During my trip to Japan in May, Osaka was our home base. We stayed there for all five nights of our trip. I didn't get to see all of Osaka's attractions during my stay there, but I was able to enjoy the culture, shopping, and visit some everyday attractions during my stay there. This post will be more review focused about the places I got to see.




On the way to the city

On the first day from the airport, we took the airport limousine bus to Osaka Station. We then took a short taxi ride directly to our hotel due to our luggage. On our last day, after we've figured out how to get around, we took a Hankyu railway back to Osaka station.

Juso Station

Child butt Statue lol 
(If anyone knows the significance of this please let me know! I couldn't find anything about it online)

Living

Hotel: When researching places to stay, we wanted to be in a quieter location, but still close to a transit station. We stayed near the Juso Station in a hotel called Minn. It's only a 3 minute walk from the station - very convenient to us indeed. The hotel is in a generally safe neighborhood; it's next to some night clubs (not noisy) and if you walk to the hotel at night there are men loitering around the hotel. They won't bother you though, I think they're there to lure men into the clubs.

The hotel has suite-style rooms and we stayed in the family suite style room. It fits up to 6 people ( 4 beds & a large sleeper sofa). The amenities were standard, but there are things like a washer available. In general. the room was clean and comfortable. There's also no housekeeping unless you request it.

One thing to note is the front desk doesn't allow you to store luggage at their front desk due to lack of space. The room looks exactly like the Travelocity photo below:

Travelocity Photo

Our messy last day photo lol

Even though it's an insignificant thing, I have to say I really like standard Japanese bathrooms. There's two rooms, one with the sink and the other with the shower and the tub. The shower is separate from the tub, so you can soak in afterwards. I just found it practical and neat.


Food

Wagyu Beef: After our day trip to Mt. Yoshino, we went to Dotonburi to find dinner. My friend recommended us to try Yakiniku M for their Matsusaka Beef. We didn't know there were actually two locations, and were lucky the Dotonburi location had room for a walk-in. 

Location is on the 2nd floor

Front Entrance

One of my goals being in Japan was definitely to try Wagyu Beef. I've only heard of Kobe beef and wasn't aware there were different grades of wagyu beef. Matsusaka beef is one of the top three types of Wagyu Beef, and the beef is one of the softest and most marbled. The cows also fed beer and given body massages with Shochu, a type of Japanese sake. Matsusaka beef is strictly regulated to keep it's high standards in the quality of the beef distributed.

Our server was multi-lingual and spoke Cantonese with us! He walked us through what we should try. We ended up choosing the Special Course at ￥5,800 per person, and it was so worth it. My favorite was the short rib. This was definitely one of my favorite meals of the trip. You can find more information about the restaurant here. 

 Assorted Appetizers

Marbled Beef Sushi



Beef Parts 

Just a side note we didn't eat the beef raw besides the beef sushi. The meat is cooked over a grill, hence "Yakiniku). I didn't take pictures of the salad, garlic rice, or the dessert, but all were still super yummy!

Tempura Makino: We stumbled upon Tempura Makino (Umeda Store) after a long day of shopping in the area. I later found out it's one of the best & cheapest places to get fresh tempura in Osaka. There was a line but the wait was short. They have set menus, and I chose the Spring Mebuki Set with Asari Clam Soup. It was a 6 menu item for only 1580 yen!!! 

 Menu Front
 Menu Back

All tempura items were served to us freshly fried and by piece meal. The tempura was so light and tasty! The soup was also delicious (might be biased because clam is one of my favorite foods).



Rikuro Ojisan: Rikuro's sells Japanese Cheesecakes, which are very different from regular cheesecakes. The cheesecakes are light and fluffy, and have "bounce" to them. You've probably seen some videos or pictures online of "jiggling" cheesecakes - these are one of them! Each cheesecake is  have raisins at the bottom and sell for 675 yen each. I had two of them during my trip there, and with each bite, the cheesecake practically melts in your mouth. They have stops all over Osaka, but I recommend going early or closer to closing time because there is always a line.


Stamping of the cheesecake

Fluffy piece of heaven!

Sites


Kuromon Market: Kuromon Market is a giant seafood market with a variety of stalls, not limited to seafood, but also vegetables, fruit, meat, etc. Most of the vendors prepare and serve food to you on the spot. 
Inside Kuromon Market

The market consists of two streets that intersect into a cross-shape. We had lunch at Kuromon Senpai, one of the more popular spots. They have seating on the side for people to eat, and it's also known for it's fatty tuna. I think they were out of the fatty tuna, but we still a feast of shrimp, sashimi, fresh uni, unagi, and clam. 


Our Kuromon Senpai Feast



Melon & Strawberry Juice

We were at the market around noon-time and it was packed. The main tip I would give is if you buy anything to eat immediately, eat it in front of the stall so you can throw away your trash then and there. I committed a tourist faux-pas, but do not throw your trash in another vendors trash bin - they don't take kindly to it at all.

Dotonburi: Dotonburi is one of Osaka's top tourist attractions. It's the downtown area of Osaka city, and Dotonburi River flows north of the downtown area. The "Doton" comes from a merchant named Doton Yasui and the "Buri" refers to construction of the canal he began. 

Dotonburi is packed with restaurants, entertainment, and shopping. Some landmarks include the Gilco Man Billboard sign and the Kani Doraku Sign. In general, Dotonburi has a lot of stand-out restaurant signs throughout the district. 

Dotonburi Sign

Dotonburi Canal

On the Dotonburi Bridge

Glica Running Man

Canal Closeup

Underneath the Dotonburi Bridge

One of the things I took away from staying in Osaka and this trip in general is that Japan is jam-packed of things to do. I definitely felt I could have stayed a couple more days in Osaka. If you're looking to being able to experience not just the culture but also lifestyle, I would tack on a couple more days to your trip. 

To prevent this post from getting too long, I'll be ending it here! I'll be updating it later with some shopping areas I went too, with just description and what you can find there! Finding specific places was definitely one of the harder things to do; and I'd love to share some of the gems I've found along the way.