Osaka Trip Part 1: Osaka Station City

[Introduction]

I traveled to Osaka in late September. This was my first visit to Osaka except for business trips. There are several things I missed doing, so I would like to revisit Osaka in the future. In this article, I will write about Osaka Station City etc. as part of Day 1.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Umeda [This article]
* Day 1: Nakanoshima
* Day 1: Nakanoshima (Light-up)
* Day 2: Osaka Castle
* Day 2: Abeno Harukas
* Day 2: Shinsekai
* Day 2: Abeno Harukas (Light-up)
* Day 3: Sumiyoshi Shrine
* Day 3: Namba
* Day 3: Amerikamura and Namba
* Day 3: Namba (Light-up)
* Day 4: Expo’70 Commemorative Park
* Day 4: Expo’70 Commemorative Park
* Day 4: Umeda
* Day 4: Umeda (Light-up)
* Day 5: Kaiyukan
* Day 5: Tempozan Marketplace
* Day 5: GLION MUSEUM & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2018.09.22-26

[Main Part]

It has been a while since I posted the previous article about my Singapore trip, and I will start a new series. I visited Osaka in late September.

I have been to Osaka several times on business, but I have never been there for sightseeing purposes. In the meantime, I just checked travel costs and found both air tickets and accommodations were less expensive than I expected. So, I decided to travel to Osaka.

By the way, talking of Osaka, Typhoon Jebi (Typhoon Number 21) hit Osaka in early September. During my Osaka trip, I saw several aftermath.

Fly to Itami Airport with ANA 013

Anyway, I will start my Osaka trip. I moved from Haneda Airport to Itami Airport with ANA 013.

The flight time between Tokyo and Osaka was just one hour.

I arrived at Itami Airport. As you can see, the weather was unfortunately bad.

I just happened to see a JAL’s specially decorated plane (“SAMURAI BLUE supporting jet”).

Move to Umeda by Monorail

I will move from Itami Airport to Umeda.

There are several routs between Itami and Umeda and I chose to ride a monorail.

I transferred to Osaka Metro Midosuji line at Senri Chuo station.

After I reached Umeda station, I moved to the adjacent JR Osaka station and stopped by Hotel Granvia Osaka where I will stay to check some of my luggage.

Osaka Station City

In JR Osaka station, there was a large commercial facility called “Osaka Station City”, which was consisted of “North Gate Building” and “South Gate Building” (- Hotel Granvia Osaka was part of it). I will start my Osaka trip from “Osaka Station City”.

A connecting bridge on the 3rd floor.

Visitors were able to enjoy bird’s-eye views of the platform.

This is “Toki-no-hiroba Plaza” on the 5h floor.

“Toki-no-hiroba Plaza” was a landmark at “Osaka Station City” and often appears in guidebooks.

It was so cool, wasn’t it?

Just like the connecting bridge on the 3rd floor, bird’s-eye views of the platform from “Toki-no-hiroba Plaza” were fantastic.

I moved up and reached “Kaze-no-hiroba Plaza” on the 11th floor of North Gate Building.

As you can see, it was an outdoor plaza, so I felt comfortable.

When I arrived at Osaka, the weather was not good, but now it turned to become sunny.

A large building on the right was “Grand Front Osaka”.

This was “Umeda Sky Building”.

I climbed up further and came to “Tenku-no-noen Farm” on the 14th floor.

There was a real field, though it was small.

There was a shopping mall called “LUCUA osaka” and “Umeda Tsutaya Books” was located in it.

There was also Starbucks inside the bookstore.

This is “Atrium Plaza” on the second floor in North Gate Building.

“Atrium Plaza” was connected to “Grand Front Osaka”.

A beach volleyball match was held in front of “Grand Front Osaka”.

Contrary to the weather forecast, it became sunny. So, I changed my plan and decided to go to “Umeda Sky Building”.

Umeda Sky Building

I arrived at “Umeda Sky Building”.

“Umeda Sky Building” is a commercial complex with the height of 173 meters.

“Umeda Sky Building” is globally well known for its unique design and was chosen as one of the “TOP 20 BUILDINGS AROUND THE WORLD” by Dorling Kindersley, a British publishing company.

The highlight is “Kuchu Teien Observatory” connecting the two towers of the Umeda Sky Building and I planed to visit it in the 4th day evening.

I decided to visit “Kuchu Teien Observatory” in the day time as well and moved to the entrance. However, I found the observatory had been closed since early September (for 3 weeks) when Typhoon Jebi (Typhoon Number 21) hit Osaka.

By the way, this is “Wall of Hope” which was designed by the famous minimalist architect Tadao Ando.

Okonomiyaki Lunch

I will have lunch.

Okonomiyaki is one of the most popular local foods in Osaka and I visited “Omoni @Grand Front Osaka” to have Okonomiyaki lunch.

Here is Okonomiyaki.

“Omoni” is one of the famous Okonomiyaki resutaurants in Osaka, so there was a long queue.

Other Snaps around Umeda

After lunch, I will go around Umeda area.

Around “Yodobashi Umeda”, a major electrical appliance store operator.

Around Hankyu department store.

Then, I will go around Nakanoshima area.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Osaka Station City etc. as part of Day 1.

As I mentioned, I have been to Osaka several times on business, but I have never been there for sightseeing purposes, so this was practically my first trip to Osaka. Osaka is roughly divided into two areas, Kita (around Umeda) and Minami (around Namba) and I started my Osaka trip from Kita area 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Nakanoshima as part of Day 1.

[Map]

1 Osaka Station City
2 Umeda Sky Building
3 Grand Front Osaka