Osaka, Japan

Emmy Myles
Jan 2, 2018
2 min read

Great for: A less busy look at Japan and plenty to do

How to get there: I flew in but there are overnight busses from major cities

Best experience: Holding an owl

Accommodation: Hostels

Hello! こんにちは! (Konnichiwa)

Welcome to another Japan post, this time a little further down from Tokyo in beautiful Osaka! It was a really easy place to get around, with a cheap subway that had day passes, very polite and friendly locals and loads of travel attractions

Before I even landed in Osaka I knew I wanted to see an Owl Cafe, at Lucky Owl the owls were comfortable, well looked after and our guide knew each one by name, personality and many other details, speaking in fluent English and guiding an owl to land on me, she really made the experience great. Japan is famous for many animal cafes, I really recommend this one.

Address: Shinko Bld. 3F 1-1-7 Dotombori, Osaka 542-0074, Osaka Prefecture

How many owl pictures is too many?

Alice in Wonderland has been my favourite book since I was a child and I really wanted to try out one of Japan’s infamous themed resturants (other themes include Shibuya Prison Hospital, Vampire Cafe, Robot restaurant, Maid cafes and many more).

‘Alice In FantasyLand’ seemed like the perfect choice for me, there are 5 in Tokyo, and I visited the only 1 in Osaka.

The food was pretty basic, tomato soup, pasta and desert but the presentation was adorable. The whole experience was rather trippy and surreal- glow in the dark cocktails, waitresses dressed like characters and an interior that really did make it feel as though your were growing, shrinking and falling down the rabbit hole! It was hard to get many pictures inside due to the dark but heres some of the food they had on offer!

Address: D.D. House 1F (Otogibanashi West), 1-8-1 Shibata, Kita Ward, Osaka City

I’ve always loved high up places and Osaka’s Umeda Sky Building observatory stands at 173 metres tall and boasts a view of the whole of Osaka, I visited at night at the city lights were mesmerising. It was hard to photograph the millions of glittering lights but it was enchanting to see, I’d love to visit again during daylight

Address: 1-1-88 Oyodonaka, Kita-ku, Osaka 531-6023, Osaka Prefecture

And of course I couldn’t go to Japan without checking out a pokemon based place! The Pokemon Centre in Osaka was perfect, from trying to guess the pokemon in your poke ball to giant pokemon being around every corner. It was great to satisfy my inner child!

Address: Daimaru Umeda Store 13F, 3-1-1 Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-8202

Pokemon!

One of my favourite things about Osaka was how easy it was to just stumble upon amazing things. A late night walk in the park led to finding a whole area lit up by green fairy lights!

Being a fairy

I also stumbled upon an advertisement for a large art exhibition based on fish, from cute little clownfish to large koi carp all lit up with disco lights I felt like I’d been on a trip to some kind of underwater rave. There seems to always be so much to do in Osaka, it’s worth checking out adverts and local news!