For our final destination of the trip, we spent roughly 48 hours in Osaka. After checking in at The Osaka Station Hotel, we headed out for our first night in the city!
Day 1: Arrival and Railway Station Ramen
It was after eight before we left the hotel so dinner was top of mind. The girls found a ramen restaurant located inside of the nearby Umeda Station. Finding the restaurant turned into an adventure in itself thanks to a maze of bridges, passageways, and sidewalks.
The restaurant, Kyoto Menya TAKEI Hankyu Umeda, is located inside of the second floor central ticket gate of the Hankyu Osaka Umeda Station. It was just after 9:00p when we made it to the restaurant and there was a short line waiting outside. We each placed our order at a kiosk which spit out a ticket with our number in line.
We were called up one by one and our dishes were placed in front of our seats. This was an odd experience for me as I’m an extrovert by nature and we were all seated separately throughout the restaurant. Everyone here was heads down, looking at their phones. While the environment was different for me, it wasn’t uncomfortable and the food was delicious.
After dinner, Mrs. ATX and I split from our travel companions, who wanted to go get some sleep, and headed over to a nearby whiskey bar, Bar Augusta. We stepped inside and were quickly shown to two seats at the end of the bar.
First off, let me say that this place was awesome. I began speaking with the bartender, who I later found out was the owner, and he couldn’t have been more friendly. I’m a Maker’s Mark Ambassador and he told me stories about his travels to different distilleries across Tennessee and Kentucky over the years. We ended up chatting most of the time that we were there and he kept bringing out bottles of amazing bourbons for us.
If you’re a fan of bourbon or whiskey, I highly recommend a visit to Bar Augusta during your visit.
After an hour and a half or so at Bar Augusta, we made the short walk back to our hotel where we turned in just after midnight.
Day 2: Osaka Castle and Ebisuhigashi
Since we were out late the night before, we slept in a bit and didn’t leave the hotel until 10:00a. The first order of business was to find some food and we found a great pastry shop, Burdigala, in the building next to our hotel.
After breakfast, we did some shopping around our hotel before starting our journey over to the Osaka Castle in the early afternoon. It was a nice day out so we slowly meandered through the city. We reached the castle grounds around 3:30p local time. The space was very relaxing which was impressive in the middle of a major city.
We spent roughly an hour strolling through the grounds but, we elected not to try and visit the castle. Even from the outside, it was an impressive building in a more impressive environment.
After visiting the castle, we headed down to the Ebisuhigashi neighborhood, which is where the Tsūtenkaku tower is located. This part of town is also home to many shops and restaurants which we bounced in and out of for the remainder of the afternoon. A cold Asahi beer from a tiny cafe in the summer is fantastic.
After shopping, it was back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner. Mrs. ATX found a great local restaurant that allowed us to grill our own meat. The food was delicious, though the translations on the menu left something to be desired.
Dinner finished around 10:30p and, still not done for the evening, we headed for a karaoke bar. Thankfully there was no photo or video evidence from our singing, but we had a great time and spent a few hours there.
According to the last timestamp on my phone from that night, we left karaoke around 2:00a. Exhauseted, we called an Uber back to our hotel instead of making the walk back.
Day 3: Kuromon Market
Thanks to our karaoke bar visit the night before, our last day in Osaka got off to a slow start. We started the day around 11:00a with another trip to Burdigala for some coffee and breakfast pastries.
After recovering a bit with breakfast, we headed to the Nippombashi area to check out the various venders at the Kuromon Market. This place was a maze of sights and smells and it was easy to pass a few hours of time here. You could even take a picture with a random Spider-Man statue in front of one of the restaurants.
After a few hours at the market, we headed back to the area near our hotel in an effort to visit the Umeda Sky Building. Unfortunately, the lines were too long for us, as Mrs. ATX and I needed to catch a train back to Tokyo so we had to skip that visit on this trip.
Summary
Our time in Osaka was entirely too short. While we weren’t able to see much of the city, everyone we encountered was extremely friendly. Of all of the places we visited on this trip, Osaka was my favorite by far. I can’t wait for my next visit to Osaka, and I plan to spend much longer here next time.