Ebisu Tower & Tazaemon-bashi
An oval ferris wheel bolted to a discount megastore — peak Dōtonbori logic.
Key facts
- Across the water on the north (Sōemonchō) bank, the Don Quijote Dōtonbori store carries the Ebisu Tower, a distinctive oval ferris wheel about 77 m at its top.
- It opened in March 2005, was suspended in 2008 over mechanical issues, and reopened in 2018 — it runs today.
- The bridge here is Tazaemon-bashi, a footbridge linking the Dōtonbori and Sōemonchō sides — toward the eastern half of the canal, not the west end.
Narration transcript
Rejoin the water, keep heading east, and look across to the far bank — the left side now. Bolted to the front of a discount megastore is a ferris wheel. Not round: oval. An elongated, egg-shaped loop of gondolas climbing the side of a shop that sells everything from snacks to luggage. That's the Ebisu Tower, on the Don Quijote store, and honestly it's the most Dōtonbori object imaginable — why wouldn't you strap a ferris wheel to a bargain store on a canal?
It opened in 2005, sat idle for a while after some mechanical trouble, and came back in 2018, so it's turning again if you fancy the view. The little footbridge you're near is Tazaemon-bashi — and here's a thing worth knowing: despite how some maps read, this bridge is toward the eastern half of the canal, not the west. You've walked most of the famous stretch already.
Just ahead, the water takes a turn toward sport and superstition — and one of the strangest stories in Japanese baseball.