A Culture Woven from the Alchemy of Idiosyncratic Tastes
Thoroughfares convey more than cargo; they are conduits for ideas. Osaka City, home to the Tōkaidō’s true terminus at Koraibashi, flourished where overland highways met river channels. The construction of Osaka Castle catalyzed a vast canal network, anchoring the Edo-period logistics that earned the city its dual monikers: “The Water Capital” and “The Pantry of the Nation.” Through this fluid circulation of people and goods, diverse worldviews intersected and layered, forging a cultural identity entirely unique to Osaka.
One contemporary editor of this cultural legacy is the creative unit “graf.” By linking disparate objects and spaces to infuse them with new context, they traverse furniture, food, and spatial design to espouse a distinct way of living for the modern era.
Another indispensable pillar of this local culture is the brand “TRUCK.” Given the evocative aesthetic of “TRUCK Furniture,” one might imagine the shop nestled deep within a forest. In reality, it sits surprisingly in a corner of a residential neighborhood. Enclosed by a brick wall with iron railings and towering trees, the vintage-inflected building commands an entirely different atmosphere from its surroundings.
“We planted fruit-bearing trees so the birds would come,” enthuses owner Hiromi Karatsu as she guides the way. Transforming a former taxi depot, she designed the structures from scratch, worked the soil, and introduced a diverse canopy of trees. Through an investment of time, labor, and affection, this shop, the adjacent home, and the studio have coalesced into a forest-like ecosystem.
“We never aimed for a specific style,” Karatsu smiles. “I simply gathered what I truly love, let time pass, and this is the result.” Her team crafts furniture meant to be lived in, where every mark and sign of age only adds to its charm.
The adjacent café, Bird, grew naturally out of those same tastes, offering a space to dine, drink coffee, and get a real feel for TRUCK’s interiors, allowing you to truly feel how these objects resonate with daily life.
If interiors brighten up life indoors, the bike shop “velo life UNPEU” is what connects that life to the outdoors. It treats bicycles as more than just a way to get around, offering new ways to experience the city, like bicycle camping along the canals. Changing your speed changes your perspective entirely.
Slow down through the high-rise district of Koraibashi, and you’ll notice a wave of hidden restaurants popping up along the canal. One that catches your eye is “yacipoci,” an izakaya with contemporary art and quirky plants in the window, always buzzing with laughter and good music. The owner, Naohiro Akiya, has filled the space with his favorite things—drinks, music, and cycling—drawing a diverse crowd to the counter. It’s the perfect snapshot of a space where people meet and new culture takes root.
A New Relationship with the City Reveals New Paths
Connecting Nakanoshima to Dōtonbori, the Higashiyokobori River is the oldest waterway in Osaka. Sheltered beneath an overhead highway, it spent years relegated to the city’s backside, leaving many of its waterfront parks and under-bridge spaces closed off and forgotten. “Suimon Hotel” is an experimental project trying to open up and revitalize this very waterfront.
The team renovated a single room inside an old watergate facility overlooking Koraibashi, reimagining it as a “hotel front desk” to welcome visitors. What was once a disused, sterile space now hosts exhibitions and events, slowly bringing color back to the waterfront through the simple act of people gathering.
Traveling upstream brings you to Hirakata, once a booming transit hub between Osaka and Kyoto. But as river transportation evolved and travelers began bypassing the town on their journeys, the locals had to get creative. To grab the attention of passersby, they would throw lively banquets right on the riverbank to entice travelers ashore, or holler out to passing boats to pull over for food and drinks. That ancestral drive to get people to stop and visit is still alive today, even if the methods have changed.
At Dermatograph, the shelves are tightly packed with pieces by artists from across the country, deadstock tableware from the 1960s to the 1980s, and hand-carved wooden bears packed with the character and spirit of their creators. Upstairs, their home doubles as a photography studio that regularly hosts exhibitions and workshops. It is a space where people and objects gather across time and distance to forge new value and connections. While the items on the shelves span entirely different eras and genres, they share a consistent, magnetic energy. By surrounding themselves with things they love, owners Toma and Yukari Masaoka have crafted a space that naturally attracts others. Visiting feels less like shopping and more like receiving a shared sentiment or a moment in time. Even a brief, aimless stay here has a way of bringing about unexpected encounters.
Learning the history of a place, meeting its people, and connecting with its culture slowly transforms our relationship to it. And perhaps it is through this very shift in perspective that our next path naturally comes into view.
A journey tracing the modern-day 57 stations of the Tōkaidō.
Cycling from Koraibashi to Hirakata and Fushimi.
Tour de Nippon in Osaka
Date: Oct 3 (Sat) – Oct 4 (Sun), 2026.
Day 1 starts in Nakanoshima, Central Osaka. Explore the Suimon Hotel space at Koraibashi (the 57th station terminus), ride the canal to TRUCK Furniture, and rest at Bird Cafe. Pedal along the riverbank, then follow the Kyo-kaido from Moriguchi-juku’s Bunroku Embankment to Hirakata. Toast the night away imagining historic Hirakata-juku banquets. Day 2 follows the Kizu River across Kozuya Bridge and along the embankments straight to Fushimi. Tour modern thoroughfares, meet locals, and take in fresh roadside landscapes.
Tour de Nippon Guide
Osaka & Hirakata
graf studio
4-1-9, Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka
TEL：06-6459-2100
TRUCK FURNITURE
6-8-48,shinmori, Asahi-ku
TEL：06-6958-7055
Bird
4-1-16, Midori, Tsurumi-ku
TEL：06-6958-1616
yacipoci
1-1-1, Hiranomachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka
velo life UNPEU Nakatsu
1F, 4-3-1 Toyosaki, Kita-ku, Osaka
TEL：06-6374-8028
DERMATOGRAPH
4-16-29-1 Hoshigaoka, Hirakata, Osaka
TEL：090-9697-8282
Hirakata Tohyo
4-1 Mitsuyacho, Hirakata, Osaka
TEL：072-841-2237
The Municipal Hirakata-shuku Kagiya Museum
10-27 Tsutemachi, Hirakata, Osaka
TEL：072-843-5128
