Four Days in Osaka, Japan
Kon’nichiwa, my travel loving friends! Hello! I hope this post finds you in the mood for a spot of armchair travelling, because I’m here to share my penultimate Japanese guide with you: Four Days in Osaka, Japan! In case you missed it, Husband and I went on honeymoon to Japan in January and the land of the rising sun weaseled its way well and truly into our hearts. I’ve already shared a whole heap of guides, including Japan Travel Tips / Our Honeymoon Itinerary / Four Days in Shinjuku / A Morning in Asakusa / 36 Hours in Shibuya / Four Days in Kyoto / and most recently A Food & Drink Guide to Kyoto. After today’s post, I have just one more coming – an Osaka food guide! – and then we’ll be done with Japanese content until our next visit 😉 Shall we dive in?
Osaka, upon reflection, gets a bad rap. Kind of like the Pisa of Japan, it just doesn’t get the love that it deserves. Everyone is quick to go on and on about how brilliant other cities are, but Osaka is often left off the list of favourites. Well, not in our household; we loved Osaka! It was a wonderful mix of crazy, modern, into-the-future technologies meets tranquil pockets of calm, traditional Japan. You could be walking down a winding teeny alley, like the one below, make a turn and then boom: you’re in skyscraper central or there’s a giant lobster hanging off the building or there’s so much neon you don’t know where to look, etc. It’s a little overwhelming at times, but, if you’re anything like us, we’re positive the chaos of the city will charm you.
Similar to my Kyoto blog post, this guide will deal exclusively with all things tourist-ing. Well, there’s also a fun fact section, tips for getting to Osaka, and a teeny-weeny tidbit about our accommodation – but, by and large, we’ll be discussing the best places to get your culture on.
fun facts
A fun fact or two to keep up your sleeve!
• Osaka is the food capital of Japan! The city is so well known for its culinary delights that they’ve adopted this saying: kui-daore no machi, or in English, eat yourself into ruin. As in, you’re going to spend so much time in Osaka eating every! single! thing! that you’ll keep eating until a. you drop or b. you’re financially ruined. I love a good quirky saying!
• related: popular traditional foods from the city include okonomiyaki, Takoyaki and kushikatsu. Okonomiyaki – which you can try regional variations of around the country! – is a lusciously thick savoury pancake made of cabbage & eggs, usually with some meat and hella condiments on top. Takoyaki are deep-fried octopus balls – which, also, are usually topped with hella condiments – and Kushikatsu is a skewered stick of deep-fried meat/veg/fish. Of the three, we were only brave enough to try okonomiyaki, which was surprisingly delicious!
• Osaka is the third largest city in Japan. Tokyo is number one, obvz, followed by Yokohama, which I’ve literally never heard of before this very second(?), and then Osaka. According to the 2020 census, the population of the city rests in and around 2.7 million!
• Shitennō-ji, a Buddhist temple in Osaka, is the oldest one in the whole country! It dates back to the year 593 and was the first ever temple to be built by the state!
getting there
• we arrived into Osaka from Kyoto. As the two cities are so close, we were able to take a quick metro-ride into town! From Kyoto’s Karasuma Station to Osaka-Umeda Station, the journey took 40-ish minutes and cost ¥410 each. Would recommend.
• from Osaka-Umeda Station, we walked 3-minutes to the similarly named and underground-connected Osaka Station, stopping for donuts at Krispy Kreme along the way 😉 From there, we took the Midōsuji line subway to Hommachi Station. The journey took 7-minutes and cost just ¥190 each.
• from Hommachi Station, we strolled a convenient 9-minutes to our hotel, below.
• when we were leaving Osaka to head back to Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen. Two reserved seats on a Nozomi bullet train from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo Station cost ¥29,040 in total, and the journey lasted two and a half hours. Read more here.
where we stayed
MOXY Osaka Honmachi by Marriott // great location, chilled out hipster vibe, and a delightful hotel scent! Would recommend. For our full thoughts, read more here.
where we tourist-ed
Now, on to the goods: where we touristed! Listed below are six of the spots that we stopped at for a light spot of culturing, and I would highly recommend hitting them all if you can! Every attraction listed has both an at a glance section as well as a more in-depth paragraph or two underneath; the former is for quickly gathering the main info needed for a potential visit, and the latter is for anyone wanting to do more of a deep dive. Enjoy!
osaka castle & park
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
10/10
ENTRY COST:
castle: ¥600 // park: free
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 1-1 Osakajo, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 540-0002
GETTING THERE:
Tanimachiyonchome subway Station is a 17-minute walk away. We walked from our hotel, which took roughly 25-minutes.
NEARBY FOOD STOP:
Boulangerie & Cafe Goût, for amazingly buttery, flaky, downright delicious pastries; a exceptionally worthwhile 19-minute walk away.
Dating back nearly 450-years to 1583, Osaka Castle is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Japan. Built by order of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, one of the most powerful samurai Japan has ever known(!), the castle was used as a stronghold to quash the many wars ravaging Japan at the time and, essentially, unify the country. It almost goes without saying that the castle we see today is not the original; it has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the years – most recently in 1928. Standing five-stories tall on the outside (and eight on the inside!), the castle is built on top of a hefty stone foundation, raising it up into a safer position from potential attackers – as if the two moats weren’t defense enough!
Osaka Castle Park was opened to the public in 1931 and has since become an attraction in its own right – it’s so beautiful! The ginormous park, which spans a whopping 15-acres, has over 300 cherry blossom and 1,270 plum trees, making it a rather lovely spot for a stroll. The park has also become well-known for performing street entertainers!
Husband and I, having already filled our castle cup from Kyoto’s Nijō Castle, opted not to tour the inside of Osaka Castle. There was a lengthy queue when we arrived, and we just didn’t think it’d live up to the above, so we settled for admiring the building from the outside and exploring the park. Spoiler alert: we regret nothing! The castle is very visually impressive, and the park is stunning – just look at that moat! We also hung around for a while watching a fun gymnast act performed by an adorable married couple.
Fun fact: the peace Hideyoshi Toyotomi brought about was, unfortunately, short lived – but he is one of just three people credited with the permanent unification of the Japan we know and love today! Not too shabby a title, ey?
namba jinja shrine
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
9/10
ENTRY COST:
free
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 4 Chome-1-3 Bakuromachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 541-0059
GETTING THERE:
Hommachi metro Station is a 5-minute walk away. We walked from our hotel, which took about 19-minutes.
NEARBY FOOD STOP:
colombo cornershop, for coffee & secondhand book browsing, a 1-minute walk away.
Namba Jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Osaka’s modern Chuo Ward. The main attraction here, however, is not actually the shrine itself, but a tree within the grounds. The tree, a camphor tree, is over 400-years old – the oldest in all of Osaka! – and miraculously survived the city’s bombardment during World War II. According to legend, when you touch the base of the tree, some of its power transfers to you. Neat, no?
In truth, this is located very near our hotel, and so we stumbled across this shrine one day by accident. However! I’m so glad we did – it’s gorgeous! A beautifully calm and quiet corner of the city, you’d never guess this was in the centre of Osaka’s business and skyscraper district! Of course, we touched the magic tree and prayed at the shrine; it all just felt so special, you know?
dōtonbori district
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
9/10
ENTRY COST:
free
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 1 Chome Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0071
GETTING THERE:
Namba metro Station is a 4-minute walk away. We walked from our hotel, which took about 30-minutes.
NEARBY FOOD STOP:
10 Yen Bread inside the Dōtonbori Arcade/along Sennichimae Street for a cheesy viral waffle, 1-minute away.
The Dōtonbori district is the lively entertainment hub of Osaka – and it is absolutely insane. Known for over-the-top glitzy (some might say gaudy?) neon billboards and giant 3D signs popping up everywhere you look, walking through the area can be more than a little overwhelming! Dōtonbori River runs through the centre of the area, and is lined on both sides with a plethora of restaurants, the majority of which are located along Dōtonbori Street. The Tombori Riverwalk, a riverside promenade, offers a (marginally) quieter viewpoint over the chaos.
As for Husband and me, while we’re super glad to have seen it with our own two eyes, it was just sliiightly too much. Too many tourists, too much neon, too many tack-tastic three dimensional signs, and just too much to look at! Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy spotting tacky 3D signs more than most people! – but I also really enjoyed leaving the chaos behind and retuning to our quieter side of town.
hōzen-ji temple
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
8/10
ENTRY COST:
free
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 1 Chome-2-16 Namba, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0076
GETTING THERE:
Namba metro Station is a 3-minute walk away. We walked from our hotel, which took about 30-minutes.
NEARBY FOOD STOP:
Okonomiyaki Mizuno for Michelin guide okonomiyaki, a quick 2-minute stroll away.
Hōzen-ji Temple is a small Buddhist temple in the centre of the crazy Dōtonbori district. Built in 1637, the temple is dedicated to Fudō Myō-ō, one of Buddhism’s five main guardians. The draw of the temple is a moss-covered statue of the deity himself, which tourists and locals alike splash with water for good luck – hence the moss.
I had read about Hōzen-ji Temple before visiting, so we sought it out, but honestly I’m not sure we would’ve noticed it by accident – it’s miniscule! Located in a quiet back alleyway, stopping by this temple almost feels like stepping into a bubble of calm. There’s continually lit incense wafting through the air, glowing paper lanterns, and the gorgeously green and squishy looking statue. A nice quiet pocket if you’re looking for a breather in the city!
tsūtenkaku tower
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
10/10
ENTRY COST:
lower level: ¥900 // top outer level: ¥1,400
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 1 Chome-18-6 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, 556-0002
GETTING THERE:
we took the Midosuji Line metro from Namba Station to
Dobutsuen-Mae Station, which took 4-minutes. From there, we walked 7-minutes to Tsūtenkaku.
Tsūtenkaku Tower is an observation deck in the bizarre district of Shinsekai. Originally built in 1912, the tower was the symbol of an amusement park named Luna Park – now, sadly, long gone. The tower as we know it today, no surprises here, is not the original; that one was destroyed by a fire in 1943, and the one in its place today was opened to the public in 1953. Inside the tower, you’ll find: two observation decks, an insane amount of Billiken figurines (a symbol of good luck?), a slide from the top of the building to the bottom, an arcade of sorts, an unending stream of gift shops, a mini-exhibition about all things Glico/Pocky, and two crazy floors with loud music and disco balls. Yes, really!
Seeing as we were expecting a straight up observation deck, we were more than a little confused when we visited Tsūtenkaku Tower! That said, if you just go with the craziness and accept the sheer level of cheese, it’s so fun! We went to the lower observation deck and thought the views over the city were fantastic! Not as jaw-dropping as the Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, obvz, but still worth a visit!
Pro tip: if you’re looking for some funky flavoured souvenirs, the gift shops here are packed with some fun stuff we didn’t see elsewhere! We ourselves bought two fun Pringles flavours: Takoyaki and karaage chicken!
ebisu bridge & glico running man
— AT A GLANCE
OUR RATING:
10/10
ENTRY COST:
free
GENERAL INFO:
website
address: 1 Chome Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0071
GETTING THERE:
Namba metro Station is a 5-minute walk away. We walked from our hotel, which took about 30-minutes.
NEARBY FOOD STOP:
Excelsior Caffé for the literal best soft-serve ice-cream in existence, a 1-minute walk away.
Although this is technically located in Dōtonbori and could potentially have been included in the paragraph above, I felt the Ebisu Bridge and Glico Running Man needed its own moment. Ebisu Bridge, affectionately nicknamed Ebisubashi by locals, crosses over the Dōtonbori river and connects the two main areas in the district. Located just off to the side of Ebisubashi – making it the prime photo-op spot! – is the Glico Running Man sign, an Osaka landmark of sorts. The Running Man is a huge, illuminated neon sign that has cast its glow over the Dōtonbori river since 1935!
Seeing the Ebisubashi Bridge and the Glico Running Man billboard in real life was so crazy; it almost felt like we’d stepped into Ridley Scott’s Black Rain! It definitely was a fun area to stop for a good gawp around – there were a whole heap of other neon flashing billboards and crazy 3D advertisements to look at in the surrounding area. Seeing as it’s such a popular spot, the Ebisu bridge is a bit hectic, but it’s all good fun. Naturally, I coerced Husband into doing the running man pose for a photo while there, but I’ve been made to promise that it’ll never be shared around – sorry, fans of Husband!
And there we have it: Four Days in Osaka, Japan! What did you think? Have you visited the city of neon and 3D signs? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the city!
Osaka food (and best cocktails ever!) guide – my last Japanese travel guide to the foreseeable future 🙁 – coming very soon!
Hugs,
Vicki xo
*Date of trip: 28th January - 1st February, 2024*
related posts
A Food & Drink Guide to Osaka, Japan
Four Days in Kyoto, Japan
A Food & Drink Guide to Kyoto, Japan