An Osaka Shinsekai food tour, skewer by skewer

Shinsekai means New World, and the name tells you what it was meant to be. The district was built as an amusement park in 1912.¹ Japan National Tourism Organization writes that the northern half was modeled after Paris, with the Eiffel Tower-esque Tsutenkaku standing at its center,⁵ while the southern half was modeled after New York's Coney Island.⁶

That mixed parentage shows in the streets. You get neon signs, old arcades and a skyline that is dominated by one tall tower, and you can take in most of it from the lane. It is not a polished district. It is a lively one, built to attract crowds, and it still does.

For eating, the draw is simple, and Shinsekai street food mostly means fried skewers. JNTO says most visitors come to Shinsekai for the restaurants, since the area is famous for kushikatsu.⁷ The same page says Tsutenkaku and Shinsekai can easily fill a couple of hours of your schedule,⁸ which is a good reason to arrive hungry and leave plenty of time.

The lane that most people mean when they say Shinsekai food is the Nanyodori shopping street, known as Jan-Jan Yokocho. It stretches approximately 180 meters from the zoo subway station to Tsutenkaku Tower.³ The name is said to come from the shamisen and taiko drums played after the war to attract customers.²⁰

The lane is flanked on both sides by a variety of stores, among them kushikatsu, yakiniku, sushi, udon and standing izakaya.¹⁹ That variety is what makes a short walk so rewarding. You can start with a skewer, move to a bowl of noodles and finish with a drink without ever leaving the same 180 meters.

There is one quieter attraction. Go and Shogi clubs thrive along the street, and the games can be watched through the glass windows.²¹ It is a small reminder that Shinsekai is a neighborhood before it is a food stage. Keep your voice down at the windows, and do not tap the glass.