What to Do & Where to Go in Osaka

Wondering what to do and where to go in Osaka? Here’s a breakdown of where WJ and I went last month!

Osaka Castle & Osaka Castle Park

It started drizzling when we were almost there, so we bought an umbrella and went in. What a pity it was raining! The Osaka Castle Park was beautiful even if not all the trees had changed to their autumn colours yet!

We were really excited to explore the ancient-looking Osaka Castle (and get out of the rain), so we queued to buy our entrance tickets for 600JPY (S$7.06) each.

Once we walked through the doors, our faces fell. The interior had all been refurbished; there was even a swanky lift! The castle is now more of a museum showcasing its history. There were little 3D videos that you had to look into boxes to view, but we couldn’t understand them since they were all in Japanese!

The top floor was quite a disappointment. The view was mostly obstructed by the safety grid. I’m sure if you come at night, it won’t be as obvious though!

I’d skip the Osaka Castle and just roam the grounds of the park. The exterior of the castle is much nicer than the interior!

Namba Yasaka Shrine

It was raining (again) while we visiting the Namba Yasaka Shrine. It’s a small compound with one obvious feature – the huge lion head with open jaws.

Right outside the shrine is a great soba restaurant, Sobayashi. We went around 11am and when we left, there was a queue starting to form!

Shitennoji Temple

Unfortunately, part of the Shitennoji Temple was under renovation when we went there! That might explain why it wasn’t crowded with tourists.

Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine

The Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine is one of the oldest shrines in Japan. Apparently, Sumiyoshi shrines contains the kami (Shinto gods) who protect travellers, fishermen and sailors at sea. Good for us!

We also spent quite a lot of time saying hi to the ducks below the red Sorihashi Bridge.

Shinsaibashi + Dontonburi

We stayed relatively nearby Shinsaibashi and Dotonburi, both shopping and food streets. The long stretch of Shinsaibashi was never ending!

An outlet of the famed Ichiran restaurant can be found nearby. The queue is extremely long though, so be prepared to wait!

Pokemon Gym at Expocity

I’m going to be honest. The Pokemon gym was such a letdown!

We were expecting lots of adult fun (get your minds out of the gutter!), but the games and experiences were apparently meant for children!

First, we had to get our Pokemon membership card which were 500JPY (S$5.88) each. Then we had to top it up with an amount depending on how many and what games we wanted to play. We decided to try 2 games each for a start and topped up our cards with 1,000JPY (S$11.76) worth of credits. Thank goodness there was a staff explaining all these in English if not we’d be scratching our heads!

Our first ‘game’ was more of an experience. We were supposed to be able to communicate with the pokemon. How? By talking to them and them replying you. You also get to do some hand actions to cheer the pokemon on.

Sounds boring? It was. Especially so since it was all in Japanese and we had no idea what they were talking about! I also felt that the experience was targeted towards the younger kids (read: below 8).

Mind-boggled, we walked on to our next game. Every game that we walked by looked more suited for younger kids. We chose the ‘bowling’ game in the end where the player is the ball and you move your body in the direction you want the ball to go.

After our 2 games, we decided not to try any more and went down to see the merchandise. I wanted to buy a pokeball for fun. Nope, they didn’t sell it. And I don’t know why!

Universal Studios

Of course we couldn’t skip this! Harry Potter was waiting to meet us!

Again, too bad it was raining if not we could walk around more freely. But we still had lots of fun and thankfully, the rain petered off to a stop at night.

The queue at Three Broomsticks was insanely long but relatively quick. The food was expensive for its’ quality, but it’s a touristy place so it was expected. Harry Potter’s favourite drink was the main highlight – butterbeer! It tasted exactly like Weather’s Originals but with a slightly bitter aftertaste. We bought our drinks with plastic mugs we could bring back. They don’t provide carriers for them though, so we held on to them as we were walking around.

We also got our wands from Olivander’s!

WJ and I are quite cowardly in terms of rides, so we skipped the heart-stopping roller coasters and rides. And accidentally went into a spinning mini-rollercoaster. Whoops! I screamed so loudly my throat hurt.

Universal Studios Osaka was also celebrating Christmas so we were lucky to see the gigantic Christmas tree!