Safety Tips in Osaka

Lots of us tourists are fascinated about trying the famous deadly puffer fish delicacy, but please trust me, it did not taste good at all. It was definitely money not well spent. The sashimi tasted like rubber, and the nabe version was pretty plain.
Well, i know many of you will ignore my warning just as i had ignored others'. We are all moths attracted to the flame. But i have to express that the fugu dinner was my greatest regret in the whole of my japan trip. Good luck guys!!!

If you are moving on from Osaka by shinkansen you may want to give extra time to find the correct platform and car position, especially if you have a lot of luggage. They probably are there somewhere but I haven't seen an elevator and sometimes it can be confusing to find where you should be for your train.

I arrived in Osaka from Seoul and was rather surprised to see that at the immigration control at KIX there were 4 desks open for about 100 Japanese, and the same number of desks open for about 500 non-Japanese!

This was a new personal record for me standing in line (90 minutes) and not a very pleasant introduction to Japan.

But once I cleared immigration everything went very smoothly. Just be prepared for a long wait at immigration.

UPDATE: I've since flown into Kansai several times and it seems my first time here was just a bad day. Subsequent arrivals have seen been go through immigration very quickly, all the desks are opened once Japanese passengers are processed

If you are in the Thieves' Market area (see my shopping hint), or going south from Den Den (Electronics) Town, or west from Tennoji Station, be aware of an olfactory hazard. There is an overpass under which a lot of garbage and human waste is disposed, and it smells like a dozen ripe outhouses and three dead people. I changed the route I took when I biked to work to avoid this place. Take a deep breath and pick up the pace; weak stomachs may be overcome.

Be careful about going into any adult enterainment here. Most are owned by the Yakuza(Mafia) and they will try to say you owe them a great amount of money for cover charge. If you don't pay, you get robbed and beat up!

Don't trust these people. Just don't. Don't start drinking with them. Don't engage them in conversation. It'll all end in tears, I'm warning you now.
See my Dangers and Annoyances travelogue for more details.

I was travel with TG from Bangkok to Osaka and found that their service are very poor. I am a Thai people but I have to warn you that the service quality is very bad, especially for Thai people ourselves. Maybe air hostess would behave nicely with foreigner, but not for Thai people.

This is the area of Osaka where you will find find yourself if you do the sensible thing and visit Spa World.

To be blunt this area of the city has a bad reputation after dark (in daylight it is fine) - however if you are just walking between Shin Imamiya or Dobutsuen-mae stations and Spa World you will not encounter any problems.

If you go beyond Spa World you will find the seedier side of Osaka and, possibly, some unsavoury characters.

That said I really like this area of the city (also Known as Nishinari) with the eye catching Tsutenkaku Tower looking over it, and have not any problems. Its a great place to wander between eating establishments and try the inexpensive kushikatsu (meat,fish,vegetable or cheese coated in bread crumbs and fried on a skewer served with a tangy dipping sauce and raw cabbage - very good!) and the people are generally very friendly - although English is rarely spoken.

Avoid this area if you are of a nervous disposition - otherwise enjoy it.