大阪〜船に乗って大正区平尾へ

Hello everyone! This time, I visited my first shopping street: Hirao Hondori Shopping Street, located in Hirao, Taisho Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture. It's a traditional shopping street, nicknamed Thanks Hirao. As I mentioned before, Osaka City's Taisho Ward is also known as "Little Okinawa," and this shopping street is known as a spot where you can truly experience that culture. Home to many people of Okinawan origin, this shopping street has a unique atmosphere, dotted with shops selling Okinawan cuisine and ingredients. In fact, the arcade of the shopping street boasts a sign that reads "Okinawa Hirao Hondori Shopping Street," as well as Okinawan-style decorations like shisa lions, making it a popular spot among locals. It's not particularly long, but I'm looking forward to finding traditional grocery stores, restaurants, and Okinawan food stores. Let's get walking. While it's common to get to Hirao Hondori Shopping Street by subway or JR line, followed by a bus, I thought it would be more interesting, so I decided to take the boat in addition to walking. I've often heard that Osaka, with its many rivers, has long been known as the "City of Water," but it seems there are ferry terminals throughout the city for people to travel between. It's surprising to learn that boats are also a form of transportation, in addition to trains and buses. My hometown of Yamagata has trains and buses, but they run infrequently and the city is car-oriented, so I wanted to experience Osaka's boat culture. A boat arrives every 15 minutes from the opposite bank, about 100 meters away, connecting Fukusaki in Minato Ward and Izuo in Taisho Ward. Fortunately, I was able to board right away. It's operated by the city of Osaka, but it's free! There are apparently eight ferry routes, and I'd like to try the others as well. Incidentally, seven of them are located in Taisho Ward, which shows how Taisho Ward is surrounded by coastal waters and rivers. Information about Jinbei Ferry Terminal, which I used this time, is below. Please take a look if you're interested. It only took a few minutes to arrive on the opposite bank, on the Taisho Ward side. Next, I headed for Hirao Shopping Street, which shares an arcade with Izuo and Sansen Shopping Streets. The journey took about 30 or 40 minutes, but along the way, I stopped in Kitamura Park to spot a beautiful pink tree. I have no idea what it was, so I'm not qualified to talk about plants, but even a layman like me was captivated by its beauty. After that, I turned onto Taisho-dori, the main road, and headed south, leaving the ward office and the large Chishima Park on my left. I entered the Hirao area. There are Okinawan restaurants, restaurants, a Daiso, a convenience store, and more. If you look to the left around the Hirao bus stop, you'll see the arcade ahead. As I got closer, I saw an arcade bearing the nickname for Hirao Hondori Shopping Street, "Thanks Hirao," in large letters. The arcade isn't very long, but it's wide and easy to walk through. There were several candy stores, restaurants, clothing stores, Okinawan grocery stores, and general stores. As I walked, I began to feel hungry, and I came across a chicken specialty store. Among the various products on display, I spotted some delicious-looking nori-wrapped chicken, which I couldn't help but buy. It looked delicious just from imagining it, and it was actually quite tasty. I wonder if chicken and nori go well together? Next time, I'd like to try wrapping nori around some fried chicken or karaage. Across the street, there was a store with a large selection of collector's items, including figurines, PVC dolls, and records. They also had old toys, so I love going to stores like this. Further down the arcade, I found a butcher shop with typical Okinawan surnames, as well as an Okinawan grocery store. It was great to be able to buy Okinawan products like cup noodles, Okinawa soba, sata andagi, and chinsuko. I took a boat to a shopping district related to Okinawa. Today was another special day.