Festival Gate

Festival Gate is my favorite place in Osaka, my home away from home. As you can see it's main selling point is that it has a roller coaster running through it, but it has so much more too offer! It's in one of the worst neighborhoods in the country - pretty much the only thing I've seen that would qualify as a slum - and was built in an effort to bring some life back into the area. It failed. BUT... some artists had the gall to approach the city with an offer to keep the place open as long as they could have it for dirt cheap. In addition to several music and art facilities, Festival Gate also has a convenient store, a burger joint, and a cinema which seem to bring in the money and it hosts the Osaka Pro Wrestling Federation, so you can see masked muscle men (95% still wear masks) and underweight art wimps gathering under the coaster tracks together. I have a feeling it's only so long before the city shuts this place down for good, but I'm glad to be around while it's still kicking. It's a truly amazing place.


The coaster looking ominous at night


One of the cafés where I've performed