Walking Osaka’s Nipponbashi Ota Road with an Otaku, Part I:
Japanese Manga, Anime, and Video Games are the BEST!

● How I Became an Otaku

¡Hola! I’m Diego from Barcelona, Spain. Dragon Ball left a huge impact on me when I first read it at age 7. I had no idea comic books could be so cool and interesting✨
I became a fan of Japanese manga and was soon hooked on classic manga and video games like Dr. Slump Arale-chan and Mazinger Z.
Luckily for me, my hometown Barcelona annualy hosts one of Europe’s largest Japanese pop culture events called MANGA BARCELONA where famous AKB48 performed in 2019. Because of this, I felt close to Japan and Japan always fascinated me.

When my wish came true and I visited Japan for the first time, I was enthralled by not only manga and video games but also the culture, food, and everything Japan; I fell in love with Japan. Then two years ago, my life-long fantasy came true when I moved to Osaka to study the Japanese language. Now I’m living the dream of all otaku, immersed in manga and video games in my favorite city Osaka.

● Akihabara of Osaka, Nipponbashi Ota Road

In Osaka, my favorite otaku shops can be found around Ota Road (the Road of Otaku) in Nipponbashi.
Located between Osaka Metro’s Nippombashi Station and Ebisucho Station, the Nipponbashi district is famous for the electronics stores that line the Nipponbashi Shotengai Shopping Street, aka “Den Den Town.”
Nipponbashi Ota Road is located just one block west of Sakaisuji Avenue, Den Den Town’s main street. Filled with shops specializing in otaku favorites from anime to video game to figurines, Ota Road is a paradise for otaku like me and is also known as Akihabara of Osaka.

Accessing Nipponbashi Ota Road is easy: Simply walk north for about six minutes from Nippombashi Station on Osaka Metro’s Sennichimae and Sakaisuji Lines, or you can also walk from Namba Station on Midosuji, Yotsubashi, and Sennichimae Lines.
If you’re coming from Namba Station, use exit E9 (the same exit as the underground shopping mall Namba NanNan) and go southwest along Nansan Dori Street, and you’ll get to Ota Road in just five minutes.

● Super Potato Specializing in Retro Video Games

Whenever I have time, I find myself at the Super Potato store on Ota Road that specializes in retro video games. You can find all the classic gaming consoles you can dream of, like Nintendo Super Famicom and Game Boy as well as SEGA’s Sega Saturn and Dreamcast here. Undoubtedly, you will also find the one you used to play when you were a kid or the one you’ve always wanted to play. Whatever may be, it’s all exciting!

SuFami (short for Super Famicom in Japan; Super Nintendo abroad) is still my favorite. I used to be crazy about Mario games and the Legend of Zelda series. I’ve especially liked the Japanese language versions—it feels like the real deal to me—and here at Super Potato, you can find tons of Japanese language versions. It’s like heaven!

Whoa! I found a super rare cartridge‼ It’s the golden cartridge of Mega Man 4 (Rockman 4 in Japan,) one of only eight copies in the world. These special golden cartridges were given away at a contest to design a boss character. It was valued at 1 million yen (about EUR8,000 or USD9,400) at one time and people still wanted it!

● Wonderland Namba for Japanese Manga

Nipponbashi Ota Road also has lots of manga shops!
About two minutes north of Super Potato is a comic bookstore,Wonderland Namba.
I used to find only some of famous Japanese manga in Spain but at Wonderland, I’m surrounded by wall-to-wall shelves of manga! It’s all in Japanese of course so can be challenging, but I enjoy looking through them.
I like manga, both classic and new. I love that the stories in Japanese manga are elaborate, and the characters are so full of life. I’ve learned a lot about Japan from manga.

● Authentic Thai Lunch at Osaka Khao Man Gai Café

After a morning of retro games and manga, I needed to eat. About one-minute walk from Wonderland Namba, Osaka Khao Man Gai Café is famous for its authentic Thai food cooked by Thai chefs. I ordered stewed pig feet—I used to eat them back in Spain, too. It was good; it just melted in my mouth!
Nipponbashi area offers many great and famous choices for lunch—Japanese, Western, multinational, ramen, etc. You can have fun looking for what’s perfect that day!

I have more otaku favorites to share after lunch, including a great store for manga and anime character figurines!
Read Part II to finish our day in Nipponbashi Ota Road!

>>PartⅡ is here!
Walking Osaka’s Nipponbashi Ota Road with an Otaku, Part II