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Jul 04 2023 6 Comments

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

In Osaka’s Ikuno ward, where Tsuruhashi, the city’s Korea Town is located, 1 in 4 residents are foreign nationals, which in largely homogenous Japan is a truly huge number. An element that makes the area interesting on a purely sociological level, along with the history behind those statistics — particularly so as many of the listed ‘foreigners’ were actually born and raised in Japan.

At the same time, Tsuruhashi is also an incredible location to explore. A place that really does look and feel like nowhere else I’ve been to in Japan. On top of that, the people are interesting and open, making the whole area a joy to photograph. So below then are some shots from a few hours spent there several weeks ago.

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s truly unique Korea Town

Categorized: Food and Drink, Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sean says

    7/4/2023 at 10:09 am

    Wow these are awesome. There’s so much gritty atmosphere. I love them!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      7/4/2023 at 10:16 pm

      Thank you very much. It’s a truly fascinating place.

      Reply
  2. Richard says

    7/4/2023 at 2:09 pm

    My wife and I were there in Dec 2019. We enjoyed the street vendors and the shops. People were friendly. And the lunch we had was delicious!!

    Glad you enjoyed it, too. Thanks for the photos!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      7/4/2023 at 10:28 pm

      You are very welcome. It’s fantastic, isn’t it? Definitely somewhere I’d like to revisit and photograph multiple times.

      Reply
  3. cdilla says

    7/5/2023 at 6:41 pm

    What a great location. Similar but on a larger scale to the Joyful shopping arcade which I saw a program about the other day (They are looking at making the walkway above it into an attraction!). So may details. The magazine adverts are nicely balanced with one, Tarzan, for male fitness and one, Croissant, aimed at married women. The latter has two sister publications called Brutus and Popye, both predictably for men. The Japanese do like their western names/words for products 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      7/6/2023 at 7:19 pm

      Yes, it’s an incredible place. A real joy to explore and photograph. Definitely somewhere I’d like to visit regularly.

      And yeah, they definitely do. There’s even one called LEE.

      Reply

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