Our hotel is centrally located, next to the Shinsaibashi (心齋橋
/ 心斎橋) subway station and within walking distance to the Osaka-Namba station (大阪難波駅). That makes it convenient for the many trips by train that we had planned. The popular Shinsaibashi-suji, a covered shopping street, is just across the road.
As it was well into the afternoon by the time we settled down, we just did a bit of leisurely touring around. We took the subway to Tennoji (天王寺) Station, for no particular reason other than that I came across this in our travel guide book and that there are a couple of interesting architectural structures in the neighbourhood --- the Abeno Harukas and the Tsutenkaku (通天閣) in the nearby Shinsekai (新世界) district.
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| The 300m tall, 62 floors Abeno Harukas, Tennoji. The tallest building in Japan. |
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| Eye-catching signs in the Shinsekai District |
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| Tsutenkaku Tower 通天閣 |
We went up Tsutenkaku Tower, in time for a view of the sunset.
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| View of sunset from Tsutenkaku Tower 通天閣 |
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| View from Tsutenkaku Tower 通天閣 |
The district seems to come alive with the illumination at night. There are plenty of eateries in this area. We had some delicious ramen for dinner at the restaurant on the right in the photo below.
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| Shinsekai illuminated |
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| Shinsekai by night |
The more centrally located Dotonbori (道頓堀) is another district packed with a wide range of restaurants.
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| The busy Dotonbori district with a wide choice of restaurants. There is little doubt what is on offer in the one on the left. |
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'Glico Man', the recognizable and more or less unofficial icon of Osaka, alongside the Dotonbori canal
On the way back to the hotel in the evenings, we often passed through the busy Shinsaibashi-suji, if not for shopping, just to take in the characteristic Osaka atmosphere.
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| The always busy Shinsaibashi district |
Overview: 6 days in Kansai, Japan
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