11 October 2026
No alarm today. We’re leaving Kyoto, and checkout time is 11:00. Since we always wake up early, there’s no need, and no risk of sleeping too long.
Bags were nearly packed yesterday, just some minor rearranging. Breakfast is at Family Mart: a “croissant,” some mango pulp and a sandwich with ham, egg and cucumber, enjoyed in the reception area of the hotel, which is the better alternative to sitting on our beds.
The walk from the hotel to Shichijo Station is 1.6 km. With large luggage that’s no fun. So we go for a taxi, or rather an Uber. The taxi is at the hotel within two minutes. A driver and an instructor, since he was still in training as a taxi driver. Chinese, if you listened to her talking to him, very apologetic about the training stuff. As long as you get us safely where we want to go. With the taxi it was only a few minutes, for the horrendous price of 1,500 yen (8.47 €). 😂💴
We were not allowed to take the bus with large luggage.
Down into the station by elevator, avoiding stairs, and getting oriented about the train that takes us directly toward our next hotel. The train offers reserved Premium seats for an extra fee. A very polite station employee came out to help us find what we needed. We had to buy the ticket from him: 500 yen per person for a reserved seat, plus the normal train fare, of course.
The train cars for us Premium riders are extremely nice, the best seats we’ve had so far. A lot of space in every direction, and comfy. Only for a 50-minute ride, but we might otherwise have ended up standing the whole way, wrangling our luggage.
From Kyobashi Station it’s only a short walk to the Taketo Stay Osakajo. A very concrete building. We’re way too early for check-in (around 12:00). We can leave our luggage, which the receptionist chains to a wall, and now we have to kill some time.
I suggest Osaka Castle, since we’d marked it but never set a time for it. It’s one stop on the Osaka Loop Line. We approach from the Osaka-Jo Hall side. It’s also time for lunch. This is a place with a lot of visitors, and also a lot of food options. Our choice is a pancake house. Unfortunately, the super fluffy Japanese-style pancakes are sold out, so we have to order the normal kind. Three pancakes with strawberries, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. They put a small scoop of margarine beside the ice cream that looks exactly like the ice cream but tastes terrible. I push it aside quickly so I don’t make the mistake again. The pancakes also come with sweetened whipped cream, which is a little bit too much of a good thing.
Then we have to walk, of course, to get to the main entrance of the castle. Now the sun is burning down. It’s really hot. Thanks to Tim, who brought his sun cream, we can protect our faces and necks. I should have brought my cap, but it’s in the luggage. Hydration is also important, and the Aquarius flows down the throat.
The castle grounds are full of tourists, and of course we want to enter the castle, which is the third rebuild on this spot, from 1931. Not that old, but looks very nice. Tim takes out his umbrella for shade, and I put a small towel on my head. You don’t have to feel weird doing any of this, plenty of other people are doing it too. But 20 minutes in this heat waiting at the ticket machine is not my favourite part of the day. Finally we get the tickets, 1,200 yen (6.77 €) each, and can climb up a staircase that has a system spraying water mist on the people going up, which cools things down a little. Before entering there’s more waiting, but as soon as we’re inside the castle we have air conditioning.
The elevator takes us to the 5th floor, and we have to go up to the 8th to reach the viewing balcony, with nice views around the castle and the city. Then you work your way down floor by floor through several exhibitions: the life of an important man connected to Osaka Castle long ago, also about the importance of siblings for keeping alliances, though mostly it’s letters on display. Some samurai armour.
On floor 2 is the stamp station for my book, and a toilet. Again, everything is super clean. Back out into the heat, and time to walk back to the hotel. Not without a rest in the shade, and Tim helping a guy with an old-fashioned printout of where he wanted to go (no map or anything) find the right station.
Back at the hotel, Tim has to find the access code, then up to the 6th floor. Another code for the room (they’d brought our luggage up already), with a code lock that changes the placement of the numbers. Not a good idea to come home drunk. 😂
A spacious room/apartment with two large beds, a small kitchen, a table and chairs, storage for clothing, a washing machine and a big bathroom. We even have a balcony.
We get settled in and rest our legs before looking for the evening activity, which means dinner. Kyobashi is a party area with a lot of small bars and restaurants (45 of them!) under the railway. Cheap places to hang out, eat and drink. Many places have all-you-can-eat-and-drink options.
A bigger pub with a lot of different foods is our choice, a little bit like tapas. I don’t know how many different dishes they have on the menu. We order by QR code, different drinks and dishes. We share most of it, but the translation is a little tricky for the app. I order chicken, and it turns out to be fish. Quite tasteless, so no harm done. I also try my first fatty tuna. Not generally my thing, but I tried it. The chairs are low and uncomfortable again. All in all, okay, not on our top list of restaurants.
A walk through the area after we ate, before we get back to the hotel with a -196°C Strong Zero, and can finally sit in our room.
