A few weeks ago, I visited Osaka, and finally experienced the downtown district called “Dotonbori.” Dotonbori’s history dates back to the 1600s, when businessmen opened up a wide and public canal on the Dotonbori river in the hopes of commercial growth in Osaka. The world famous skyline that resulted from the commercial boom features the iconic Glico running man that was installed in 1935. The Ebisubashi bridge, famous for being the spot where the off-beat teens of Kansai gather, is right above the river connecting the walking streets, and was surreal to hang out on. Dotonbori is also famous for the giant ornaments of food, crabs, Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki, famous local regional foods, and more, attached to the restaurants that specialize in them, that tower above pedestrians. These ornaments make Osaka of the most architecturally unique cities in Japan. There’s truly no place that compares.
I was inspired by Dotonbori to create an animation where the ornaments came to life. I drew the skyline and elements on paper, and then used photoshop, aftereffects and premiere to animate the crab, gyoza, Glico man, and fried vegetable on a stick man. I added a little photo silhouette of me in the bottom left holding an umbrella and taking it all in.