Tenjinbashi suji soutengai is spanning 2.6km, taking about 40mins straight walking without take a glance on the 600 shops/stores along this street. There are 7 chomes(丁目) in this shopping street.

Along this Japan longest historic shopping street, you can find 600 shops/stores included many unique cuisine restaurants, kimonos and handcraft shops, fashion and accessories shops, music instrument shop, old books and cd shops, 100 yen shops, cafes, even a serious knife shop, etc.

2 chome(2丁目) of Tenjinbashi-suji  started flourishing in Edo era as a town for “Osaka Tenmangu Shrine”,  dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, god of studies. Tenjinbashi-suji has further developed into a commercial town in the Meiji Era. And the Tenjin Festival will be held on 24, 25 July every year with portable shrines parade.

It is said to be the longest shopping street in Japan, spanning 2.6 km

Below is the directions given by Osaka-info.jp

DIRECTIONS

Right outside Ogimachi Station on the Subway Sakaisuji Line, Tenjinbashi 6-chome and Minami-morimachi Stations, and Temma Station on the JR Osaka Loop Line

But when we went there, these were what we got from the stations there.

You can take Tanimachi Line or Sakaisuji Line and stop at Minami-morimachi Station and take the 4-b exit. Or Taking the JR Tozai Line and stop at Osaka Tenmangu Station.

Either our way or the direction given by Osaka-info.jp will lead to 2-chome (2 丁目) of Tenjinbashi-suji.

Tada! I arrived at the 2-chome (2 丁目). It looked like a time tunnel allows you to travel back to the past Edo period, like a big black hole to suck you into.

Walking along this street, it felt like reminiscent of Naruto anime. Maybe Tenjinbashi-suji crew can make a hand-roll book(kagebunshinno jitsu?) for 600 shops/stores which span from 1^st chome to 7 chome along this street. Haha.  You can get the full floor map of all the shops from 1^st to 3^rd Chome at www.tenjin123.com. I like about this website art works on the cute floor map. But it can’t be downloaded and it is not easy to get free wifi in Japan. Data plan for travellers in Japan is not cheap. There is a way of using Google Chrome (browser) to do a full page screenshot through desktop. I am not sure if it can be done using smartphone version Chrome.

Something fun about this shopping street is that you will get a stamp or certificate when you reached the pit stop at the 3-chome, like a quest in online gaming.

It was nice as there was a resting corner for people to take a seat. According to statistics, 33% of the Japanese population is above 60. It has been caring and sweet that Japan has developed infrastructure for elderly people.  One thing I need to notify travelers in Tenjinbashi-suji: it is not so accessible for public toilet on this shopping street unless you patronage some restaurants or cafés.

There are couples of chiropractor, bonesetter and acupuncture medical clinics here. I thought of walking in to try out Japanese sensei on my toe. But this shopping street was so hard to be missed. It was intriguing to have quite a couple of bonesetter and acupuncture services here. Or many tourists or people might have been expected to break their legs after long walk of 26km on this street? LOL.

So keep walking. Something caught my eyes… I could not see what those were until I walked closer. Oh! A rubber stamp shop.

Till today, I still can’t figure out how Japanese can just depend on rubber stamp as a proof for withdrawing cash from banks. Rubber stamp can be easily forged and re-made.

A vending machine for cigarettes…  >.> How would the vending machine know if the buyer is more than 18 ? Maybe I need a tour guide?

This is eye-catchy! A serious knife shop ahead! Let’s have a look!

It has always been fun and exciting to look at something different. It is always courteous to ask for permission before you shoot.  The shop owner was very generous of letting me shoot on her collections. Two big cabinets of various sizes of knives were standing outside of the knife shop. Collections of couples of well-known knife craftsmen were showcased in these cabinets. It seems like this knife shop is a big collector of Koji Hara (原幸治), an internationally famous craftsman for custom tactical folding knives and Kiyoshi Kato (加藤清志), who is well-known for kitchen knife.

There were a series of ancient knives and beautifully crafted knives for different type of purposes displayed. This knife is used for cutting unagi (eels).

Mhm… I wonder. If I buy a knife, how can I bring back to my home country? Will my item pass immigration custom check? Anyone knows the answer?

I wonder how my ex-classmate delivered the Katana he bought in Japan last time. Haha. Telling the custom officer that your past life was Samurai Rurounin Kenshin?

You can find some old stuff like CDs, comics, etc on this street. It is like a treasure hunt you don’t know what you may stumble upon.

It was cute to see school kids in line to go for field trip.

And … this shop… I didn’t know what it was until I walked closer. Its logo “Can*Do” looked like a beer logo. Then I realized it was a shop similar to 100yen shop. I walked into it and found the items sold were in good quality and lower price. 

Most of the items are made for Japan.

The colourful of red and yellow shop was drawing my attention. Lotto and Toto shop in Japan! It has been said that Lotto in Japan is the easiest lottery to strike on in the World. Try your luck here?

I love taking a stroll on street and look around shops. This bagel shop looked inviting.

Haha … I took a shot on this Pachinko and Slot Freedom tower without knowing what it was. When my friend told then I knew it. I thought it was a clubbing tower though.