Osaka is a huge city with major highways suspended above the city and packed highways so it seems daunting to find our hotel close to downtown. However our GPS routes us safely to the hotel, thanks GPS, which has a really small parking garage. In fact we have no idea how our car will fit into it.
And then we learn that after you park the car, with a very tight fit in fact, it will be taken on a carousel ride so another car can be parked beneath it. So we have to be careful to pick all our belongings with us as we won’t see the car till morning. If we will see it or find it afterwards who knows.
In the evening we take the subway to the downtown area where we start with the famous Dotombori street. It is famous both due to the shops and neon/electronic advertisement signs and is a major gathering area for the young and hip Japanese. We are hungry and notice a crowd of people in front of a restaurant so we decide to try it – it is a hamburger place!
Well they call the food hamburgers but it doesn’t look like it and it tastes a little bland. Still the chestnut ice cream is good and we are full when we exit the restaurant to continue our walk through the downtown area.
We find a nice view of the area from a bridge, lots of neon signs and huge skyscrapers. In a way this is the Japan you see in the movies and not the one of small villages and castles that we have visited till now.
For a change we enjoy exploring this different Japan with billboards and neon signs and different shops. Especially at night with the cooler weather we really like.
As it has cooled down a bit we decide to walk back to the hotel which is about 1 mile away. This will allow us to walk off all the food we have eaten and we hope it will be interesting as this area is the highlight of new Osaka.
And the walk through the downtown arcade(s) is quite interesting with lots of shops catering to all possible tastes including a few for cosplay that we haven’t seen till now. But we are tired when we arrive at the hotel so we go to sleep as tomorrow is a full day with lots to see and experience.
