Osaka: Sleepy Residential Neighbourhoods and Vibrant Enclaves
After leaving Seoul we flew into Tokyo, stayed the night, and left the next morning for Osaka. Our itinerary over the next week or so saw us visiting Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nagano before returning to Tokyo for the remaining 8 days of our vacation. We also took brief day trips while at Hiroshima and Kyoto.
We were in Osaka for a few days, but only did as much as we felt we needed to do and explore, rather than pack an excessive amount into each day. Because of this, my observations of Osaka and elsewhere were more so of experiences we encountered that I found intriguing rather than a checklist of what we did.
Getting to Osaka hit a slight snag when we missed our first shinkansen (bullet train). To take a shinkansen, we first had to take a local train to Tokyo station then head to the Japan Rail (JR) office to present our JR exchange orders for passes and tickets.* Peak hour at Tokyo station was a flood of thousands of people flowing in different directions. On top of that, we didn't realise how much of a walk the shinkansen platforms would be from the JR office.
Additionally, our transfers between train lines (e.g. between shinkansen and local lines, one local line and another) in just about every station in every city we stopped at were a bit insane. This was mainly due to the zealous JR staff member who saw fit to book the closest transfers possible to each other. The platforms were frequently quite far from each other. so the tight windows of time saw us dashing from one platform to another. The craziest transfer was a 5 minute gap from when the shinkansen stopped to when the next one we needed to catch left. I was never more thankful for the punctuality of Japanese trains until that moment.
Another thing that dawned upon us immediately was how late the work days in Japan end. We were taken aback when we arrived in Tokyo at midnight and a flood of office workers packed our train. A number of them had flushed faces and stumbled about trying to get to a seat. In Osaka, when returning to the hotel around 10 or 11 PM, we were regularly swept up in massive crowds of people in office attire heading home.
We had the chance to visit Dotonbori on our first evening in Osaka. It was a madhouse. Tons of neon lights, blaring music, crowds. We had under an hour to spare there before meeting up with a friend for dinner. Given how tired we were from travelling the day before and in the morning, I was rather glad we couldn’t stay long.
The takoyaki we tried at Takoyaki-Juhachiban Sons-Dohtonbori was likely the softest takoyaki I've ever had. It somehow retained its structure while a steaming hot bite revealed a delicate filling of squid.
For dinner, we ate delicious Osaka style okonomiyaki (savoury pancake) at Fukusukeya Shinsaibashi, a small basement restaurant near Shinsaibashi. A friend living in the city, Itsuko, brought us there and I’m glad she did. The rich flavour of fried okonomiyaki, teriyaki sauce, and Japanese mayo was spectacular. Greasy, filling, flavourful. We had a full bowl of chopped cabbage with dressing on the side to balance things out a bit.
The downtown core of Osaka was energetic and busy while the neighbourhoods a bit further out had more of a sleepy town vibe. It turned out that our hotel was right by Osaka's red light district in Juso. We only realised this when we saw all the ads with scantily clad women lining the entire block leading to the hotel. There were also multiple pachinko (arcade game) parlours that released a cacophony of eardrum ringing slot machine music each time someone passed through their automated sliding doors.
It was interesting because Juso was an otherwise residential area during the day, with retirees slowly cycling through the neighbourhood and office workers having lunch. During the night however, street walkers were out in full force at every corner. Club promoters in dark suits lined the streets. It happened to rain our first night in Osaka, and all the escorts on the streets had the exact same transparent umbrella above their heads. It was a curious sight. I realised later on that it’s actually more common than not for Japanese people as a whole to use translucent or clear umbrellas. Only a select few used compact umbrellas or those with different colours.
Strolling the narrow streets along various neighbourhoods, Christine noted the last names of homeowners were written on their mailboxes or adjacent to the address of their home. I couldn’t quite confirm what they were until she explained.
Another thing I noticed about Osaka and elsewhere was that vending machines for drinks or cigarettes were everywhere. We came across a vending machine at every other corner. We had fun throughout the trip taste testing multiple brands of coffee and tea, sweetened and unsweetened, hot and cold, from these machines.
It so happened that we needed to do a round of laundry while in the city. The nearest laundromat was 2.5 blocks away past the clubs, promoters, and escorts. We must have made such a sight on a busy Friday evening in our tees, home shorts, and plastic bags filled with clothing while we huddled under a brolly.
It was my first time visiting an unmanned 24 hour laundromat. It turned out to be a small narrow room filled with coin operated laundry machines and dryers, and large glass windows overlooking the street. There were multiple security cameras on the walls, and the front door was propped open. It was located just down a poorly lit side alley off the main road.
The solitary chair in the tight space was occupied and multiple laundry machines were whirring away. A number of other people came in to do their laundry while we were there. Keep in mind all this occurred between 12AM and 1:30 AM on a Friday night. It was undoubtedly one of the more rowdy Friday nights I’ve had.
The next day we went back to Dotonbori to explore the area more thoroughly. We found Uncle Rikuro's Cheesecake- it was excellent, far better than I anticipated! The line up was long but it was a short wait. A policeman was positioned by the end of the line to ensure everyone moved along in an orderly manner.
The cheesecake was soft and fluffy, piping hot right out the oven and into our mouths minutes later. We pretty much bought the cake and sat down in the store to eat half of it in under 10 minutes. Typical of Japanese cheesecakes, the cake had a mild but delectable sweetness- those used to the comparatively dense sweetness of New York cheesecake might find it bland. Raisins peppering the bottom edge of the cake provided additional bursts of sweetness in each bite. For less than 700 yen it was an outstanding deal.
Speaking of food, shinkansen station food exceeded our expectations of train food. The sandwiches, onigiri (rice balls), and bento boxes we tried were flavourful and filling, but pricey. It also depends on what you get. Don’t get a sushi bento box at a train station- this should have been clear. The one I tried was a bit stale, whereas the cooked meat or seafood based bento boxes and onigiri were of a fair quality.
Back to Dotonbori: The Dotonbori Glico Man sign was interesting. Dotonbori was ridiculously packed that Saturday due to Halloween weekend. Lots of people were dressed up. Itsuko made an observation that Halloween in Japan was more cosplay based than a North American Halloween which involved more effort to dress up in a frightening manner. We definitely got that sense while in Dotonbori.
After trying out Uncle Rikuro’s and walking for a bit, we headed to Ichiran Ramen. The ramen was decent but didn’t stand out. The main reason we went was to experience the individual booths where you order and are served without ever seeing the face of your server. I actually quite liked practising solitary dining.
We experienced countless gestures of politeness and overall considerate and helpful behaviour. A man went out of his way to guide us a few hundred metres to the entrance of the right subway line. At Juso, when we couldn’t figure out how to top up our Pasmo cards, a subway staff member temporarily closed her entire work station to assist. She shut off her computer screens and locked the fare purchase windows to come out and demonstrate how to add value to the cards. The only deferential behaviour that I was undecided about was the shinkansen staff bowing each time they left our carriage.
Our time in Osaka came to an end far too soon and we headed to Hiroshima.
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* JR passes are valid for a specific period of time (7, 14, or 21 days). Within that time frame you are permitted to reserve as many different train rides as you need at no additional cost, with a few limitations.