Kyoto to Osaka, Shinsekai
MAP
Rode the Haruka Limited Express Osaka Station. We are staying at the Hotel Hankyu Respire Osaka. Getting from the Haruka platform to our hotel was like navigating a maze! The trick is to be on the second floor where there’s a bridge between the station and the hotel building. The hotel starts at the 9th floor. Below is a huge shopping complex called “Links Umeda”, with one floor devoted to restaurants. Below that are various shops, and in the basement is a super market. Adjoining all of this is a 5 story Yodobashi store. We checked our luggage at the front desk since check in wasn’t until 3, then went for Italian lunch at one of the many restaurants. Ordering was on a tablet, which is becoming increasingly common in restaurants in Japan. This tablet was Japanese language only. Also, the restaurant didn’t accept cash.
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| Pasta for lunch. |
We checked in at the automated terminals, and went to our room on the 20th floor. It had a great view to the north.
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| Our view by day. |
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| Our view at night. |
That afternoon, we went to the Shinsekai district - an area that was redeveloped during the Showa era, but never redeveloped again. It’s tacky but fun. I’d call the style Showa-kitsch. The flavor of the restaurants in the area is “Japanese soul food” such as kushikatsu and takoyaki. Garish signage catches your eye. There are flashing lights at carnival style shooting galleries and retro video game parlors. At the center is of all this is Tsutenkaku (通天閣) - a tower reaching heaven. For less than ten bucks you can go to the top. For somewhat more you can get down via a tube slide or a bungee cord. If you take the elevator back to you’re forced to navigate endless gift shops filled with trinkets and snack foods. We were laughing about that. It’s totally worth it for the experience.
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| Shinsekai shooting gallery. |
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| The Seven Lucky Gods arriving on a treasure ship at Nihonichi-no Kushikatsu Yokozuna which serveds various meats, veggies, and seafood on skewers 24 hours a day. |
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| The gold figure on the left Billiken - the "God of Things as They Ought to Be.". He's not actually a Japanese god, but a character drawn by an American artist in 1908. The character became a craze in this part of Japan shortly thereafter. |
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| Tsutenkaku (通天閣) |
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| View from the very top level of Tsutenkaku (通天閣). |
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| Looking down at one of the arcades leading to Tsutenkaku. |
For dinner we had gamified kaiten sushi at Kura Sushi which was right next to Tsutenkaku. For every five plates of sushi we finish, you get to play a game on your order tablet. If you win, a gachapon style capsule is dispensed to you. When we finally won; the prize it was something my niece really wanted. She sent it over to her mom to show, and I slyly switched in a different prize. She figured out the swap pretty quickly, though!
After dinner, we made a quick trip to ABC crafts at Abeno Q’s mall which was only one station away. ABC crafts had some good sashiko craft items. There was a Popondetta railroad model shop at the neighboring Abeno Harukas that I missed. Abeno Harukas also has a 60th story observation deck, but it costs twice Tsutenkaku and doesn’t have half the kitsch.
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| Abeno Harukas |
