Dotonbori

Dotonbori is the canal-side strip in central Osaka that has been the city's entertainment and eating district since the Edo period, when kabuki theatres lined the waterway. It's now best known for street food: takoyaki (octopus dumplings, invented in Osaka in the 1930s) is sold from dozens of stalls along the promenade, alongside kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers), okonomiyaki and grilled squid (ikayaki), eaten standing under a wall of oversized neon signs, including the running Glico Man. It's crowded and commercial, but the food stalls are genuinely where Osakans and visitors both eat.