Osaka, Japan
From the quiet, meditative spaces of the art islands, we traveled straight into the center of the chaos when we took a shinkansen into Osaka. The trains were all nearly full, as it seems like everyone else was also going back to the big city after their New Year’s breaks. We spent only two nights in Osaka, so Alex chose a hotel right by the train station for maximum convenience. In fact, it was above a giant mall complex and attached to the train station by a walkway, so we could have stayed the whole time without ever actually touching the outside ground. With the weather being very rainy on our first full day, we nearly avoided going outside at all, but we did squeeze in a tiny bit of exploration of the city.
Night one arrival, and settling in to our hotel, with dinner in the mall food court downstairs.
Aussie breakfast! We crossed over to the train station for soft scrambled eggs and ricotta hotcakes.
Rainy day is great for laundry day.. except we got trapped in a cycle of our clothes never drying, so this ended up being a whole-day ordeal. Alas. Plus, a mediocre omurice curry from the food court downstairs.
Then we decided to explore Yodobashi, which is a gigantic electronics store that takes up FIVE floors and sells all sorts of crazy stuff. Like these home appliances, which I guess are marketed towards new brides?
The whole store is overwhelming. So much visual clutter. And in the audio section, so much noise too.
Found San Francisco’s Peak Design on the camera floor. Imagine buying your SD card and being greeted with multiple different displays that all look something like this… I didn’t end up buying anything. The prices were all higher than US prices.
The Apple shop within Yodobashi is the one oasis of visual calm. White surfaces and no clutter. Even the lighting is softer. Really interesting.
Where we did end up shopping was Uniqlo. Purchased a bunch more heattech for the cold weather and met the quota for my purchase to be tax free. Also, found an ad for the upcoming world expo which will be hosted here in Osaka starting in April this year!
A look back at our megaplex.
We crossed the street for some classic Osaka street food: okonomiyaki. I only later realized that I came to this same spot the last time I was in Osaka, twelve years ago.
City views from our room.
Sunrise!
Ok, one day of leaving our megaplex and exploring a tiny bit of the city. We started by browsing a bookstore and grabbing some breakfast by the train station.
Anpan, or red bean bun!
A subway ride took us to the main touristy food area. Osaka’s headliners are all street foods, like crab and takoyaki.
Got ourselves some takoyaki!
We had thought about going to Ippudo (individual booth ramen), but the wait was too long, so we went to Kura (conveyor belt sushi) instead. Both are chains that we also have here in California, haha.
Obligatory Glico man photo.
Then we made our way over to a boutique-y neighborhood and browsed a couple shops. We bought a set of Hasami coasters/lids from this design store.
Afternoon tea break at wad.
And then… we got stranded. The entire metro line shut down literally as we arrived in the station. We later learned they had safety concerns and had to inspect the whole track. But at the time, it looked like a delay that might resolve at any moment. After ten minutes of waiting, we decided to surface and see if we could take a bus instead!
Nope, after waiting for a bus, the bus was not only late but also completely packed and bypassed our stop entirely. Soooo we ended up calling an Uber. It may look driverless upon first glance, but just remember that Japan drives on the left side of the road and the driver sits on the right. Whew, what an ordeal.
We eventually made it back to our hotel, just in time to claim all of our bags and hop on a train to the next destination… Kyoto.
Well, we had an okay time in Osaka. I’m sure we didn’t see the best it had to offer. If you love Osaka, please share what we missed! Perhaps we’ll come back some day! But perhaps we will not, as I’ve now been underwhelmed twice, haha. Sorry, Osaka.
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.
Part 1: December in Taipei
Part 2: Naoshima & Teshima | Japan’s Art Islands
Part 3: Osaka, Japan
