We had to bid farewell to Kyoto today, after a lovely few days exploring, and head to Osaka. Soren and I hadn’t been well the day before, and I woke up feeling worse with a bad ear and sinus infection. We decided it was to be an easy morning (or easy as it could be) of packing up our Kyoto Airbnb before heading to Osaka.
Osaka here we come…..
As we head off to Yamashina station for the last time, it was about 3 degrees, but there was no snow today! We caught the train through to Kyoto Station and then killed some time before finding our rapid express to Osaka. Much to Soren’s horror the train had a Hello Kitty theme (he hates Hello Kitty, and we’ve been torturing him with it all through Japan).
The just over half hour train to Osaka was painless. Except, we discovered once on the train that it went through to Tennoji staton, where we are staying, so we decided to stay on the extra stop, rather than changing trains. We have regional travel passes for the next 5 days so the train was covered on the pass. We didn’t have reserved seats past Osaka station so dutifully got out of our seats when additional passengers got on at Osaka station, and looked at us in disdain as we’d been sitting in our rightfully reserved seats to that point. We thought this would all work out fine, until a conductor came through, and looked at our tickets and insisted that the stupid tourists must go back to the Osaka stop as that was where we were meant to be. She even looked up the correct platform and train time for us, and we smiled and nodded and hoped the kids kept their mouths shut while we assured her we would immediately return on the next train.
Once off the train, it was out into Osaka and off to our Airbnb apartment with the bags. We were allowed to leave our bags in the apartment while it was being cleaned, so this was a bonus. Although we couldn’t actually check in early. As I wasn’t feeling grand so another 4 hours of walking around in the cold wasn’t that appealing.
Kuromon Market….
It was now after 12pm so we head off on foot to the Kuromon market (an approximate 25 min walk). We enjoyed our first views of Osaka. The big wide streets and buildings were a very different look to Kyoto.
Kuromon market was predictably busy and had many many disgusting items for sale that Japanese (and other) people consider food 😉
The market had quite a few shops closed due to the New Year’s break, but it was still fairly busy and there were plenty of stores for us to check out. The majority were food, although we found clothes, shoes and pharmacies in the mix.
The meat eaters did try a plate of Takoyaki (octopus balls) the local delicacy. Takoyaki are a must-try for Osaka it would seem. Watching them being made was fascinating and they came in a variety of flavours and with different toppings.
Zinnia wasn’t a fan of the takoyaki but the others didn’t mind them. Astrid continued to seek out takoyaki for the rest of the trip!
The prices at this market were much higher than the ones in Kyoto, so after a look around we head off on the train in search of lunch and our next activities. The station we got off was where the Osaka zoo was located. The tiled murals in the station were fabulous.
Konbini lunch…..
We were now all hungry and with all the walking and the cold, the kids were keen on food every 5 minutes. Even after 5 days in Japan they had not gotten sick of non-stop convenience store food. So it was out of the station and off to a nearby konbini for a lunch of croquettes and egg sandwhiches. All of which were consumed outside on the street.
Shinsekai District…..
We then walked to the nearby Shinsekai district, which is a retro district which was developed in 1912 reportedly inspired by Paris and New York. It contained a retro arcade with a weird mix of restaurants, games and souvenir stores.
It was bright and colourful and the arcade games were fun to watch. Even if some of them were rather odd to us Aussies.
The Shinsekai district is known for the Tsutenkaku Tower. The 103m tower is a well-recognised landmark in Osaka and is visible from quite a distance (including our apartment). The kids were impressed with the tower, and fascinated by the slides which you can see on the outside of the tower.
We had planned to go up the tower the next day and now slides were on the agenda. I was not sure this was a good idea!
Tennoji Park…..
It was then off to check out nearby Tennoji Park. The park includes Tennoji zoo, a Japanese garden and the Osaka City Museum of Fine arts. We wandered through the Japanese garden area, and even on a Winter’s day it was quite pretty. The bright red bridge was definitely easy to see from a mile away!
The park was a lot less busy and a lot calmer than our other sightseeing spots for the day!
Isshin-Ji Temple….
Leaving the park we found our way to Isshin-Ji temple. This was not on our original agenda so it was a bonus temple visit for the day. Less than a week into the trip and we’d lost count of the number of temples already.
The Buddhist temple was founded in the Meiji period (1185). There were some impressive graveyards, with plenty of cats wandering around, having a wonderful afternoon.
The large statues at the entrance were rather eye catching and there was a mix of modern construction and the older sections of the temple.
Our Osaka Apartment….
Now all very weary we were ready to go to the apartment and start the unpacking. On our walk back we had a few detours to add to the step count as we picked up breakfast supplies and checked what was in the local area.
One we reached the apartment the cleaning was done and our bag were waiting. Much to the kids delight there is a Nintendo switch, so they were sorted for downtime for the next 5 days.
Tempura and Soba noodles…..
After the unpacking it was time for dinner and a non-convenience store dinner sounded good. When we dropped our bags we’d spied an okonomiyaki restaurant just metres from our apartment that claimed to have vegetarian food. Sadly they appeared to be closed when we went out to grab dinner. Not feeling great, Soren and I weren’t keen on going far. We ended up walking back towards Tennoji station and found a restaurant that did soba and tempura.
We then proceeded to thoroughly confuse the staff by my not wanting to eat ‘fishu’ or dashi and yet Soren ordering a giant plate of prawn tempura. They were carefully trying to find me something without meat or fish and thought that maybe we were idiots and ordered prawns by mistake. In the end we all had some food, even if mine was without anything but salt (all dipping sauces had dashi) and the kids got plenty of hot tea to enjoy with their meals.
The walk back to the apartment gave us night-time views of Osaka and a bonus view of Shinteno-Ji temple from our apartment balcony.
We were were all ready for some sleep after our ‘easy’ day still racked up over 20k steps!
Up next…..
A big day of Osaka sightseeing – Tsutenkaku tower, Osaka Castle with a gozbune (golden boat) ride and some vertigo inducing views from Umeda Sky building. We then finished off the day with the sensory overload of the crazy Namba and Dotonbori districts.
