12 October 2026
This day is for exploring Osaka. We take a train from the hotel to Temmabashi, hoping to find breakfast. Today seems to be a national holiday. There are quite few people out on the streets this early in the morning.
In the shopping centre across the street from the station is Seattle’s Best Coffee, a small café very much in the style of every coffee house chain. A croissant, a caffè latte and a shortbread cookie later, it’s back to the station.
Shitenno-ji is the goal, a Buddhist temple. A little bit of a walk, following signs from the station. Around the temple is a flea market with old books, a lot of old books. If you can read Japanese this might be interesting. We can’t. They also sell CDs and DVDs.
The entry to the temple costs 500 yen per person. A great Buddha hall, and a five-storey pagoda that we of course climb, without shoes, all five floors. Every floor has collections of ihai, Buddhist memorial tablets. One reason why photography is forbidden.
The great Buddha hall, across from the pagoda, same story: no temple or shrine allows photography inside. So no pictures from inside any place of worship.
I get my goshuin outside the temple at a small office. More sun cream is applied, and the drinking reserves filled up for the day. We have another hot day ahead of us.
Instead of a bus it’s now walking to Shinsekai.
Shinsekai (“New World”) is Osaka’s retro, nostalgia-filled entertainment district, created in 1912 to resemble Paris and Coney Island. Guarded by the iconic Tsutenkaku Tower, it’s famous for its vibrant Shōwa-era charm, neon-lit streetscapes, and as the home of kushikatsu, Osaka’s legendary deep-fried skewers.
There are long lines in front of the tower. Towers seem to be a magnet for people, everybody wants to go up. I think once you’ve done one, you’ve had enough. Unless it’s a historic structure like the Eiffel Tower, or a very special view, I skip them.
It’s also less crowded than we thought for such an entertainment district. Maybe there’s more action in the evening, when the neon signs brighten up the area. But we’ve already walked a fair bit today, and it might be nice to sit down and have a drink.
A larger restaurant/bar is the spot for the break. We have to pay a cover charge of 330 yen each (which gets us some marinated eggplant), and then order one drink each. Nothing’s expensive here, alcohol or soft drinks. Food is cheap too, but first we want to sit and write our blogs.
After two or three drinks it’s late enough to order food. Cheap food, and lots of it. I have some chicken and two onigiri, filled with pickled plum. The chicken was nothing to write home about, and salty plums in rice are a little weird, but they work. At least they’re filling.
The whole tab comes to around 5,000 yen for everything we ate and drank between the two of us.
A walk around the block to a mega Don Quijote. More spacious than the one in Tokyo, more nerve-wracking music and sounds inside. And we can’t get the advertising jingle out of our heads. Brainwashing works.
We keep walking to Namba Parks. There’s supposed to be a park on top of some buildings. There’s definitely some green areas with places to sit, but calling it a park is generous. At least it’s another place where we can sit, chill and rehydrate.
Kuromon Market is also on our to-do list, and the best and fastest way there is walking. Did I mention walking? At least not many stairs this time. A little more space than the market in Kyoto. Same type of shops, and a lot of food, sweets and souvenirs.
Time to get to the next place: Umeda, at Osaka Station. Two trains from Nippombashi. Out of Osaka Station to the north, and this is the modern part of the city, with its glass skyscrapers and parks.
One thing the cities we’ve seen so far don’t really have is architecture. Nor colour. A lot of concrete, cables in the air, and nothing that really makes you feel like you’re in a western old town. Everything is functional. No space for big parks in the older areas, but always space for a shrine. You have to go outside the city to find nicer areas.
Tim tries to get some more octopus balls 😂🐙, but the shop is closed. I find my geocache after getting on my knees under a structure. Luckily there’s running water close by to wash my hands.
Dinner is the next big thing. There are some restaurants around, especially near the station. Using Google and Tabelog, a Japanese-Chinese restaurant is the goal, a little pricier, but you only live once: Joe’s Shanghai New York. Tim goes for the 6-dish menu, including shark fin soup and other things. I go à la carte to avoid the fish. Real Sichuan chicken (not the European-Chinese style we usually get), with the real peppercorns. Then duck with two bao buns, Beijing style, and fried noodles with vegetables. Dessert is a mango pudding. I try the shark fin soup, and it tastes like a heavy beef soup. Not too bad.
With a white wine sangria and a Japanese rosé, the bill ends at 75 € per person. I think the most expensive meal I’ve paid for myself so far. But it was nice, good atmosphere and the food was good.
Back to the area we were in earlier today, Shinsekai. Now there should be a lot of lights and people. We’re right about the lights, but there aren’t as many people as we thought there’d be. Not much to see here. Best to head back to the hotel now.
That was a lot of steps today.
