Osaka Trip Part 18 (Final): GLION MUSEUM & Return Home with Starflyer

[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 GLION MUSEUM and return home with StarFlyer as part of Day 5.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Umeda
* 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 [This article]

[Travel Date]
2018.09.22-26

[Main Part]

GLION MUSEUM

Following the previous post, I left Tempozan Marketplace and walked about 10 minutes to “GLION MUSEUM”.

“GLION MUSEUM” is a classic car museum that collects a variety of old classic cars from Japan and other countries. Red Brick Warehouse constructed in 1923 was renovated into a classic car museum.

First, I will watch classic cars exhibited outside.

Although the weather was not good, the combination of classic cars and red brick warehouses was impressive.

Then, I went into the building.

As the first classic car museum in Japan, a wide range of vintage cars were displayed.

BMW.

Ford “Model T”.

British “MGA”.

The museum was operated by “GLION Group”, whose main business was the official car dealer of 13 automakers including BMW.

The company originally started as a small car repair shop and now manages the museum.

To be honest, I am not so interested in cars overall, but I found classic cars has some charm.

A blue Renault car and a red Ferrari car.

Rolls-Royce.

The museum can be rent out for events and I heard wedding ceremonies are held sometimes.

If a couple both loves cars, it might be a good idea to hold a wedding here.

Then, I left “GLION MUSEUM”.

Go to Kansai International Airport with Nankai Limited Express “rapi:t”

Now I will return home. While I used Itami Airport from Tokyo to Osaka, I will use Kansai International Airport to fly back to Tokyo.

First, I went back to JR Osaka station and picked up my luggage at “Hotel Granvia Osaka” where I stayed.

There are several routs between JR Osaka station (Umeda) and Kansai International Airport and I chose to use Nankai railways by way of Namba.

The reason why I chose Nankai railways was I would like to ride Limited Express “rapi:t”, which ran between Namba and Kansai International Airport.

From another angle.

In the train.

After 40 minute ride, I reached Kansai International Airport.

I just saw such a character at the exit gate.

Return Home with Starflyer

In terms of access from Umeda area, Itami Airport was better, but I have never used Kansai International Airport before, so I decided to use Kansai International Airport for my return flight.

Unlike Haneda Airport, the international departure lobby and the domestic departure lobby were located in the same terminal, so I just dropped by the international departure lobby.

Then, I had early dinner in the airport.

I moved to the departure gate.

I usually use All Nippon Airways (ANA) as I am in the member of its frequent flyer program. ANA had code share flights with Starflyer, another Japanese airline. I have never used Starflyer, so I chose to use Starflyer for my return flight.

As I reached the departure gate earlier, I saw another Starflyer flight.

I saw it off.

This is the aircraft I will ride.

Now it was time to get on board.

Both the exterior and the interior were colored in black, which is the airline’s corporate color.

In-flight drink was also provided with a black cup.

It was just an hour flight. I had a good impression of Starflyer, so I would like to use it again for other destinations as well.

Then, I returned home and my Osaka trip was over.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about GLION MUSEUM and return home with StarFlyer as part of Day 5.

To recap the trip, as the final article of Osaka trip series, Osaka was very interesting due to its contrasting atmospheres between Kita area and Minami area – Kita (around Umeda) is sophisticated while Minami (around Namba and Dotonbori) is more folksy. This time, the aftermath of Typhoon Jebi (Typhoon Number 21), which hit Osaka in early September, caused several unexpected incidents – (1) “Kuchu Teien Observatory” at Umeda Sky Building was suspended (see the related article) and (2) Tsutenkaku Tower was not lighted up in the evening (see the related article). In addition, I was not able to watch the inside of Tower of the Sun in Expo’70 Commemorative Park, as it was fully booked (see the related article). These unfinished items will become a trigger to encourage me to visit Osaka again in the near future, so I will consider them positively. Next time, I would like to visit Osaka in December when winter illuminations are held around Midosuji and Nakanoshima area.

Now my Osaka trip series with 18 articles was completed. Thank you for reading my blog.

Regarding my next trip, I have already arranged it. I am going to Macau from December 14 to 18. I traveled to Hong Kong last year for the first time in five years. Since then, I have considered visiting Macau next after a long interval. My blog will not be updated for the time being, but once I return from Macau, I will start the next series, so stay tuned 🙂

[Map]

1 GLION MUSEUM
2 Nankai Namba Station
3 Kansai International Airport

[Related Link]
Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau
Limited Express rapi:t
Kansai International Airport
StarFlyer

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