Tsuruhashi Korea Town

Tsuruhashi is Osaka's Korea Town, one of the largest and oldest Korean communities in Japan, and for hungry travellers it is a sensory jolt the moment you step off the train. Even on the station platform the smell of grilling meat and garlic drifts up from the warren of covered alleys below, where hundreds of tiny shops sell yakiniku, kimchi, Korean groceries, sweets and clothing in a dense, atmospheric labyrinth that has grown organically since the post-war years.

The district's history gives it real depth. Many Zainichi Koreans - Korean residents of Japan - settled around Tsuruhashi from the early 20th century, and families here now span three or four generations. A black market sprang up around the station in the chaos after 1945, and the tangle of narrow shopping arcades that market left behind is essentially the Tsuruhashi you walk through today. The area centred on nearby Ikuno is often called the heart of Korean culture in western Japan, and that heritage is worn openly in the food, the language on the signs and the goods on the shelves.

For eating, Tsuruhashi is above all a yakiniku destination. Osaka is regarded as one of the best cities in Japan for Korean barbecue, and this is its epicentre: dozens of grill houses, from smoky old counters to larger family restaurants, serve marbled beef, tongue (tan), offal (horumon) and marinated cuts you cook yourself over charcoal at the table. Beyond the grills, the market stalls are a pantry of Korean flavour - tubs of freshly made kimchi and namul, chewy tteok rice cakes, chijimi pancakes, japchae noodles, honey-filled hotteok pancakes cooked to order, and Korean sweets and chilli pastes to take home. Grazing your way through the alleys, snack by snack, is as rewarding as sitting down for a full barbecue.

The experience is delightfully disorienting in the best way. The alleys are cramped, low-ceilinged and crisscrossing, lit by a jumble of signs in Korean and Japanese, and it is easy - and encouraged - to simply get lost and follow your nose. Because it is a genuine everyday shopping district rather than a manicured tourist attraction, prices are down-to-earth and the crowd is overwhelmingly local. A little patience helps at busy lunch and dinner times, and cash is handy at the smaller stalls.

Access is exceptionally easy, which makes Tsuruhashi a natural add-on to a wider Osaka itinerary. The station is a major interchange served by the JR Osaka Loop Line - so it is covered by the Japan Rail Pass - as well as two Kintetsu lines running toward Nara and the Sennichimae subway. That puts it just minutes from the city centre and directly on the route to Nara, so many travellers stop here to eat before or after a day trip. Arrive for lunch or in the early evening, come with an appetite, and let the smoke and the crowds lead the way.