Japan 2025! Part 1 (Osaka)

After talking about it for five years, and to celebrate our 5th anniversary, my partner and me decided to spend this summer in Japan! This is Part 1, Osaka report!

The first night I surprised M with a fancy hotel stay at a hotel in Rinku-Town, one stop from the airport ✈ We haven't seen each other for a month so I thought a nice shower and the guarantee of a good sleep would be a nice way to start off our trip 🥰 M is always doing little surprises for me during the year and I wanted to make it up to him a little this summer!

We had our first breakfast at a conbini and had a walk next to the sea and this pebble beach called Rinku marble beach! It felt very relaxing. Then it was time to get ourselves to Osaka!

I made the mistake of not checking our apartment with Google Street view. Even though I booked it through Booking.com it ended up being a sort of AirBnB in a dodgy-ish street parallel to Dotonbori and full of small drinking bars and massage parlours.

The entrance was a narrow staircase and totally open all night with no door or locks, not a great thing when the shared bathrooms were unisex and we had to cross the corridor in a towel every time we showered. Nothing weird happened which I guess is a statement to safety in Japan, but still. Not making that mistake again!

First meal

My favourite drink, salty lychee!

First time trying melon pan

We first walked around Namba area but we both think that the city gets much better once you get out of the crowds in Dotonbori. There's too many overpriced shops and bars that are 100% directed at tourists. 

We decided to walk south and stopped at Den Den town. It is Osaka's Akiba and M and me had fun browsing the shops for Pokemon ans MTG cards to gift. I broke my no-shopping-till-Tokyo rule and got way too much tan Hello Kitty crap.

Sexy otter

The day after we visited Ikeda city to check out the Cup Noodle museum and hike up to the Hinomaru Observation deck. The museum is free and making your own cup noodles cost 500¥ 🍜

Paying for the cup (500¥)

Lots of toppings to choose from!

The way towards the viewpoint begins at Satsukiyama park. The paths is steep but well indicated and you can rest in between at different viewpoints! Unfortunately it has been extremely hot in Japan these few days and even though we had plenty of drink with us we ended up turning back half way, but it was still worth it!

The next day we went to Umeda which is shopping central and very fun. M and me separated so we could check shops without dragging each other around lol.

I really liked the vibe at HEP Five and seeing so many alt people around (especially gyaru!). Some sort of summer sale had started that week and I ended up buying quite a bit 🙈

Shops I liked:

- Boss Select (gyaru)

- W closet (got 1 shoulder bag + 1 top)

- SPray (got 2 tops)

Osaka damage

Afterwards M and me met up again and we went walking around the cozy hipster streets of Nakazaki. We ended up crossing the river through the Yodagawa bridge with the intention of doing the Yonagawa River walk... only to encounter big roadworks and since it was starting to get dark we ended up walking to the nearest metro station and getting the subway back.

Japanese highball - I don't drink much anymore but wanted to try the taste... it's pretty good!

I am a bit sad that due the hot weather we had to cancel some of the walks we had planned, for example the Takedao-Namaze walk following an abandoned railway, or even the Minoh Falls walk in Minoh city. I was sick for two and a half days due to something we ate and M had a bit of a heatstroke the day we climbed to the Ikeda viewpoint, but we had a good time in Osaka regardless. Next stop is Nara!