Openly setting up store on a public street, forced removal of the store is meaningless… Illegal business by foreign business owners is rampant in Dotonbori, Osaka!

Illegal business” bothering local residents

Dotombori is located in Minami, Chuo-ku, Osaka City. Walking east from Ebisu Bridge, with the symbolic Glico sign in the background, you will notice a sudden change in the atmosphere when you cross the Aiai Bridge over the Dotonbori River.

Chinese and Korean language signs and windows abound, and Vietnamese flags are displayed at restaurants and eateries. The cheerful voices of the shopkeepers are also spoken in Vietnamese. In fact, the eastern side of Dotonbori is now being dominated by foreign business owners.

It was about 10 years ago. About 10 years ago, the area from Aiaibashi Bridge to Sakaisuji Street (a trunk road running north-south through Osaka City) was a town with a relaxed atmosphere, lined with locally owned restaurants and long-established businesses. Foreign capital, mainly Chinese, has taken notice of this area,” said a person involved in the restaurant business.

In the past few years, the number of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese-owned restaurants has increased dramatically. Including those from the mainland and those who have become naturalized Japanese citizens, 80% of the restaurants are now owned by foreigners. Many of them are renting, but in some cases, entire buildings have been bought out. After the COVID-19 crisis, local stores got stuck in financial difficulties and collapsed one after another, foreign capital entered the vacant tenants at once.

Some of the stores were openly operating “food stalls,” with tables and chairs extending out into the street in front of their stores, like those at an Asian night market. When I approached the staff at these “stalls,” I found that many of them were foreign nationals. While inbound customers have made the market booming, local residents are troubled by the illegal business. One of the restaurant workers mentioned above is indignant.

According to an unspoken rule in the shopping arcade, you are allowed to display your products as far as your sleeve signboard protrudes and up to about 1 m from the eaves, but some foreign business owners go far beyond that and openly operate on the public road. Even if the police, health department, or construction bureau forces them to leave, they resume their business on public roads half an hour after they leave with a nonchalant look on their faces.

Although it is clear that the business is illegal, “there are some circumstances that we cannot strongly condemn it, ” said another restaurant official.

Some Japanese businessmen originally set up stalls on public roads, and foreign shopkeepers imitated them. Some foreign shopkeepers imitated them. “Some stores began to prepare their own gas cylinders and cook with fire on the street. There is a danger of fire and explosion, and people are concerned.”

But why do they insist on operating “on the street”?

According to them, the profits from the stalls are enough to pay the rent and labor costs. It depends on the location, but the monthly rent in this area is around 2 million yen. The more people come to the stalls, the more they can pay for it. That’s why they never stop, no matter how much they are warned. It is truly a lawless zone.

Of course, there are stores that operate in compliance with the law. However, the person in charge of the matter said that unbelievable “black market negotiations” are taking place at such “good stores.

When a store closes around 10 p.m., Chinese business owners come to negotiate with them, saying, ‘We want to use the road in front of your store after it closes. I’ll pay you a monthly fee. They may be planning to open a food stall late at night, but any decent store owner would not rent it out. It’s a cultural difference, or …… I honestly don’t understand the sensibilities of Chinese business owners, and I’m baffled.

New Investment Destinations

Since relations with China deteriorated due to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s (65) comments regarding the Taiwan emergency, the number of Chinese tourists has plummeted. However, Taiwanese and South Korean tourists have conversely increased. According to officials, as many as 40,000 to 50,000 people visit the Dotonbori shopping arcade in a single day.

Since the number of visitors to Universal Studios Japan is said to be 30,000 to 40,000 a day, that means that more people than that crowd this narrow street. From the intersection of Nihonbashi 1-chome to Soemon-cho on Sakaisuji Street, there are always about 10 tourist buses parked in a row. Dotonbori is the highlight of sightseeing in Osaka.

In some cases, the very ground of the city itself has been purchased by foreign capital. A local real estate agent reveals the reality.

A local real estate agent reveals, “Buildings facing the Dotonbori River are well located and highly valuable to Chinese investors. Recently, buildings along Futatsuido-cho Dori, on the east side of Sakaisuji across from the Dotonbori shopping district, have been acquired by foreigners one after another.

Nitsuido-cho Dori is an area just a stone’s throw from Dotonbori, lined with love hotels and famous as an entertainment district. In other words, it is a place where people never stop coming until the wee hours of the morning. The area was unpopular with Japanese investors , who said, “The entertainment district is not suitable for either a company building or a tenant building.

Japanese investors are not interested, but from the Chinese point of view, it is rather ‘inexpensive and good value. If the number of inbound visitors increases further in the future, this neighborhood will surely benefit as well. They are anticipating this and investing in advance.

Even after nightfall, the excitement in Dotonbori has not cooled down. However, its appearance is completely different from the humane town it once was. Laws and rules have become a skeleton, repainted by the power of capital. Is this the beginning or the end of the “inbound dependency” that Japan is facing?