Taken October 21st 2023 The Misono building was the heart of Osaka's nightlife culture for 70 years. It opened in 1955* and closed in 2025. Originally, it had a huge cabaret club on the second floor, and a dance hall in the basement. There was also a "banquet hall" (more like a giant izakaya, usually used for corporate entertaining) on the top floor. The cabaret was reportedly the largest in Japan, with space for between 1000 to 3000 patrons, and between 500 and 1000 maids to wait the tables. The Universe was featured in Life Magazine, from the USA, in 1962. Scanned from the book. The stage was vast, and had two "UFO stages" which could descend from the ceiling, with dancers on. Other smaller stages would rise out of the main one, to lift dancers up. The entire stage assembly could also be raised to the ceiling, making way for a dance floor that patrons could use! Each of the booths had a red lamp to softly illuminate it, steel-and-glass tables built by the Misono's own staff, and waitresses were summoned by pushing a button, which raised a flashing orange light. These lights were actually trafficators from Chrysler cars! Scanned from the book. At this time, the exterior was grey, with various colourful, lit-up "planets" stuck on it, as befitting the spacey theme. On the roof, there was a revolving, colourful "atom". Inside the cabaret hall there was a false ceiling, with powerful floodlights above. The false ceiling had multicoloured, semi-transparent acrylic tubes poked through it, creating "stars". These would even have a degree of parallax as people walked to their seats! There was also a multi-storey car park at the rear, accessed through a tunnel. From: https://pointed.jp/2021/11/15/universe-1956/ There was a "virtual tour", using the Metaverse, of the original building at one point, but it seems to have vanished now. At some point between 1975 and 1980 (conflicting reports!), the cabaret club was removed, and the huge, 12m high, space, was filled in with three floors. This moved the banquet hall to the fifth floor. The second floor, once the floor of the Cabaret, now contained many small bars. Each of these bars was, at first, themed after a country (Osaka Expo '70 fresh in the mind!), and gave employment to former dancers who were at the big cabaret. The third and fourth floors contained a hotel, massage parlour and sauna. The Sauna had a "treasure cave" theme, with colourful lights. The bars and hotel rooms had white and green marble, some with ornate wooden carvings on the doors and pillars. Some of the bars kept this theme in later years, while others got remodelled. Scanned from the book. The Universe Cabaret moved into the basement, no more ascending and descending stages! An area at the rear of the basement was turned into ill-defined "salons", which appear to have been named "miss(country)". Bars with sexy foreign barmaids, perhaps? As the 80's dawned, the basement had it's former cloth ceiling replaced with metal tiles. The cabaret part was made into a disco named Studio 80 (partly because it was 1980, and partly to "one up" a disco called Studio 50 in New York). This had a "house band" who would perform every night. The "Salons" at the rear were replaced by karaoke rooms, themed, like the bars, after countries. Later the disco changed it's band, and was renamed Studio 82. In the 90's the basement returned to being a cabaret. From Wikipedia, taken in 2013, but it looked much like this in the 80's, too. The western entrance, once a white marble hallway leading to (I assume) lifts or stairs up to the second-floor cabaret, was opened out, had water features added, and was fitted with a spiral ramp up to the second and third floors, as well as lifts from the first to fifth. The outside was repainted red and green, and the planets removed in favour of more conventional signage. Next to the lifts was an area which was many things over the years, initially it was a small supermarket! Later it became an art gallery of sorts, a "museum" for the Misono building, and finally a bar. In this form, the building operated for many years, attracting people for all sorts of purposes. It was popular enough that it was even advertised on TV! From the Youtube channel "Astalot117", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zcw5nWNSsc&t=87s As the years went by, the building's popularity waned. The supermarket disappeared at some point. The karaoke rooms behind the cabaret were closed and the area was not used again. The sauna was closed down next, early in the twenty-first century. By 2009, the second floor seems to have been mostly empty and deserted. Reportedly one of the corridors wasn't even lit, for a time! The country-themed bars were long gone, as their barmaids retired or moved on. The units were rented out to tenants, but business was not brisk, beyond a handful of snack bars and dodgy massage parlours. In 2011 the Universe Cabaret in the basement closed down (and even before that, was no longer on every night), the space became a "rental hall", for other live performances. It was used for a lot of raves, punk and metal concerts, and so on. Apparently there were electrical issues, and the air conditioning in bars at one end would be very weak if other bars were also using theirs (when I was going, several bars at the western end used plug-in, "one hose" air conditoners, not the ones built into the building). Lots of the water features were also shut down (this is true of Osaka in general!), the only evidence for their existence rusting pipes poking out of things. Taken from https://junkissa.jp/blog-entry-1772.html. It was taken in 2011, shortly after the cabaret closed. You can see the blank sign for Benitsuru, and the empty units that would one day be Daishojou and Aran. At some point in the early 2010's, the building began to take on a second lease of life as the home of Osakan subcultures. The cheap rent meant that many bars catering to rockers, artists, otaku, goths, punks, dark-electronica fans etc moved into the building. The second floor became an awesome place to be, with loads of posters, stickers and graffiti all over it. Most bars left their doors open, so visitors could see what they were like before going in. They also advertised their (cheap!) charges outside - this is very unusual in Japan. The open doors and cheap prices made it a great place to pub-crawl and meet new friends, or just hang out and drift from place to place, seeing what was going on. Scanned from the book. The building's new popularity as a "subculture" place even earned it a place on the silver screen! In 2015 a movie called "Misono Universe" was released in Japan. Though, for some reason, the English title was "La La La at Rock Bottom". Still, not as bad as the treatment Condorito got. It seems to be (as I haven't seen it yet) about some high schoolers finding a guy with amnesia near their school. He turns out to be an amazing singer, and eventually finds some measure of fame in Osaka, performing at Misono Universe. It turns out his amnesia is from a head injury, caused by a botched Yakuza hit. Now they know he survived, they're after him again! Loads of posters for the movie were put up around the building... and promptly got nicked. Apparently the owner actually had them print another batch just for him! These ones got stuck down good 'n proper. CONDORito, guys. It's right there in the name! The hotel on the second and third floors was, by now, looking rather tired and dated. It closed down in September 2019, joining the defunct sauna. At the end of 2019, the massage parlour on the third floor was also closed. In 2020, Coronavirus caused the fifth-floor banquet hall to close down. The popularity of big, "all in one room" izakaya, for multiple parties of strangers to be drinking at once, seems to have been waning anyway. The only things left were the second floor bars and Universe live house. In mid-2024 it was announced that the second floor would close down at the end of the year - and we all had an epic party! Some time around February 2025, the last bar up there, Emi (which was "seperate" from the others) closed, and shortly after, the car park was also closed. On July 5th 2025, the Universe live house was closed - allegedly exactly 70 years since it was opened*, and the Misono Building joined Kobe's Motoko, and Cambridge's Man on the Moon, in the great cultural-mecca-memory-hole in the sky. Never mind, there's still Sugarcubes! I never went to The Boat Race, but I gather that rocked too. It became a (all together now) "trendy wine bar!" *-I've seen varying dates from 1955 to 1957 given for the opening. But the last night, on July 5th 2025, was advertised as the building's "70th Birthday". Apparently around 2011, they went up in an "attic" and found a ton of old flyers and posters from the early days, which I guess revealed the original opening date. Taken from: https://brutus.jp/osaka_misonobuilding/ A LOT of the details in this section come from a small book I bought at the Misono on June 30th 2025, the first and only time I visited "Universe" proper. The book itself was written in 2011, so sadly a lot of it's descriptions of the building "now" no longer hold true! Camera-translate this for insights!
Exterior and The ramp
1970's Taken from The Other Book.
Date Unknown Taken from Google Maps
November 2023
6th January 2024 and 26th May 2024 Basically, idly-taken snaps before I knew the place was closing
1st - 2nd June 2024
16th June 2024
17th June 2024
			Thomas Crapper
10th August 2024
19th August 2024
2nd January 2025
			How about paper? haw haw!
4th January 2025
9th February 2025
16th March 2025 The surviving water feature was drained and the fish taken out.
10th April 2025 An old hotel opposite was being demolished. It used to contain a familymart, from which much water and Pocari Sweat was bought, in attempt to prevent hangovers.
30th June 2025
5-6th July 2025 The last night, I was too broke to really go, so went to a cheap otaku bar called Kuronekodo instead. Also the last performance was loud, grating harsh electronica with strobe lights and traffic cones, not really my sorta thing. Anyway, a black mural appeared on the white wall leading to the Universe entrance, and also the water feature was reactivated.
12th July 2025
27th July 2025 The door to the live house was boarded up, and the sign removed.
Basement - Universe Live House / Dressing Rooms
Date Unknown Pictures taken from https://web.archive.org/web/20210130080452/http://universe.osaka/gallery.html
Date Unknown Pictures taken from Google Maps
piddle
30th June 2025
5th July 2025
To comfort the afflicted, and keep them from harm!
Dressing Rooms Pictures taken from https://web.archive.org/web/20210130080452/http://universe.osaka/gallery.html
Extra dressing room anecdote / description Shortly before the building closed, I was passing the side-door pictured, when a band came out to load their gear back on their van! I wanted to take a picture inside the door, but by the time I got my phone out, one of the staff came up and wouldn't let me. Anyway, the inside had a wide staircase going down and curving to the left, and stuff like mops and brooms propped up just inside. The room was painted light blue, with an orange and yellow mural of a phoenix or something on the right wall.
First Floor - Universe entrance / Bar Fun-11 So, on to how I found the Misono! I'd seen it before of course, I was looking for food, and wondered if I should go up to the top... but it would be a bit strange, going to the giant banquet hall all alone, so I went and had good old Sukiya instead. As part of the floor guide said "Hotel", I just assumed the building was a love hotel, and ignored it. One night in 2019, I was in Bar Bunch 78, an otaku bar in Denden Town. I met a guy there who was a Tajikistani, but lived in Saudi Arabia. He worked in the oil industry, and, because he was "foreign", could live in the foreigners compound for oil industry workers... which meant access to alcohol! Yes, this guy from a Muslim country could drink more in the Muslim country than he could at home! Anyway, he was also a weeb, so liked to get to Japan at least once a year, and this time he was in Osaka. He told me he'd heard about this amazing "building with a whole floor full of bars!". I asked "which one?". We went wandering off, looking at Google Maps, and came to the Misono. I said it couldn't be there, because that was a love hotel. We "orbited" the whole building at least once, before he convinced me to try going in to the second floor. We headed for the lifts, past Bar Fun-11, and a crazy old German couple waved us in. Fun-11 had no charge and 500 yen drinks at the time (ah, the good 'ole days!). We somehow got talking about the German gay scene, and the gay clubs that existed in the 30's, before the Nazis closed them down. I think they assumed we were a couple. Also this really old guy staggered up and was talking to us, the Tajikistani could speak good Japanese, and told me he was the owner of the building! I didn't really understand who I was meeting at the time, or I'd have had thousands of questions. He died not long after that, anyway. After leaving Fun-11, we went up to the second floor. I was in awe, I'd been in Osaka three years and had no idea this was here! We ended up in Royal Crown, because he was a bit of a fashionista too, and I guess it sounded "classy". Then a candle slightly melted the plasticised-fabric strip on his fancy new camera bag, and he was pissed off. After that, I visited the Misono a few more times and just randomly wandered the cheapest bars. Somehow I missed Caoff Discovery on these visits! I do have vague recollections of mistaking it for a maid cafe, somehow (?). I just wish I'd taken more pictures, or had better memories of, those visits! Then Coronavirus hit, and things were put on hold for a year or so. I started going back when Corona restrictions were weakened, the bars were a lot more subdued, and had clear plastic sheeting seperating patrons, and so on.
Date Unknown - Taken from Google Maps
			35w
2nd June 2024
16th March 2025
First Floor - Before Bar Fun-11. This place was many things over the years. Before the ramp was added, it was a long hallway where patrons would buy their tickets, then take a rear, internal, staircase up to the cabaret. Presumably emerging somewhere off to the sides of the stage. Once the building was remodelled, this was a (presumably quite small and narrow!) supermarket for many years, before it was closed down. Before there was Bar Fun-11, and at the time the book was written in 2011, Bar Fun-11 was something called Galaxy Gallery. This appears to have been a museum of sorts, with nostalgic old flyers and posters about the Misono, and also some merch! Looking at somebody's Google Maps picture from July 2016 (when I was in Osaka, and could have gone... if only I'd known!), this appears to have closed down, and they were advertising for "tenanto" to fill the space. Pictures in the book suggest Bar Fun-11 was quite the remodel, as the space used to be occupied by a number of small "kiosks". It also looks like it was a lot longer! It ran parallel to the entrance tunnel to the car park. The bar seemed shorter than that, so perhaps when it was Galaxy Gallery, it ran all the way down. Also, a look into how one of the bars used to be in 2011! But I don't know which one it is. Possibly this bar was downstairs in the Galaxy Gallery! In 2009, the earliest Google Maps images, you can just about make out a "vending machine corner" in this general area. It also had a passage "through" to the tunnel leading to the car park. -
First Floor - the wierd little side room This was the entrance to Lounge Caravan, once. This door still being accessible (if locked), and my living in Osaka, actually coincided for a short while! But, by the time I cared, the door was hidden behind a wooden fence. There was still a light on inside, and I could see shelves just inside had been filled up with shoes and strange-looking nick-nacks, like odd statues and things. There were also a few old bicycles in there. I once read that the owner of the Misono Building actually lived inside it! Also that he was a bit "Ditko", and would only take interviews through the letterbox. The book I bought later disproved that (though maybe what I heard referred to the second owner?). The original owner of the Misono building, who also ran several other buildings (including another large entertainment building opposite the Misono, and an outdoor swimming pool in Abeno), lived in a five-storey house in the middle of a lake, and owned many expensive cars he kept in an underground garage. Yep, just in case this place wasn't cool enough already, it was built by a Bond villain! Anyway, before I went back and looked at the door on Google Maps, I thought it might be the entrance to wherever his apartment was in the building. If, indeed, any owner did actually live there, and it wasn't just BS.
Feb and March 2025
Second Floor General
The main entrance to the second floor, where all the magic happened! Taken from slightly further up the ramp.
Circa 1980 Taken from The Other Book.
27th May 2024
1st - 2nd June 2024 There was a corridor leading to the car park at one corner of the bar floor. Possibly one or two more unused bar units were also down there. When I was going, it was closed off and being used as a junk storage area.
			The tall skinny ones come, brother
16th June 2024
17th June 2024 Taken during the day, I must have recovered from the hangover quick.
28th July 2024
19th August 2024 This door seems like it just went into the side of Digital Cafe. Was Digicafe once two narrow units? Or maybe Digicafe's door was a later addition, and this was it's "real" door? (It would put it in line with Benitsuru and Daishoujo). There was a letter "to the tenant" stuffed in there. Maybe I should have mentioned it to Keita, eh? Or nicked it and seen how old it was, if it was still there on the last night.
2nd / 3rd November 2024
11th December 2024 They'd started to preliminarily close the second floor up with wooden partitions.
			Boss Torokeru
23rd December 2024 And also at the other exit...
30th December 2024
31st December 2024
2nd January 2025 Now the gates were closed. Emi remained open a bit longer, so was still accessible.
9th February 2025
16th March 2025 Taken through the gate. Not much had changed, except the posters were falling down.
Second Floor Stickerbombs and Graff Some of these are from stairs / the ground, but I'll shove 'em all together.
Second Floor Bars
Night Spot Emi: This was seperate from the other bars, opposite the lifts. I　never went there, but they kept the door closed, which hints at greater classiness than the rest of Misono's rowdy, open-door places. It seemed to be only rarely open, towards the end. It does have an illuminated sign, to be put out on the street, downstairs. Google Maps research suggests this was present even back in 2009! Anyway, this place can (or could!) be toured on Google Maps, so I nabbed some screenshots. Hmm, a black cave theme, puts me in mind of old pictures I've seen of Lazers. If you know, you know! I doubt a single Megadeth track was ever played in Emi, though! Emi closed later than the other bars, on February 28th 2025. Turns out it had been there 45 years! Dating back to well before the Misono's second floor had become a "subculture" place. So no wonder the sign was outside in 2009, eh? Relocation: No. But they did advertise some other place, called Yakiniku Jogo, which is apparently it's replacement, on the closing poster.
Date Unknown - Taken from Google Maps
2024
Rock and roll swindle
Daishoujo: It had a bunch of "shop dummies" in (that's what my babe-unborn innocent mind is gonna keep calling them!), dressed in cool "cosplay" etc. It also has what looks like a graffiti'd copy-paste from the Wikipedia article about the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the door. I only went here twice, and was pretty drunk both times, so I don't remember much else. The decor, in keeping with several of the other bars at the western end of the building, was very Chinese. They still used white and green marble for the floor and counter, though. When the small bars first opened, they were themed after countries, several of them had "Chinese" decor, even in later years, so may have been themed after regions of China, or else also Vietnam etc. The owner of the building apparently also beleived strongly in Feng-Shui, which considers green to be lucky, and explains the green marble and accents around the building. By the time I went there, they'd repainted the ornate wood carvings with orange and white accents, in an attempt to colourful it up a bit. Relocation: Dunno. Previous incarnation: In August 2015, it was a restaurant called Aka-Okami, which had a "wild game" theme. You could even eat friend scorpion! Information from https://www.hotpepper.jp/mesitsu/entry/1508065. Which also has pictures I'll rip one day.
16th - 17th June 2024
			Quackery
27th December 2024
Osaka Benitsuru: A bar that was also often used as a theatre. When the closure was announced, some news website interviewed the owner, who said the last 15-or-so years of the Misono's life had been a "24-7 cultural festival". Most of the acts they had on were stand-up and spoken word stuff, maybe some acoustic singer-songwriter live music too. As far as I can tell, there was never a mosh pit in there. The very first, or maybe second, time I came to the Misono, there was a ton of drag queens hanging around at this end of the building. So there must have been a big drag show in there at least once. Sometimes they'd also have "Manga Shotengai", a small event selling comics, during the day (the first time I went to one of them I walked round the whole outside of the building twice, going "they can't mean in there"). Also I still had to pay the cover charge and order a drink to go in to the comic sale... at half 1 in the afternoon! Caoff Discovery had their 16th birthday DJ event in here (it being much bigger than Caoff Discovery itself). (Missed opportunity to start that pit! ...to the theme to Haruhi Suzumiya) Also Digital Keita, of Digicafe, did some stand-up in here on occasions. When it was functioning as a normal bar, it seemed to close pretty early. Except for some times when it randomly stayed open until 3 in the morning. Oh and, of course it stayed open really late on the last night. Relocation: Yes, to the top floor of the building containing Anna, Warp Room and (more for the purposes of this page!) New Concorde. This new version even has an outdoor verandah / "beer garden"! A friend I made on Instagram took a selfie with the Misono's sign on the last night from up there. If only I'd known, I'd have gone and got a video of it being turned off for the last time. Earlier Incarnation: When the second floor was first turned into small bars, they were themed after different countries or regions. This one was called Hong Kong. It still had that name in the early 90's, a guy who took it over, who had also been on a long trip around Europe, decided to relaunch it as a place for raves. This was the beginning of the Misono's slow rebirth into a place for subcultures. As well as music events in the bar itself, he also started up a club night in the basement called Macao (sticking to the theme!). This was popular for a while, until a bar owner in another building complained about the noise and rowdy crowds! The bar was also still named Hong Kong in 2000, I guess they were still holding more low-key and quieter events there.
2000, still named Hong Kong
Taken from: https://www.timeout.jp/osaka/ja/news/biography-of-misono-universe-070325
30th June 2024 Note the silver ducts jerry-rigged behind the bar to improve the air conditioning situation, due to the troubles with the old system not working properly.
28th July 2024 - Caoff Discovery's 16th birthday Does the "Flamingo" decor hint at an earlier bar to occupy this unit?
			All covered with a fine layer of muck... nature's muck
August 2024 The side "stage door" (which just opened into the corridor) was open.
January 1st 2025
Digital Cafe Script: Oops, forgot to take a picture of the "proper" sign for this one! ...though I'm sure I remember doing it o_O Better known as just "Digicafe". A big place which changed it's decor a few times (it was astroturfed at one point). It was often very quiet, and could be freezing cold in winter, but then sometimes there would be events like Pokemon parties, and it would get crammed full of people. I very briefly visited on the last night, and took some incredibly drunk selfies with the master (who I also fancied the fuck out of... as did various other people I knew around the Misono / otaku bar "scene"). Maybe, in the old days, this place had similar Chinese decor to Benitsuru and Daishoujo, but that was all stripped away when I went, Digicafe just had big bare walls. Otaku Bar Reviews page Relocation: No. Which caused great disappointment to the huge crowd of people who fancy the master.
10th November 2023
New Year 2023 - 2024
June 1st and 16th 2024
29th September 2024 Date might actually be wrong!
January 1st 2025 Basically, we were all pissed as farts
G-Shot Bar Female Female Male I never went to this one. Kinda small-looking inside (through the window, anyway), with a curving bar and black and orange theme. The master was always wearing a tux, so it looked classy. This one closed down before the building did, and was very briefly replaced by another bar called Maki. That one was only open a matter of weeks, before also closing down. The unit was just left empty after that. I discovered it has a website at http://kansai.me/master/index.html. That's where I got the pictures from! They also posted a map of the second floor in August 2014. It seems like most of the bars that are on the map are the ones I knew, with a few differences. Relocation: Dunno.
Date Unknown - Taken fron the website
19th August 2024 - A poster for "Maki"
Big Fish: This place had a loose horror theme, and lots of bits of paper stuck on the walls inside with prices. Much whisky was on offer and the staff wore maid outfits. I think I went twice, first time I was very drunk and stumbled in. Second time I was hanging out with an Aussie I met in Aran. Photos were forbidden! Relocation: Dunno.
F	U	C	K
Bluemoth A dark place with green lights and electronica / "dark EDM" or whatever the hell you call it. The master was cool and gave out nice chocolate, which I beleive was (fairly) locally-sourced. I went on my second-to-last night in the Misono, and ended up wishing I'd made it one of my regular places for years prior. Relocation: Dunno.
Meitai Kurabu The name means "Drunkenness Club". This was another horror themed bar. I don't think I ever went... though in my mind, I mixed it up with Big Fish! Relocation: Dunno.
Teranoma DJ bar with big decks on the bar. It had a higher charge than most in the building, at ¥1000, so I only went, er... maybe once. Or maybe twice, but the first time I was already drunk, it was really dark inside, and a party was going on. I seem to recall that. At that time, there were some grates / bars blocking access to part of the bar. When I went again, it was opened out. I might be mixing that memory up with somewhere else! Relocation: It's moved to the top floor of a building near Den Den Town. The relocated version is called Teranoma Tidepool. It's location is not at all obvious during the day, but they put a sign out when they're open at night.
			It's deautiful
L.R I went here with my girlfriend before Corona. A woman got incredibly drunk and just fainted on the bar, knocking over loads of glasses etc. The master knew her and went in the bog with her, as did my girlfriend, who was saying she could "see everything" XD. The master was going to carry the woman out, my girlfriend insisted on checking her pulse, but it was OK, she was just really drunk. Anyway I ended up not going again. It was closed a lot during Corona, I thought it was gone for good, but it reopened more frequently towards the end. As well as drink, they also had shisha. Relocation: Dunno.
P	I	S	S
Hakyudokoro Tagarasu I think the translator's on the blink, or this is very uncoventional Japanese. Half the romanisations of the Kanji, when I put them into the translator, are obviously Chinese. Anyway it means something like "wing feather rest spot" and "short crow"? Anyway it had big lanterns inside and a red 'n black theme. The same Aussie couple I met in Wols, I re-met here about a year later. The mama was playing old car ads on a telly on the bar. They were talking about how they miss the Japanese cars of the 80's and 90's. Based. Relocation: Dunno.
24th December 2024
Bar Diadem The sign outside this one just said "open".　I beleive I went there once, but now I don't remember a thing about it. They did curry! Relocation: Dunno.
S	H	I	T
Yutori-Chan They only opened this bar in 2024! It ran for less than a year. Still, had a cool crowd, and decent prices. Before it was Yutori-chan, I beleive it was Okinawan-themed... well, they sold Orion anyway. I went to it once, just as coronavirus restrictions were being relaxed, it still had plastic partitions on the bar to isolate each person's coughs, and you had to spray your hands when you went in. But I might actually be remembering Shiizaa.
30th December 2024
Boogie Back At least it's not "Booky in Bio", eh? I went there once on a weekday, I was the only one there and it was a bit awkward, because the master didn't speak English. Interestingly-named whisky, anyway. Relocation: Dunno, but if it has, I fancy visiting a new location on a weekend.
Hotel Adriano This one was actually listed on the neglected and mostly-blank list of bars outside, so had obviously been there for a fair while. It was run by an old guy and very narrow inside. He had old computer motherboards stuck on the shelf over the bar, and all sorts of nick-nacks laying about. The night I went here, I'd previously met some French people in another bar, then re-met them here. There was some interesting art scattered around, and a small sofa area near the door, which was stacked high with loads of cuddly animals. It must have taken ages to clear out, after closing! Relocation: Dunno.
December 24th 2024
Caesar An Okinawan bar, you can tell by the two lions. Doubtless "Shiizaa" is actually some other word in Okinawan and I'm being incredibly ignorant, colonialist, casually-racist, eurocentric, Japan apologist etc etc. Relocation: Dunno. I don't think I ever saw it open, or if I did, I never went! If it did relocate, it did so before the Misono closed down.
S	L	F	ROCKS
Yugaorou This sod of a place held up the production of this page, as I couldn't decipher the handwritten Kanji. THEN I noticed it's also on the list of bars outside, written plainly. BUMS. Anyway it had the same sort of chandeliers on the ceiling as the third floor lobby. The area near the door was like a library (with a false leg), the rest was long and narrow with ornate sofas and mirrors down the sides. It was seemingly a place for people too into horror and "the darker side of life" for Manticore etc. The music is extremely wierd Dark EDM with spoken word stuff, in a "gawwthy" American accent, over it. Also they didn't have beer at all! Judging by the posters outside, and events advertised around the rest of Misono, it was possibly also frequented by the SM / fetish crowds. When I went there was only two other people there, I was already drunk but they seemed fairly plain. Another time I went it was a bit more busy. All in all it felt like if a level from Playstation Doom had been made into a bar. Also the toilet had loads of red electrical tape on the lightbulb, you could barely see! I much later found it's twitter, they also liked to rent it out during the day for goth / cosplay photoshoots and that. Also a more strictly-correct reading of the kanji is "Yuganrou". Relocation: According to the Twitter (which also reposts messages they've got from other people, so has a number of wierd-sounding third-person posts), they have no plan to, but might if there is demand. Apparently the master has "guested" at "Yugarou nights" in some other bars, and they once opened up the storage unit where all the decor is as "Yugarou Annex", but it was invitation-only for a few regulars. I only went twice, so that ain't me. But if they re-open as a public bar at some point, I'll definitely go again... especially if they'll have beer this time! All hail Oktoberfest! Got beer? Beer is yummy! Got beer? Get 'em come 'ere, cause beer makes me feel so well! Got beer? Beer is yummy! I want it in my tummy... I hope they serve beer in HELL
Date Unknown Taken from Google Maps
September 29th 2024
October 28th 2024
December 30th 2024
New Concorde I only went a couple of times shortly before the end. It had a "Retro Hip Japanese House" theme. Basically imagine the sort of decor, glassware and tableware you'd have seen in a cool fashionable homes magazine... in 1971. Now make a bar out of that! Before I learned that the "bar floor" didn't exist until 1980, I thought this bar had actually been there since the 60's or 70's, though the mama doesn't seem that old. She might even be younger than me! Still, it was a cool bar. I met a guy in there who was a manager at one of them Street Kart (never mention the "M" word!) places. He also liked Doom! Relocation: Well, this is embarrasing. I said I wasn't sure where it had relocated to, but had a "hint" from a Google Maps review, written after the Misono closed, which referred to it having an "upstairs", but I couldn't get an updated address. THEN, for some reason, I was re-watching my video guide to the bar Anna, when I noticed a tell-tale pattern on a sign just before getting to Anna! Yes, New Concorde has relocated to the grey building just across from the big "Universe" sign! Across from Anna and next to Warp Room. Embarrasingly, I have been to both of those bars since Misono closed, and somehow didn't notice!
July-August 2024
29th December 2024
1st January 2025
Yuragma Apparently I only took a picture of this place's name in the dark! I went there once years ago, don't remember much about it. Black granite bar and yellow lights. It was somehow related to Teranoma. Relocation: Dunno. But, as Teranoma has, maybe I should go and ask them.
	Harris	Hole
En:Counter This used to have no charge, but later instituted a ¥300 one. Still cheap! The mama spoke good English, I met the master once, he spoke good English too, but was pissed as a fart. A deceptively big place, it extended over the top of the side stairs and had the same white marble tiling as many Misono bars. First one or two times I went there, I was basically the only compos customer, the mama let me use her phone (which was the "decks", just bluetoothed into the sound system) to request anything. I played the Macc Lads! The times I went there it was kind of late, I'd been to other places first. Either way, it never seemed very busy, considering it was one of the bigger units. Away from the bar there was a few scattered tables and chairs, and an open floor with some decks in the corner. Perhaps it used to have (or they just hoped it would have) proper club nights with dancing, but they seemed to have given up on that. Some of the tiles in the floor had come out of place, but didn't look like they'd get fixed. It closed down not long after the closure announcement, they even blocked off the window in the door so there's nothing to see. Relocation: Dunno
Gettin'	Shot	In the	Buttocks
Shinshun Shanson Sou This place had a much "lighter" feel than many other bars, they did small curries. I think I went once in 2019, but I'm not sure. It was crazily busy on the last night, so evidently had fans! Relocation: Dunno
A	nts on your	A	rm
Noerupan This place sold fresh fruit in cream. I never went here, and from the pictures it looks like it was absolutely tiny! They kept to the default marble decor of the Misono. Relocation: Dunno
	7	3
Gau Gau Gaudy This... wasn't a bar! It was a hairdresser! I never went. Relocation: I beleive it did relocate, I saw a flyer once saying so. But I don't know where it went.
Miibaibeibe Me Bye Baby?? Okinawan / Hawaiian decor. I went here once, when very drunk, and after Caoff, so they were talking to me about anime. Relocation: Dunno
Touch	the	card	..."tatchiiiii"
Gunjo Kurage This had a "sticking out" bar in a tiny, roughly-square room. The bar was kind of high up, and two-layered, with a glass top and various artworks displayed underneath. The back of the bar was in the ornate carved wood Chinese style, as in evidence in various other bars at the far end of the building. I went here a few times, the first time I met a woman who looked just like what I expect one of my crazier pre-school students to look like when she grows up, Complete with the subtle birthmark on her nose... and also pink hair! I always went here after somewhere else, so wasn't too sober, but I got a few snaps. Relocation: Dunno.
Circa 1980 Taken from The Other Book.
27th May 2024
Torary Nand: A bar for collectors / DJers of rare vinyl. They had a properly serious sound system and regular events. I kind of ignored it until I met a couple who do sets there... at a Reggae bar out in Momodani (that's "the one after Tsuruhashi"), of all places. I went there once but there was nothing on. Another guy had found some grail record they all fawned over and played, though. Apparently they also had art shows sometimes, with paintings on the walls and sculptures on a table in the middle. It's not a big place! They closed down before the Misono did, relocating the sound system and other bits to the new place. They opened the bar a few more times with just a counter in it, and nothing else! Relocation: It HAS relocated, I know that. Dunno where, though.
1st June 2024
Pre-close Insta pics
7th November 2024
Lounge Caravan From the look of the map, this was once a large bar, like Encounter. It was over the stairs which lead down into the lobby of Universe (used, when I was going there, only as a fire exit). This one also had it's own outside staircase, which, by the time I was going, was the "weird little roomtm". I never saw this place open, it appears to have closed around 2015. I vaguely remember being told other bars used it to store stuff (Caoff Discovery's chairs would vanish when they had big, standing-room-only events, perhaps into there). You can just about make out "raunji..." on the sign, if you know katakana. - The signs vanished between 2014 and 2015, though it's possible it also wasn't open in 2014! Relocation: Dunno, as it closed down years before the Misono did, I'm assuming no.
Cambridgeshire	Suffolk	Norfolk	Essex
High Jinks This bar was completely redecorated, compared to many of the other Misono bars. It has a "corrugated metal" roof, and wooden floor and bar. The bar ran all the way down, giving plenty of seating. There was also a few fake plants scattered about, giving a sort of garden theme. This bar seemed "cleaner" than many others in the Misono, and didn't seem to have a particularly "subculture" theme. It also didn't have loads of old posters advertising electronica / anisong / pro-wrestling events scattered about, neither. Relocation: The grey building next to Misono, containing Anna, (which looks far more crumbling and run-down than Misono does!) has a High Jinks 2 and a High Jinks 3 in it! But those existed at the same time as this main bar. Presumably "Hi-Jinks 1" is just being left closed, and these bars are it's replacement.
Caoff Discovery This is the bar I visited the most, as you can no doubt tell by the masses of pictures! It was an otaku bar, where they played anime songs - either playlists or requests. They even played ELO's Time! If ya know, ya know. The usual saturday mama was Miu McCartney, who also does anime song DJ events around Osaka, she did some in Benitsuru. It's also associated with the Caoff West anime song club night, which I beleive pre-dates the bar, and began in 2001! They did DJ events right in the bar, too, for which they moved out all of the tables and chairs, those were good fun. I did the new year there three times in a row, including, of course, the very last night! It was also something of a hub for other otaku bars in the (very) local area. The masters and mamas of Digital Cafe, Anna and Warp Room would drift in on nights where it stayed open super late. There was tons of anime figures scattered around, which it reportedly took them ages to move out (the master of Kissa Zenigeba was telling me about it, like he and his 2 million posters are ones to talk). The floor was wood, and raised up from the entrance. Presumably underneath the wood there were the white marble tiles found in various other bars. Otaku Bar Reviews page Relocation: Yes, to the Sun Plaza Building! Aran is over there too. They actually "relocated" in November 2024, I went and got all maudlin, thinking it was the last-ever night for Caoff in the Misono. Then a week later I walked past and it was still open! For about 2 months there were two Caoff Discoveries.
Circa 1980 Taken from The Other Book.
16th October 2023
21st October 2023
31st December 2023
26th May 2024
19th August 2024 They found these old puddings, from 2001 or so. Anyway some guy tried to eat one. Luckily he didn't become patient zero of a new pandemic.
25th August 2024 16th Birthday!
November 7th 2024 The night before the new Caoff Discovery opened, in the Sunplaza building. I thought this meant the old Caoff Discovery was closing down that night, but it wasn't!
New Year 2025 The final!
Tenkuu Kissa A very dark bar for rave / electronica fans which stayed open insanely late. I went there once at about 3 in the morning with the master of Digicafe. He said his friend was doing "the set after the next one" on the decks. Even quitting the drink and only having oolong tea, I couldn't do it. Also there was a huge sofa right inside the door, you had to cram past it to reach the still-very-confined bar area. Honestly this place and digicafe would have done well to swap units. Relocation: Dunno, but I wanna find it if it has!
28th July 2024
3rd November 2024
Kissa Zenigeba This actually just means "open" lol, it's not the bar's name! A "bit of everything" bar with posters for wrestling, movies and stuff on the walls, as well as a buddhist / hypnotic looking thing it doesn't do you much good to look at while drunk. "-Geba" sounds like "Gay Bar", I had a few people tell me it is one, but I don't think it is. Relocation: Another one that's not moved far! Pretty much immediately west of the Misono there is a white, vaguely-Spanish building with arches in front of the second-floor verandah. It's up there! The new location is smaller than it was in the Misono, but not as long, so everybody sits near the bar. It actually seems more popular since the move.
May - June 2024 I appear to have only got pictures of the sign outside o_O
Date Unknown Social media posts around the closedown.
Failiure's Kitchen Butterfly theme? Apparently this one was here a long time, and the guy knew a lot about Misono's history. Once he had a display of old pictures from inside the bars. I never took pictures of the pictures, which was a big mistake! I also remember them being black and white, and different from the set of old pictures I posted up at the top of the second floor section. Relocation: Dunno, but if it has, I need to track it down and ask to to see the guy's old pictures!
Circa 1980 Taken from The Other Book.
23rd December 2024
30th December 2024
Famicom Bar Dendo A bar with Famicom (aka NES) consoles set up to play. I was in two minds about whether I should add this to the Otaku Bar Reviews page, or not. I actually never really went, because it was always stuffed full of gaijin on holiday. I did finally visit it on the last night, just to grab a few pictures and a pan-around video. It was even more rammed then, I supped down a can of beer right against the door! Relocation: I don't know if it's relocated, but there are a few other game bars around, such as Space Station, which is not far from Mittera Hall. PS: I did!
Date Unknown Taken from Google Maps
Drip: A hip-hop bar. After corona restrictions started being lifted, I went to Misono and wandered up and down, looking for a cheap bar with low or no charge. I very nearly went here just because it was cheap, even if I don't like the music. Then walked about 5 paces more and found Caoff Discovery! So that was that decision made. Drip closed down quite a long time before the building closed, the unit was just left empty. I remember it had black walls with graffiti pieces on them, the bar was at the far end, "behind" what I presume was the toilet. Relocation: Dunno, but I assume not!
Chip Chop I think I never went to this one. Relocation: Dunno
Bubble	with	a	dot
Room: This place had black and white decor. I'm pretty sure I went to it once or twice in the pre-corona times, when I just randomly wandered the bars a few times, and hadn't yet settled on any favourites. I don't remember much about it beyond that! Relocation: Dunno.
Bubble	with	a	dot
1492 This one seemed to be fairly popular. I went to it once or twice, but always after somewhere else, so I don't remember much! I seem to recall you had to "step down" into it, and they'd kept the white marble bar that was probably the original. I also seem to remember the bar was really big, the Mamas seemed far away from me! Relocation: Dunno.
Date Unknown Taken from Google Maps
28th November 2024 This bar closed down a few weeks before the second floor did. The sign was covered up with paper... is what I thought when I saw this picture I took. But I also seem to remember it being open on the last night, so who knows?
Manticore: I forgot to take a picture of the name. https://shibui.estate/archives/262981 to the rescue! A bar with a loose horror and music theme. It had a small and rather pathetic disco floor taking up about a quarter of the floor, obviously a relic of an earlier tenant, there was no dancing to be done here! In June '24 I met some old guys I here, I told them I was from Cambridgeshire, inevitably they thought I went to Cambridge University (apparently everybody from Cambridgeshire gets a free pass), I said I went to Lincoln University, and one guy kept calling me "Lincoln" after that XD Relocation: Dunno.
June 2024
ZZ Bar A rock bar, mostly, but he'd play other genres if people mentioned them. I mistakenly beleived I was "fired" from my part-time-turned-full-time I had over summer 2024 (it was complicated), and drowned my sorrows (wait, happiness!) here. I met some Filipino-Yanks who were very, er, enthusiastic. The guy had a TON of records around the walls, a bunch of old audio equipment, and even a clockwork gramophone! He played this for us too, going "It'su Showtaimu!". I went here once more when it was in the Misono, and then also to it's new location. The decor was the carved-wood-and-bead-chandeliers "Chinese" style, hinting that during the 1980's "themed after countries" period, this place was supposed to be part of China, or somewhere with Chinese cultural influence anyway. Relocation: This bar has relocated to the "K's Spot" building, in Fuse, which is fairly far out of central Osaka. Watch those train times if you want to get back to your hotel! Fuse is a big station, though, so you'll find a taxi... but it'll cost ya! The new place is smaller but a lot cleaner / "newer" in general. He has a load of 45rpm records stuck around the walls.
Hakugei: This had a similar logo to Benitsuru, though I don't think they were related. I used to call them "Benitsuru Red" and "Benitsuru White" lol. When I finally went there, I found it was a totally different bar. They referred to it as a "theatre", and I have seen an old picture (which I need to re-find and nick!) with some guy doing stand-up, freestyle rap or something there. By the time I went, the "stage" just had a big funeral altar on it! I tried to go a few times, before then, but always just as it was closing. When I finally went, the Mama was an Israeli with blonde dreads, and I bought her signature cocktail, which was based on a White Russian. Well, gotta stick to the theme! Relocation: Dunno
1st June 2024
Anima Animus It seems like this was a popular bar. Whenever I mention the building people ask me if I ever came to this bar, but I'm not sure I ever did. If I did, it would have been in the ill-remembered pre-corona days. Relocation: This is also in the Sun Plaza building, along with Caoff Discovery and Aran.
stand	a	lolly	pop
Wols I Went here 2-3 times, I don't remember now. The mama spoke a little English, I seem to recall. Awesome-looking decor, it's like a rustic TARDIS console room. One time I met a gay Aussie couple and got to tell them about good places in Osaka, that was a fun night. Shame I don't know many gay bars. Relocation: Dunno, but if it has, I hope they've kept the decor!
Alain	tit	tit	tittytitsmarsch
Snack Machiko "Snack" at the beginning of a bar name in Japan means that you get handed a little plastic tray with some crisps, chocolate and selection-box tiny sweets. Then get charged ¥3-5000 for the privelege. Anyway, she usually kept the door shut, unlike most other Misono bars, which had them open. This bar appears to have been a survivor from an earlier time, when more normal, closed-door bars occupied the building. I went inside it once, right near the end of the second floor's time, but she was either about to close, or had made it "members only" to let regulars get in at the end. Relocation: Dunno.
3rd November 2024
Royal Crown: First place I went in the second floor (I also went to Bar Fun-11 on the ground floor). The Tajik guy I was hanging out with melted a bit of strap on his bag and was super-pissed about it. When I finally went again, they were playing Avengers on an old CRT TV. Relocation: Dunno
2nd June 2024
Aran: This isn't Aran's name! ...probably. Left over from a previous bar to use the unit? Either way, they took this sign with them, and put it up in the new place! The closest thing Misono had to a dedicated rock bar (Though ZZ bar was mostly rockin', too!), he played a lot of punk. There was also a bunch of "Rat Fink" merch around, tall tables with snacks you could stand at, and booths with couches and tables. He had some cool retro merch on the bar, like unopened J-rock and pro wrestling videotapes! I think one was even Beta! Also a good variety of whisky. The decor outside the door, and around the walls inside, slightly hints at it once having some sort of log cabin theme... maybe. Anyone remember line dancing being briefly popular in the late 90's? Maybe if that craze spread to Japan, this was a western saloon themed bar? Pure speculation, mind you! I met an Aussie here once and we hung out a bit, we also went to Meitai Kurabu. Relocation: The basement of the Sun Plaza building. The same building as Caoff Discovery! Whenever I go there I usually end up having a "Misono Crawl" round the two. The new Aran is bigger than the old one and has very high ceilings. Seems to attract a lot of gaijin. There was a tall long-haired Korean-American in there once I was hoping to catch the eye of. He could "kim" my "chi" any day... er, and some other cuties have been seen too. One woman saw a photo book about the Misono building and kept asking the master to take her photo, so she could be in "the next book". Previous Incarnation: Around 2011, when the Book was made, this unit was a place called Placebo, which served Guinness.
2011: As "Placebo"
2023-4 New Year Party
2nd June 2024
23rd June 2024
21st October 2024
27th December 2024
Second Floor: Cabaret Universe: What it once was A rare colour picture, taken from: https://brutus.jp/osaka_misonobuilding/
TimeOut Japan / CosmicLab archives Pictures from: https://www.timeout.jp/osaka/ja/news/biography-of-misono-universe-070325
Third Floor This was the entrance to the sauna, and also a hotel. At the end of September 2019, the hotel closed, and was just left empty. There was also a small massage room off to the right of the lobby. This closed at around the same time as the hotel. The sauna seems to have closed much earlier, and was also just left empty. Just before the building closed, some architecture appreciation group did tours around it (oh, if I'd known!), the sauna seemed to be as it was when it closed - the coloured lights in the ceiling all still worked! When I first tried to go up the ramp I had some woman chasing me telling me there was nothing up there. I told her I just wanted to "take a picture", she still insisted there was nothing up there (honestly, I wasn't even expecting the door to be open, so I could already see more treasure than I thought right in front of me!), so I said I wanted to take a picture of the city from the top of the ramp, and she finally left me alone. Anyway, at that point I just took one snap through the door. But later on (and after I met some guys who had actually been in) I went in and got a few more snaps. I didn't pass the "Work in Profress" sign, but maybe I should have done. It looks like there used to be an extensive water feature up here, but it was deactivated. As are several other bits n bobs around the building that look like they were once fountains / cascades but are no longer in use. Osaka as a whole has closed down tons of water features. There used to be one near Kyobashi Station that was like a giant circular shower, now it's just a crappy concrete mini-stonehenge with some holes in it. There was also a pretty river / cascade / waterfall thing near (ish) to Hi Hi Town (which had it's own defunct water feature under the escalators), which is now only on a couple of days a year. There was even a long river / mini-waterfall thing leading to Osaka Castle which I saw in 2015. By 2017 it was full of dirt and had flowers planted in it. What gives?
2011 These pictures taken from the book.
Date Unknown Taken from Google Maps
June 2024
			Release naughty dot
Fourth Floor This contained the sauna proper, and more hotel rooms. When I went up there (in 2024, long after all that closed), there were just security gates right at the lift entrance
Fifth Floor This had the "banquet hall". These seem to have been a lot more common in Showa times, but I don't think many exist now (In 2015 I went to one in Tokyo with a band I'd seen, when very drunk, it was fun). Basically they're like a giant izakaya, with big circular tables that seat 10 or so people. Parties or corporate groups go there and get all-you-can-drink (nomihodai), and all-you-can-eat (tabehodai). These days those sorts of parties tend to be held in places with seperate rooms for each group, but in the old days it was all in one huge hall, so you'd all end up having a laugh with strangers around you, too! Taken from: https://brutus.jp/osaka_misonobuilding/ This section closed around the time of coronavirus. I never went, but Google Maps had an extensive tour of it. This will vanish one day, so I took an extensive number of screenshots! July 2025note: Today, if you try to access any of the Misono's internal photo-spheres, they "helpfully" redirect you to the "newest images", which are just pictures of the outside on normal streetview - so sorry, you already can't tour the hall as it was. They used to have a full walk of Motoko too, oh how I wish I'd capped that!
Date Unknown - Taken from Google Maps (Most of the) Credit(s) to "LIFE STYLE INC" (but a few pics are from other people)
Car Park Probably used a lot more in the early days, when people were coming to see the cabaret (and drinking and driving was all in good fun). At the end it was just a general paid multi-storey for people wanting to park in the city centre. two subway stations were nearby, so anybody coming to the Misono itself just used those.
The Book This was part of a series of books which celebrates different buildings around Japan. It was the third, and originally published in July 2011, by Birumania Cafe, who also run a blog https://bldg-mania.blogspot.com/. I wonder if there's been any more since (and if a tour to visit the still-operating buildings could be on the cards)? Either way, while it has some useful info, it's small and pretty "fluffy". The one I bought in 2025 was a reprint, but it had no updated information, otherwise. Of course, hopefully some day soon there will be a big coffee table book with a complete history, interviews, maps and thousands of photos, from all eras of the Misono's existence.
The Other Book This is a much thicker (though unfortunately not a lavish coffee-table production... come on!) book with many more pictures about the Misono Building, put out in late October 2025, though it was only sold in a few places (and when I went to one of those, they had no idea what I was talking about... with depressing inevitability. A significant part of my life in Japan has been fruitless wandering up and down in shops). It explains a lot more of the building's history, and helped me improve this page a lot!
The Future? Well if I had a billion bux (whack 'em out, Elon!), I'd build this... I'd call it Shin Tsuki, or "New Moon". The basement would have a live house of similar capacity to the former one, called Shin Tsuki Apollo. It would be set up for easy switching between seated, standing or moshing crowds. There would also be a storage tank underneath for barely-filtered rain water, which could be used to flush the toilets. The first floor would have the entrances for the live house, and a ramp to floor 2. There would also be a shotengai, called "Manga Shotengai" in place of the car park entrance. This would run through to the alley behind the building, and would be aimed at becoming an Osaka version of Nakano Broadway, only smaller. This would also be the location of a restricted-access cargo elevator delivering to all floors. Floor 2 would have the layout it used to have, only with direct access from the lifts, and a more "spacey" theme in the corridors. Any former Misono bars that wanted to come back to this floor would be given preferential rent. The bars on the outer sides would have big, circular windows, tinted to look like planets. Also on floor 2, above the ramp / "plaza" would be a "crashed flying saucer", which would function as a mini-museum of Misono artifacts and pictures. There would also be a glass elevator for people to be "beamed up" into it. Floor 3 would be much the same, only it would be aimed at bars that just want to move into a new building in central Osaka, and aren't necessarily for "subcultures". They'd also be charged a rent that actually reflects the location! Floors 2 and 3 of the former car park (not really well illustrated in my pictures, it was almost a seperate building!)would contain restaurants, including one based on the Misono banquet hall, only smaller. Others would just be whoever feels like moving in. In the original Misono there wasn't really any obvious transition between the actual building and the car park. In Shin Tsuki, on the upper floors, it would be a "bridge" inside a transparent "tube", like a docked spaceship. Floors 4 and 5 would be a huge capsule hotel. Capsule hotels are actually going out of fashion and fast-vanishing from Japan. But this one would be there for people who have been drinking in the bars to cheaply-and-basically sleep it off. The former car park areas would have 24-hour mini cafe, coin-op showers and laundry, and many vending machines, including ones for clean shirts! The capsules would have a "cabin in a spaceship" theme and the ones on the outer edge "porthole" windows. From Floor 5, above the ramp, would be an exit area leading to a big staircase dotted with pop-up-shop kiosks. This would lead to a roof area with "Showa Street", a narrow winding street with tiny bars and izakaya, done up in retro style... but with extensive fire-fighting equipment installed. At the end of Showa Street would be The New Moon, a re-creation of Man on the Moon from Cambridge, with a British pub in the front, and a small live house for smalltime bands in the back. On the roof of the car park would be Timecube, a re-creation of Sugarcubes in Lincoln. Next to this would be The Mirror Wave, a bar themed after having a night out on your friend's luxury motor yacht. On the south edge, over Showa Street, would be a huge solar array. On the first floor (or maybe in the basement, "behind" the live house) there would be masses of server rack batteries, with each bar allocated 20kwh from these (if available!) to use up before having to switch to grid power.
The depressingly-inevitable actual future. Let's face it, though. If you go to where the Misono is in 2028, you're going to see this: Look, they're already doing it opposite, where another old hotel and Familymart used to be.
Goodbye Misono...
October 18th 2025
October 30th 2025 Looks like the small next building was connected to the Misono. It used to have a "Showa Street" of it's own inside, with retro-style food stands. It's where I had my first date with my fiancee.
November 24th 2025
November 30th 2025 The ramp is gone, so is the attached building... giving a good view of the Misono from the nearby shotengai once more!
Misono "Replacements" There can be no true replacement for the Misono, of course! But some of these places come closer than others...
Mittera Hall A few people on *spit* Reddit suggested this place as the Misono's most immediate "replacement". For once I'd have to agree with them! It has one big business (a snooker club on the top floor, with a seperate entrance), and several tiny, wierd bars over the other floors. I used to frequent (and still occasionally go to) Rock Bar Plant, in the basement. This is cheap and awesome, the mama speaks English and plays AC/DC all the time. There's also a shop selling punk rarities in the basement, which is open during the day. Upstairs is a bar called Ganja Acid, which sounds very strange, but fun. I'll visit it one day - it also sells Canabeer, which is delicious. There's also a gaming bar a bit like Dendo, only with more variety in consoles (another gaming bar, called Space Station, is not in this building, but is nearby). The building is also absolutely plastered in stickerbombs, graff, and posters for punk, goth, metal and dark-EDM concerts that happened 5 years ago. And hentai OVAs from 25 years ago
Ameson Square Osaka Center Building Another building which I feel is a bit of a Misono-alike. It had a banner put up in 2023 saying something would be "finished" in December 2024. This led me to beleive it was closing, and I planned to tour many of the bars and take photos... but I never got around to that. Then I learned what was happening to the Misono, and this page resulted! Anyway, this building is still there! Whatever was "finished" was some sort of partial renovation. This building also has a load of winding, maze-like passages full of stickers and graffiti. The top floors and basement are especially devoid of open bars and thus especially full of graffiti! It used to have an otaku bar, but that has long since closed. Despite the appearance of the corridors, a lot of the bars in here are pretty mainstream; clean, uncluttered and catering to office workers from the city. There is a strange, dark "disco" a bit like Tenkyuu Kissa, though, and also a cluttered surfing bar. Many of the units are closed down... ripe for a "takeover" by ex-Misono places? Anyway, if you can't decide between Mittera Hall and this place for the 'best' Misono Replacement, don't worry, they are right next door to each other! So, if you have limited time for a trip, you don't have to decide between one or the other, visit both!
HiHi Town This one's the least like the Misono, but it does have the doors (if not the entire front) of the bars open, It's way more mainstream, mostly focused on eating, and catering to workers from the offices around the area. It's connected, via underground tunnels, to Tanimachi 9-chome subway station, Kintetsu-Uehommachi station and a big, swanky (though dated) hotel. Anyway the lower floors have several bars and Izakaya, almost all at the cheap end. There's a bar with all sorts of glass beads and incense, a bit like New Concorde. There's also a train-otaku bar! I went here a few times with a former boss, we used to go to a cheap standing bar with funny staff members (one of them liked Rapunzel, her pronunciation of that name was spectacular). We tried to go to the train bar once, but there must have been some drainage issue, because it reeked of sewage. There's also an outside verandah where you can stand and drink cans, and a Torikizoku, a nice yakitori chain (don't get the "Mega" beers! Cheap crap that causes horrific hangovers).
Sun Plaza This is just an ordinary Japanese drinkin' buildin'. BUT it has three former Misono bars in it! Caoff Discovery, Aran and Anima Animus are all here now. Bar Phoenix is great too, I hereby bestow the title of "should have been in the Misono" honoairily upon it.