Kitashinchi
About Kitashinchi
Right outside Kitashinchi Station, a food and nightlife district popular with local businesspeople. The narrow neon-lit streets have everything from cheap eats to nightclubs and expensive gourmet restaurants.
Once an island between the Sonezakigawa and Dojimagawa Rivers, Kitashinchi is the best known local nightlife district in Osaka. While Dotonbori is popular with tourists, Kitashinchi is the place where Japanese businesspeople go - whether that be taking their clients to the gourmet restaurants or nightclubs, or going for a beer and snacks with their colleagues and friends.
The narrow streets and alleys are brightly lit with flashing neon signs and billboards, making it an exciting and hectic nightspot full of colour and activity.
Although some restaurants are open for lunch, Kitashinchi is best visited in the evening when the neon signs are lit and all the restaurants are in full swing.
Back in the Edo Period, Kitashinchi was considered the “Northern Red Light District”, and was where geisha delighted their customers with genteel service, dancing and singing. The area has retained that air of class, and visitors are recommended to dress neatly so as not to stand out too much against the business-dressed locals.