Move Over Tokyo! Osaka’s Fun & Funky Vibe Winning Over Travelers
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In case you’ve at all times dreamed of visiting Japan, then it may be time to neglect 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 Metropolis.
Osaka has a very different look and feel to Tokyo.
In Tokyo everyone seems to be busy and dashing to get someplace whereas individuals in Osaka feels extra informal and relaxed.
Osaka appears like Tokyo’s little sister: youthful, extra thrilling, and extra carefree. And that’s why this unimaginable metropolis is successful over vacationers proper now.
A Funky Occasion 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 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, occasion, and usually let their hair down.
For this reason you’ll discover an enormous focus of bars, karaoke mega golf equipment, and gaming facilities within the coronary heart of the town.
In case 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 widespread with Japanese celebrities, influencers, and anybody else who desires to be in the appropriate place on the proper time.
My favourite technique to occasion in Osaka is karaoke! Rent a personal room and sing the evening away. It is a lot enjoyable and extremely inexpensive, too.
The worth shall be decided by the dimensions 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 identified 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.
Folks journey from throughout Japan and the world to eat on this district (so after all I needed to be 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.
Maybe probably the most iconic factor to eat in Dotonbori is takoyaki. You’ll have most likely seen these earlier than: little wealthy, eggy dough balls full of octopus served piping scorching.
My husband liked these, however I positively didn’t!
Osaka With Youngsters
As a lot as I’d 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 a little bit bit totally different!
However I’ll say that Osaka is a good place for household journey. It may not seem to be an apparent household vacation spot, like Tokyo, however we liked each minute.
We challenged one another to eat uncommon meals in Dotonbori, wandered via the Workforce Labs botanical gardens, and rode the HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel for unimaginable views of the town. Every carriage has Bluetooth, so you possibly can pump out your individual tunes as you journey, too!
In case you’re touring with youngsters (or should you’re a theme park or adrenaline junkie) then Osaka can also be house 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 purchase wristbands and use them to work together with the points of interest in a manner that can make you’re 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 is also a great place to place your self if you wish to take day journeys to different widespread 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 popularity for being devoid of tradition. We positively didn’t discover that to be the case!
Osaka Fortress was as soon as the most important fort in Japan, and it’s not solely stunning but additionally enormous! It actually dominates the encompassing skyline, and the gardens are a wonderful place to stroll.
We additionally visited Ohatsu Tenjin, which is within the coronary heart of the town, hidden behind a neon-lit restaurant district. That is the shrine to like. It’s also 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
After I final visited Osaka, I traveled from Tokyo Station to Shin Osaka Station by way of the bullet practice.
That is an extremely straightforward journey that solely took 2.5 hours door to door.
I selected to buy a JR Pass: This can be a practice ticket legitimate for a sure time period that you need to use on any JR practice 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 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 (based mostly 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 case you don’t need to go to Tokyo, you possibly can fly straight into Osaka as an alternative. In case 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.
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Opinions expressed listed here 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, permitted or in any other case endorsed by any of the entities included throughout the put up.