Tsukishima: the monja streets and the old island
A lane of griddle-batter restaurants, a fishermen's quarter, and a red bridge under the towers. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Tsukishima Monja Street
*Tsukishima Nishinaka-dori*, scores of *monjayaki* (the savoury Tokyo griddle-batter) restaurants down one lane. You cook it yourself on the teppan; let the staff start your first one if you've never done it. Pick the place with the queue you can live with, not the shortest.

2. Sumiyoshi Jinja
The *jinja* (shrine) the Osaka fishermen founded in 1646, tucked behind the modern blocks on Tsukuda island. Small, salt-aired, half-forgotten between the towers. The triennial festival here floods these lanes with boats and poles.

3. Tsukudajima
The old fishermen's quarter, settled by families brought from Osaka in the early 1600s and the birthplace of *tsukudani*, the soy-simmered preserve that still takes its name from here. Two or three lanes of low *nagaya* (old terraced row-houses) survive against the high-rises.

4. Tsukuda Kobashi
The little red bridge over the old boat moorage, where the festival poles are stored under the water. Stand on it and you get the whole contrast in one frame — the red rail, the moored boats, the *River City* towers behind. This is the walk's quiet wonder.

5. Sumida-gawa terrace
The riverside walk along the *-gawa* (river) at Tsukuda Park. Wide water, the bridges upstream, the towers reflected at dusk. Follow it south toward Kachidoki.

6. Kachidoki
The Oedo line runs from here. Or double back to Tsukishima if you want a second *monja* before you go — nobody's stopping you.

Tsukishima: the monja streets and the old island