Move Over Tokyo! Osaka’s Fun & Funky Vibe Winning Over Travelers
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If you’ve at all times dreamed of visiting Japan, then it is likely to be time to overlook these Tokyo Nights and plan a visit to a youthful, hipper metropolis as an alternative.
I’m talking about Osaka. Osaka is the threerd largest metropolis in Japan however it’s nonetheless known as Japan’s Second City.
Osaka has a very different look and feel to Tokyo.
In Tokyo everyone seems to be busy and speeding to get someplace whereas folks 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 unbelievable metropolis is profitable over vacationers proper now.
A Funky Party Playground
Japan is my favourite nation on the planet, and Osaka is its occasion playground.
Osaka is grittier and dirtier than Tokyo. All these guidelines that you just’ll examine in your Japan Guidebook, like not consuming on the road or watching the amount of your voice, will go proper out of the window right here!
Japanese folks journey to Osaka to gamble, occasion, and usually let their hair down.
This is why you’ll discover an enormous focus of bars, karaoke mega golf equipment, and gaming facilities within the coronary heart of town.
If you actually need to occasion, then Pure Osaka is the place to be.
It’s a nightclub within the coronary heart of downtown Osaka and is standard with Japanese celebrities, influencers, and anybody else who needs to be in the fitting place on the proper time.
My favourite strategy to occasion in Osaka is karaoke! Hire a non-public room and sing the night time away. It’s a lot enjoyable and extremely inexpensive, too.
The value can 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.
This can be the spot the place you may take a photograph with Osaka’s notorious mascot, The Running Man.
People journey from throughout Japan and the world to eat on this district (so after all I needed to be a part of them!)
I like to recommend attempting the okonomiyaki, which is a savory pancake full of cabbage and onions and smothered in a spicy mayonnaise-style sauce.
Perhaps probably 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 full of octopus served piping scorching.
My husband cherished these, however I undoubtedly didn’t!
Osaka With Kids
As a lot as I might like to share private tales about wild nights in Osaka nightclubs, I visited with two boys underneath the age of 10.
So my expertise was slightly bit completely different!
But I’ll say that Osaka is a good place for household journey. It may not appear to be an apparent household vacation spot, like Tokyo, however we cherished each minute.
We challenged one another to eat uncommon meals in Dotonbori, wandered by way of the Team Labs botanical gardens, and rode the HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel for unbelievable views of town. Each carriage has Bluetooth, so you may pump out your individual tunes as you experience, too!
If you’re touring with children (or in case you’re a theme park or adrenaline junkie) then Osaka can be house to Universal Studios Japan.
This was the primary Universal Studios to open a Super Nintendo World, and it’s additionally the biggest.
This is a contemporary and interactive park the place you should buy wristbands and use them to work together with the sights in a means 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 Universal choices like Jurassic Park and Jaws right here.
Osaka is also a great place to place your self if you wish to take day journeys to different standard vacationer locations like Kyoto and Nara too. On the quickest prepare you will get to Kyoto from Osaka in round 20 minutes.
Culture In Osaka
Osaka has an undeserved fame for being devoid of tradition. We undoubtedly didn’t discover that to be the case!
Osaka Castle was as soon as the biggest fort in Japan, and it’s not solely stunning but additionally large! It actually dominates the encircling skyline, and the gardens are a good looking place to stroll.
We additionally visited Ohatsu Tenjin, which is within the coronary heart of town, hidden behind a neon-lit restaurant district. This is the shrine to like. It can be the one place in Japan the place I noticed pink Tori gates!
There are literally two shrines right here. The first 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
When I final visited Osaka, I traveled from Tokyo Station to Shin Osaka Station by way of the bullet prepare.
This is an extremely simple journey that solely took 2.5 hours door to door.
I selected to buy a JR Pass: This is a prepare ticket legitimate for a sure time period that you should utilize on any JR prepare throughout Japan.
This labored out as the perfect worth choice 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 Pass 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 nicely related for a 2 middle journey like this with a prepare leaving Tokyo station each 10 minutes.
If you don’t need to go to Tokyo, you may fly instantly into Osaka as an alternative. If you are touring from the U.S., you may fly nonstop into Kansai International Airport from San Francisco and Los Angeles.
United Airlines operates the path to San Francisco, whereas Japan Airlines operates the path to Los Angeles.
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Opinions expressed listed below are the creator’s alone, not these of any financial institution, bank card issuer, resort, airline, or different entity. This content material has not been reviewed, accepted or in any other case endorsed by any of the entities included throughout the submit.