Toyoko Inn Osaka Umeda Higashi

Temple ceremony at Hoozen-ji (Moss shrine)

by ChuckG

There is a temple in Namba, a very small one. It's shown on detailed maps of downtown.

One night , a friend of mine brought us there as it's one of the rare temple in the middle of downtown. How surprised were we when we saw that a ceremony was taking place. It lasted more than an hour ans was amazing.

It's very tiny, surrounded by restaurants but located on a quiet tiny street.

DIRECTION: Go to Exit 25 of the Namba subway station. Go down the narrow road by the convenience store, cross Shinsaibashi-suji, and look
for a gate straight ahead with some cobblestones behind it. Walk through the
gate and the shrine is right there.

(Thanks Nicki !)

I wanna ride my bicycle...

by OsakaHatter

Osaka and Stockport share pyramids, Osaka and Amsterdam share bikes.

Anyone spending any length of time in this city should get themselves on two wheels, cos it saves a fortune in train/taxi fares. Everybody here rides as it's all flat and most common destinations are within easy cycling distance. It leads to masses of parked bikes everywhere you go, but this is ok, cos it gives the police some work to do.

A standard "granny shopper" style bike can be bought for around 6,000-7,000 yen new, but shop around - I got a reconditioned mountain bike for 6,500 yen. Bargain!

Wandering about in Osaka

by SLLiew

Stayed overnight at Osaka. It is easy to get around Osaka by the local train.

I enjoyed the two landmarks, the Osaka Castle and the Osaka Tower.

In the evening, the street food stalls were interesting to check out. Joined the city folks after work to eat spicy noodle soup. There are no chairs, you stand and slurp your noodles.

Tsutentaku Tower

by Hewer

Tsutenkaku Tower is one of the most recognisable symbols of Osaka. It is located just south of the center of the city and you can get great views of the Osaka skyline from the top.

It's open all year round from 10am - 6pm. The tower is 103 meters high, and there is a restaurant and viewing deck near the top (and of course a souvenir shop).

Entrance is 600 yen (children under 4 free).

Osaka

by Gili_S

"My first city in Japan"

I have always wanted to visit Japan one day and when in the summer of 69... ehhh... sorry, the summer of 2009 I finally made it flying direct from Helsinki to Osaka with Finnair flight and here is my short story about what I saw and did in Osaka.