Japan Trip Day 3 : Osaka Castle and Shinsekai

Today we had a few tourist spots on itinerary. We put them on one day so we could make use of our Osaka Eco Card to the fullest. We started out early because I read that it would be quite a walk from the subway station to the castle. Early morning the temperature normally was around 70. A bit cool and comfortable. But by 10-ish once the sun has completely out and up it would become warmer and humid.

Osaka Castle
I think there were at least 2 different ways to reach the Osaka Castle depends on where you're coming from. We walked through a park and a building like a performance center. Then we saw the mote. From there the road seemed to go up a bit steeper before we finally walked through a gate. The castle stood up high when we finally turned the corner.

We took a few pictures before more people arrived and decided to walk to different part which turned out to be the front part. To my surprise that part was also commercialized with food stands and drink vending machines. We took a few more pictures and decided to leave before it got too hot.



Shinsekai
Shinsekai  is the location of the Tsutenkaku (meaning tower reaching heaven). Tsutenkaku is the popular landmark of Osaka. There is a observation deck which one could access but we didn't go up. Actually, I believe the Osaka Eco card that we had would qualify us some discounts on entrance tickets.

But we were at Shinsekai for different reason. We wanted to check out one of the must try food of Osaka which was kushikatsu. Shinsekai is home to tons of kushikatsu restaurants. We went to the one recommended online because they offered English menu.

When we emerged from the Ebisucho subway station we could see Tsutenkaku looming high down the road. Shinsekai neighborhood looked like an older neighborhood. We walked down looking at shops while searching for the restaurant. Then just after we passed Tsutentaku we found the restaurant though that one wasn't the one we were looking for. But apparently they had a few locations.

For posting on kushikatsu click here.

Umeda dan Hanadako Takoyaki
After lunch we walked around a bit in the Shinsekai area. Just looking around and taking pictures. Then we got on a subway station and went to Umeda area.

I was curious with the Pokemon Center in Umeda so we decided to check it out. The Pokemon Center was on 13th floor of Daimaru Umeda building. It was smaller than I imagined. The merchandise was okay at the time. I realized that the turn around of their merchandise was pretty quick. So maybe it just happened that nothing at the time caught my attention.

Below that floor on the same building was Tokyu Hands which had some interesting items and occupied 2 floors. So we spent some time over there too.

Then we decided it's time to get some takoyaki snacks. It's our last day in Osaka so we wanted make sure we tried out another takoyaki which was recommended by TabiEats.

Here for the story on Hanadako.

First floor of the Daimaru Umeda building has like a food court area with so many selections of pastries, cake and different snacks. Such a pleasant eye candies.

From there we just went back to Shin Osaka station to our apartment.