Nagoya City Spotlight: Osu Kannon shopping area

I'm feeling pretty chuffed because I finally found a lively area of Nagoya with the kind of 'shopping street' atmosphere I like. It's the Osu Kannon shopping area. This is the kind of place where I actually enjoy shopping - a few streets of shopping arcades, with random clothing, electronics stores, and a variety of food.

A variety of food!! People tell me food in Nagoya is good. Is it? It might be good if you like eating ramen, tempura or katsu for *every* meal. I like these things too, but at my university, noodles and donburi are all there is, so when I eat out, I want something different. I was chuffed to find good pizza restaurants, cafes with light meals, a kebab place, fresh-made, delicious hamburgers, tacos, Brazilian food, as well as Japanese restaurants.

Also, as someone who is very fond of coffee, it's a blessing to go somewhere and be able to buy reasonably-priced cappuccinos without having to make a beeline for Starbucks every time. Actually, there is a Starbucks, near Kamimaezu station, but I could find cappuccinos that *weren't* 500 yen each.

There were two places attracting particularly long lines of customers. One was a taiyaki stall near Osu Kannon shrine; the other was a pizza restaurant called Cesari. Though the pizza looked delicious, I couldn't be bothered lining up so long for it, but I did go into the cafe side for a cappuccino (okay, I may have had two). The 'panini set' and 'cake set' deals were pretty good (I got cake and coffee for 600 yen), and the cappuccino was the best I've had in Japan, let alone Nagoya. They also had a deal where if you drink your cappuccino standing at the counter, Italian-style, it's only 200 yen (as opposed to the usual 400). Their desserts looked pretty appealing too.

I am labouring this place a bit because it's so much better value than most cafes I've seen, and I really did like the coffee. Also, the huge queue for the pizza - a queue that never got smaller over several hours - speaks for itself.

Anyway, I'm not saying the Osu Kannon shopping area is wildly exciting and must-see - it's just a few shopping streets - but it's certainly my favourite place in Nagoya so far. The clothes shopping is a bit cheaper than in Sakae, and you can see a nice shrine. If you're in the area and would like to go there yourself, take the subway to Kamimaezu or Osu Kannon stations. ^_^