especially in 2nd or 3rd generation Korean-Japanese.

Newer Korean areas in Japan have a greater percentage of residents that have just moved to Japan and so a stronger connection to Korea and have less pressure to be ‘assimilated’ into Japanese culture.

By: Janne

Janne — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:45:14 +0000

Worth noting is that there’s another area in Shimanouchi, just east of Shinsaibashi. Still fairly small but it has grown rapidly the past couple of years, with Korean restaurants, bars, basement groceries, video rentals and so on. In a way it is more genuine, in the sense that it seems to cater exclusively for Korean residents, not so much for Japanese.