We head to Osaka to say goodbye to Ebitsuta, and get a new view at one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

The physical media market definitely isn’t what it used to be. Back when he was a college student in Osaka, our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa spent countless hours hanging out in the Ebisubashi branch of multimedia chain Tsutaya. Located in the Dotonbori entertainment district, Ebitsuta, as the cool kids called this Tsutaya, had just recently opened, and was stocked with so many CDs and movies to rent or buy that it felt like an enchanted forest of audio/video wonders. As an aspiring rock guitarist, Seiji regularly got blissfully lost looking through the gigantic music selection, and if he was meeting up with friends in the neighborhood, he’d often get there early and tell them to come find him at Ebitsuta.

Sadly, though, Ebitsuta’s days are numbered. With fewer and fewer people buying or renting physical media, Tsutaya has spent the last several years dramatically restructuring, and now the decision has been made to close the Ebisubashi branch, which opened all the way back in 2003. Thankfully, Ebitsuta will still be open for a few more months, which meant Seiji had time to go back recently and say goodbye, and also to find a great photo-snapping vantage point.

Since he moved to Tokyo not long after graduating, it’s actually been a very long time since Seiji stopped by this Tsutaya, and stepping inside, he found out that in many ways it’s already pivoted away from its former foci. The basement floor, for example, now houses the Osaka IP Shoten, Tsutaya’s sub-brand for anime character merch.

There is still a music vibe going on, though, thanks to how huge a presence virtual YouTubers, many of which have vocalist side hustles, now have in the otaku sphere. This Ebitsuta Osaka IP Shoten seems to be especially oriented towards female fans, with huge standees of male VTuber group Eden-gumi waiting at the entrance to greet shoppers when Seiji visited, and a comparatively smaller section for female performers.

Next, let’s skip ahead to the third floor, which is devoted to…

…cosmetics? At first, Seiji thought this might be a non-Tsutaya tenant who was renting out the third floor, but actually this is another example of the company’s evolving diversification, as it now has its own cosmetic retailing sub-brand, called @Cosme Store/Tsutaya.

Moving up to the four floor, Seiji found it pretty much entirely stocked with idol singer CDs, photo albums, magazines, and other related merchandise. It felt sort of like the flesh-and-blood counterpart to the basement level’s anime goods.

The fifth floor is an event hall, but with nothing on the schedule this day, it was closed to the public. So now let’s head back down to the first floor, where there’s a Starbucks.

In and of itself, that’s nothing to get all that excited about, since there are tons of Starbucks branches in Japan. Still, being in Dotonbori, this is a convenient enough location, and things really get good when you head up to the second floor, where there’s additional seating…

…and a fantastic view of Osaka’s world-famous mechanized crab sign!

The storefront of the main branch of crab specialty restaurant Kani Doraku is a must-see when visiting Osaka, and this might be one of the best places to see it from. When viewed from the street outside, you’re mainly only able to see the bottom half of the creature, and it’s not really visible from inside Kani Doraku itself. The Ebitsuta Starbucks’ second-floor windows, though, let you look at it straight on, allowing you to fully grasp its scale and how intricate its movements are.

▼ You can even see how its eyes move!

The last day for Ebisubashi Tsutaya will be January 11. It’s not clear what’ll happen after that, such as whether the building will be torn down for a replacement or whether new tenants will be moving in to a redistributed and renovated interior. That means that there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to see this view of Osaka’s mecha crab landmark, so if you’re looking for a place to sip on one of those new Japanese grape Frappuccinos, we’d highly recommend this one.

Location information
Tsutaya Ebisubashi / ツタヤ戎橋
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Chuo-ku, Dotonbori 1-8-19
大阪府大阪市中央区道頓堀１丁目８−１９
Starbucks open 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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