Japan Honeymoon Trip Report - Three Days in Osaka Itinerary

Honeymoon trip report! We covered three major cities in Japan this time round - Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. In the first part of this mini travel report series we'll write a little about our itinerary and hopefully it'll help you if you're planning a future trip too :)

Next Post in this series: Two Days in Kyoto

Day One: We flew in by Cathay Pacific this time, partially because the tickets were cheap (for full service airline standards), partially because CX is a SkyTrax 5-star airline, but mostly because it's an overnight flight and touches down at 6.25am in the morning. First order of business was to pick up our Pocket Wifi for unlimited Internet - ¥9,070 for 8 days inclusive of a ¥1,420 pre-9am delivery charge.


We took the Airport Bus at ¥1,500 per person (about an hour's journey) from Kansai International Airport to Osaka, and walked about 15 minutes to Hotel Kinki. Do excuse the photo as we ... forgot to take one before messing the place up. The rooms are small as expected at this price range of ¥5,600/night, but they are functional and have all the amenities needed for the tourist who isn't expecting to spend too much time here. On the downside the pillows are strangely uncomfortable and there is a noticeable lingering cigarette smoke smell.



Anyways we drop off our luggage and are immediately off by train to Kema Sakuranomiya Park for some Sakura (cherry blossom) viewing. The park is one of the most popular hanami spots nationwide thanks to the thousands of sakura trees lining both banks of the river. Due to some uncharacteristically warm weather earlier in the month this year's season came (and ended) 1-2 weeks early; that's fine though cos we're still in time to catch most of the trees still at full bloom plus some hanafubuki (literally petal blizzard) to boot!





We then adjourned to the Osaka Aquarium for a couple of hours. It's a decent aquarium, and designed pretty creatively with the general walkway spiraling around the huge centerpiece tank with an impressive array of huge fish and assorted manta/sting rays. We're particularly impressed by the huge Spider Crabs, some of which have lower claw limbs a staggering 2 feet long!


To cap off the day we head over to one of the most famous shopping, entertainment and food districts in Osaka - Dotonbori, with that uber-famous Crab restaurant Kani Doraku. The crab set menus are a little pricey so we pass; but we do at least buy a Grilled King Crab Leg for ¥700 and eat it by the roadside.



We end up choosing Kamakura Soup with Noodles for dinner before heading back to the Hotel for some shut-eye. You can check out our full review of the Ramen here.


Day Two: We take a 20-minute morning train ride to the nearby town of Kobe, specifically to eat some Kobe Steak. The most popular restaurant among gaijins seems to be Steakland, right next to the Non-JR Sannomiya train station. Check out our full review of Steakland Kobe here.



In the afternoon/evening we head over to Nara to spend the rest of the day. We thought it was a pretty fun side-trip from Osaka's metropolis - we saw some scattered sakura trees ...


... we got to feed a lot of the wild deer roaming Nara Park ...


... and we took in the sights of some majestic shrines, pagodas and temples. We like Kofukuji in particular!


We rounded off the day exploring, window shopping and having dinner at the food streets around Nara.

Day Three: We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios Osaka. One tip for buying tickets is not to buy them at the park, but instead to buy at the JR Midori ticket counter at the Osaka station. It costs the same, and you skip the ticket queues at USJ and get to enter the park immediately. Tickets are ¥6,600 each for adults.



Dinner is at the nearby Takoyaki Museum, which has a rather misleading name as it's not a museum at all. It's a 'food court'-style eatery with a half dozen outlets for famous takoyaki shops around Osaka. There's quite a few interesting takoyaki flavors and varieties, including this Black Pepper and Cheese one:


Day Four: We check out and drag our bags to the JR Osaka station for the 30-minute ride to Kyoto.

So that concludes our three days in Osaka. If you've read this far we hope that this short write-up has given you at least an idea as to what you could do in this city. If you've got any questions do leave us a comment below; otherwise we'll be back with our Kyoto and Tokyo write-ups in the days to come!

Where to Eat in Osaka - Kamakura Soup with Noodles (Ramen) in Dotonbori

On our first night in Osaka, we ventured forth to Dotonbori, one of the most popular shopping, entertainment and most importantly, food areas in town. The initial plan was to have ourselves some crab goodness at the venerable Kani Doraku Honten with its imposing mechanical crab, but since it was raining our stomachs grumbled for something more ... soupy.


So after wandering around the dozens of different restaurants and stalls along the streets we settled for Kamakura soup with noodles (Ramen). I'm not sure why we chose Kamakura - maybe it was some subconscious linkage to Bleach's Karakura Town; or maybe it was just the all-glass facade being an inviting change from the other closed-off shops.


Whatever the case, we order our noodles via the 'vending machine' outside the restaurant (If you don't read Japanese it's simple - just insert money and press whichever button looks tastiest), step inside and take our seats in the two dozen (or so) seat counter.


My Medium size Cha Shu Ramen (¥900) is remarkable value for money, consisting of lots of slices of three different varieties of pork served on a generous helping of yellow ramen noodles. The soup is a clear, light-tasting lightly-shoyu'ed broth - which may not be your cup of tea if you prefer the stronger tasting varieties (like miso or tonkotsu broths).


If you prefer a less carnivorous meal, you lose a few pork slices but gain an egg with the small Cha Shu Ramen with Egg (¥850). Noodles are nicely cooked without being too soggy or too hard, although pasta lovers might prefer it a little more al dente.

Kamakura Soup with Noodles is in Dotonbori, Osaka. To get here, walk down the main 'street' with Kani Doraku on your left (see first pic) and take the second turning on your right (it should be a covered side-street). Kamakura should be a couple minutes walk on your right. At time of writing, 1000¥ = SGD 12.26. Non halal.

Pretty Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) at Kema Sakuranomiya Park, Osaka, Japan!

The darling and I have always wanted to visit Japan for some Sakura (Cherry Blossom) viewing, so almost a year ago we planned this trip for the second week of April which has historically been the peak Sakura viewing season. Some unseasonably warm weather in March this year, however, accelerated the flowers' full bloom by over a week. So when we got off the plane we dumped our bags at the hotel and immediately headed over to one of Osaka (and Japan's) favorite viewing spots - Kema Sakuranomiya Park!


We reach the park and are delighted to see that although some trees have started to shed some petals thanks to the rain and strong winds, most trees are still blooming strong! The park has something like 5,000 trees lining both banks of the river and make for an extremely scenic and enjoying leisurely stroll.


We're somewhat surprised to find out that there are actually close to twenty different varieties of Sakura / Cherry Blossoms all over Japan - with different colors, blooming periods and even number of petals and flower shape. The trees in Kema Sakuranomiya Park are mostly of the Somei Yoshino variety.


We also encounter a lot of multiple petaled, darker pink variety which we believe is the Yoshino variety. These are very obviously a later-blooming variety as the flowers look strong and sturdy and show no sign of giving up their petals to the wind ... yet.


Although we may have been a day or two late with the "peak" season for Osaka, we actually very much liked the conditions at the park - thanks to the hanafubuki (flower/petal blizzard) of "snowing" petals whenever the wind blowed. You can check out what it looks and feels like in the video below:


Of course we have to admit that it's a shame that the season came and ended earlier than usual this year (blame global warming, perhaps?) as we would have loved to personally experience the entire lifecycle of the sakura opening, blooming and the petals dropping. Maybe next year? :)

Kema Sakuranomiya Park has no admission fee and is just off the JR (Japan Railways) Sakuranomiya station in Osaka.

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