24 Hours in Osaka, Japan
Saturday, April 20, 2019
I’d describe Japan
as the meeting point of the ultra-modern and the super traditional; cities like
Tokyo and Osaka harbour the latest tech and weird trends while Kyoto resembles
a time capsule with its perfectly preserved historical architecture. For your
first taste of this charming country, you can understand this contrast by
visiting just Tokyo and Kyoto. But for our travels, we wanted to venture
further out and pack our itinerary with lots of small pitstops and that brings
me to the purpose of this post: the beautiful Osaka.
Osaka is much
smaller than Tokyo, and though it has plenty of neighbourhoods, each with its own
unique flavour, they aren’t necessarily a must-see sight in my view. Other tourist hot spots can also be avoided if
you’re going to be travelling all around Japan as the sights have been
replicated in other cities too.
So, your trip to
Osaka can be a short one, focusing on the spots that are unique or renowned in
the city. The port city is recognised most for its bustling nightlife,
contemporary architecture and abundance of street food and we acquainted ourselves
with these features through a range of fun and quirky activities.
Cup Noodle Museum:
Having been to both Berlin and Amsterdam, weird museums don’t surprise me much
anymore. But I still couldn’t pass up on a museum dedicated to instant noodles.
Japan houses two such tributes to the humble cuppa noodle: the original is in
Osaka’s Ikeda City and its successor in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai District. As
Yokohama wasn’t on our itinerary and Osaka was, for us choosing the museum was
a natural choice and our research indicated the two were similar in any case.
The museum is instantly captivating thanks to the giant wall of instant noodles
(pictured) which provide ample opportunity of getting a nice shot for the ‘gram.
It’s not all just about the aesthetics
though, there’s plenty to learn including how Momofuku Ando came up with the
idea of cup noodles to help starving children and families who were desperate
for a warm noodle soup in the aftermath of the Second World War. And to get the
visitors involved, the museum lets you create your own cup noodle with
packaging, unique soup flavour and toppings. I highly recommend this as a cute
little souvenir to take home.
Osaka Castle: This is undoubtedly the city’s most famous landmark and
rightly so. The castle is impressive from the get go with its surrounding moat
and expansive grounds. Unlike Himeji Castle (which we also visited on this
trip), the Osaka Castle has been turned into a museum on the inside instead of
harbouring the original interior, so we decided to skip seeing the inside. But
as our visit fell during the cherry blossom season, visiting the grounds was
still worth the effort as it’s a prime spot to see the blossoms in bloom. I
bought some Zaru Soba (Cold buckwheat noodles with dipping sauce), cakes and
drinks from a convenience store and sat on the grounds to enjoy hanami and
snacks.
Umeda Sky
Building: As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I’m a sucker for skylines
and love to see the view in different cities. By the time we finished having lunch
at Osaka Castle’s grounds, it was close to sunset, so we headed to the Umeda
Sky Building – a structure famous for its stunning architecture which boasts a
ring-like observation deck to get a 360-degree view of the city.
Namba District: After seeing the sunset at Umeda, we wanted to visit the
heart of the city’s lively nightlife – Namba District. The region with its
bright lights and neon signs is made up of three adjoining areas: Namba, Dotonbori
and Shinsaibashi. Namba is great for discovering unexpected little gems while
Dontonbori is the busiest, probably because of the beautiful canal which
transforms under neon lights each night. The three districts are quite close
together and easily connected via public transport so covering the entire
region in one night is certainly doable.
Try street food: Nicknamed the ‘Nation’s
Kitchen’, it’s no doubt Osaka is famous for its food. While the food all around
Japan is impeccable, I recommend trying two things completely unique to the
Osaka food scene: Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki. Being a vegetarian, I had to miss
out on Takoyaki but I did find myself a vegetarian Okonomiyaki in a restaurant
called Kyo-Chabana in Dotonbori. The pan-fried dish has batter and cabbage as a
base and then you build it up with the meat or veggies of your choice, topped
with mayonnaise and a special sauce which normally isn’t vegetarian. Lucky for
me, Kyo-Chabana is famous for a meat-free version made from tomatoes alongside
other tasty vegetarian options such as Namafu Dengaku which is a chewy grilled
gluten cake.
Stay in a Capsule Hotel: I would put this
high up on the list of must-do things for your Japan itinerary. These funky
individual pods are like mini hotel rooms and though I was initially questioning
my ability to get a good night’s sleep in such small accommodation, I’m happy
to report I loved it. I honestly wouldn’t think twice about staying in such accommodation
again and it’s perfect for one-night stays in Osaka like ours.
Check out a Pachinko Parlour – There’s a high chance if you’re
in Osaka or Tokyo you saw some colourful, garish, cheap looking buildings. This
is pachinko, a form of gambling that is a huge part of the Japanese economy. Pachinko
parlours toe a fine line when it comes to being legal as they are ‘government-tolerated’
so I wouldn’t recommend going and playing one. But if you’re curious like us,
you can just step inside one to experience how noisy and smoky these places
are.
As I mentioned earlier, Osaka doesn’t have
to be on your itinerary especially if it is your first visit to Japan or a
short one. But, it’s important to add that the unique nightlife (unlike that in
other cities around the world), delicious and authentic street food and some
pretty unique sites, the city shouldn’t be underestimated in it’s ability to
win your heart.
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