Six Takoyaki Are Still 100 Yen

In Konohana, six takoyaki are 100 yen.

On September 7, a writer for Shukan Shokuhin, a weekly paper for the food trade, bought them at PAKU-PAKU, the counter in front of the LaMu supermarket. Sauce, bonito, and green seaweed were already on the box. Mayo was 10 yen more. Daikokuten Bussan, the company that runs LaMu, has sold six for 100 yen since its first counter in 2003.

Also in Konohana, six with sauce and mayo were 450 yen, about $2.90, at Takoya Hikari (たこ家輝). The shop is a short walk from Chidoribashi station on the Hanshin Namba line. It reopened on August 28, larger, after about 17 years on that corner.

The 100-yen box is in Konohana. Dotonbori has its own board.

Osaka Prefecture, which publishes the city’s prices, put out its early September numbers on October 2. Prices in the city were up 1.5 percent from a year earlier. That figure mixes a restaurant bill with the grocery run and the train fare.

Meals out, on their own, were up 3.4 percent. A hamburger, fried chicken, and conveyor-belt sushi are the dishes that rose.

Rice was cheaper than in August, Koshihikari included. The bill for sitting down still went up.

Dotonbori at night means Namba. The sushi there goes around on a belt, and each plate shows its price as it passes. A takoyaki stall posts the price of six on a board you can read from the line.

Konohana is the other stop, north toward the port on the Hanshin line. Go on a day you are already riding it. LaMu has the supermarket box. The shop by Chidoribashi station is the one that reopened in August.

Osaka publishes the next early figures on the morning of October 30. Until then, eat where you already are.