In Osaka, you find all of the stores you might see on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills!  One afternoon we visited an area centered around a major shopping complex called Shinsaibashi-suji.  I was astounded by the number of people out and about at 3:30 PM on a weekday afternoon!  Here's a view I found of the crowd walking down one of covered shopping streets:

It was here that I first noticed that the signs were written with traditional Japanese characters mixed in with words using the roman alphabet... often on the same sign; often separated.  And, this was not an area were one would expect to find many non-Japanese tourists.  I found this mixture of writing styles "most everywhere."  It puzzles me.  I didn't have a chance to quiz the locals about it.

Here's an example:

and another on this electronic billboard:



This shopping area had a mixture of the high fashion (although there was more of that in the area around our hotel) and the mod look.  Something about this store front with two dummies out front caught my attention:

And then two people walked into my field of view with a look I hadn't seen in many years:

And here are some shots of the young women seen on the street that day:

and my personal favorite look of the day:


Notice that even though the temperature that day was in the mid-60's, most of the people thought it was cold!

In the next blog, I'll show more of the street scene in Osaka.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this little peek  into this most interesting shopping area in Osaka.

Adam