In the event you’ve all the time dreamed of visiting Japan, then it is perhaps time to overlook these Tokyo Nights and plan a visit to a youthful, hipper metropolis as an alternative.
I’m speaking about Osaka. Osaka is the threerd largest metropolis in Japan however it’s nonetheless known as Japan’s Second Metropolis.
Osaka has a really totally different feel and appear to Tokyo.
In Tokyo everyone seems to be busy and speeding to get someplace whereas individuals in Osaka feels extra informal and relaxed.
Osaka seems like Tokyo’s little sister: youthful, extra thrilling, and extra carefree. And that’s why this unimaginable metropolis is profitable over vacationers proper now.
A Funky Occasion Playground
Japan is my favourite nation on the planet, and Osaka is its get together playground.
Osaka is grittier and dirtier than Tokyo. All these guidelines that you simply’ll examine in your Japan Guidebook, like not consuming on the road or watching the quantity of your voice, will go proper out of the window right here!
Japanese individuals journey to Osaka to gamble, get together, and usually let their hair down.
This is the reason you’ll discover an enormous focus of bars, karaoke mega golf equipment, and gaming facilities within the coronary heart of town.
In the event you actually wish to get together, then Pure Osaka is the place to be.
It’s a nightclub within the coronary heart of downtown Osaka and is common with Japanese celebrities, influencers, and anybody else who needs to be in the precise place on the proper time.
My favourite solution to get together in Osaka is karaoke! Rent a personal room and sing the evening away. It is a lot enjoyable and extremely reasonably priced, too.
The worth will probably be decided by the scale of the room you rent and the way lengthy you keep, however we paid lower than $15 for our household of 4.
Japan’s Kitchen
Osaka is known as the kitchen of Japan, and there’s no higher place to be for foodies.
The streets alongside both facet of the Dotonbori Canal, between the Dōtonboribashi Bridge and Nipponbashi Bridge are recognized merely as Dotonbori and that is the place to be if you wish to eat in Osaka.
That is additionally the spot the place you possibly can take a photograph with Osaka’s notorious mascot, The Working Man.
Individuals journey from throughout Japan and the world to eat on this district (so in fact I needed to be a part of them!)
I like to recommend attempting the okonomiyaki, which is a savory pancake stuffed with cabbage and onions and smothered in a spicy mayonnaise-style sauce.
Maybe essentially the most iconic factor to eat in Dotonbori is takoyaki. You’ll have in all probability seen these earlier than: little wealthy, eggy dough balls stuffed with octopus served piping scorching.
My husband beloved these, however I positively didn’t!
Osaka With Children
As a lot as I might like to share private tales about wild nights in Osaka nightclubs, I visited with two boys beneath the age of 10.
So my expertise was a bit of bit totally different!
However I’ll say that Osaka is a superb place for household journey. It won’t seem to be an apparent household vacation spot, like Tokyo, however we beloved each minute.
We challenged one another to eat uncommon meals in Dotonbori, wandered by the Workforce Labs botanical gardens, and rode the HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel for unimaginable views of town. Every carriage has Bluetooth, so you possibly can pump out your personal tunes as you journey, too!
In the event you’re touring with children (or when you’re a theme park or adrenaline junkie) then Osaka can also be residence to Common Studios Japan.
This was the primary Common Studios to open a Tremendous Nintendo World, and it’s additionally the most important.
This can be a fashionable and interactive park the place you should buy wristbands and use them to work together with the sights in a method that may make you are feeling such as you’re in a Mario online game (I attempted it and regressed! I felt 15 once more!)
You’ll additionally discover Harry Potter World and the same old Common choices like Jurassic Park and Jaws right here.
Osaka can also be an awesome place to place your self if you wish to take day journeys to different common vacationer locations like Kyoto and Nara too. On the quickest practice you will get to Kyoto from Osaka in round 20 minutes.
Tradition In Osaka
Osaka has an undeserved fame for being devoid of tradition. We positively didn’t discover that to be the case!
Osaka Citadel was as soon as the most important fortress in Japan, and it’s not solely stunning but in addition big! It actually dominates the encircling skyline, and the gardens are a phenomenal place to stroll.
We additionally visited Ohatsu Tenjin, which is within the coronary heart of town, hidden behind a neon-lit restaurant district. That is the shrine to like. It is usually the one place in Japan the place I noticed pink Tori gates!
There are literally two shrines right here. The primary is devoted to the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers who met a horrible finish, and the opposite is a shrine to kids.
Volunteers wait on the entrance to the Shrine and can present you round and let you know the story of the star-crossed lovers (not these star-crossed lovers) intimately, and though it’s not an attraction within the guidebooks, it was an actual spotlight for us.
Getting To Osaka
Once I final visited Osaka, I traveled from Tokyo Station to Shin Osaka Station through the bullet practice.
That is an extremely straightforward journey that solely took 2.5 hours door to door.
I selected to purchase a JR Go: This can be a practice ticket legitimate for a sure time frame that you need to use on any JR practice throughout Japan.
This labored out as the very best worth possibility for me as a result of I used to be additionally visiting close by Nara and Kyoto as a part of my journey.
The JR Go prices 50,000 YEN ($316.00) for 7 days or 80,000 YEN ($506.00) for 14 days.
Alternatively a return ticket from Tokyo Station to Shin Osaka Station is $290 (primarily based on costs for a one week keep touring in August 2024)
Osaka and Tokyo are extremely properly related for a 2 middle journey like this with a practice leaving Tokyo station each 10 minutes.
In the event you don’t wish to go to Tokyo, you possibly can fly straight into Osaka as an alternative. In the event you’re touring from the U.S., you possibly can fly nonstop into Kansai Worldwide Airport from San Francisco and Los Angeles.
United Airways operates the path to San Francisco, whereas Japan Airways operates the path to Los Angeles.