Autumn in Osaka – Namba

Day Four Afternoon in Osaka – November 2016

After our lunch at Osaka Castle Park, we made our way to Namba (難波). We searched for the Apple Store using the Apple Map and found one at Shinsaibashi (心斋桥) and took the subway there. The Store is smaller than the one at Tokyo and was crowded as there was a presentation coming out at the theater. After checking out the Apple Store, we had our second dose of caffeine of the day at Starbucks.

 

Besides the Apple Store, there is a huge shopping arcade at Shinsaibashi, the Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade,  where you shop for luxuries goods. Ahead of the mall is Dotonburi (道頓堀), a popular shopping and entertainment district, also known as a food destination, and a very popular place for tourist. This is where the famous Glico Running Man and Kani Doraku Crab signs are found.

We spent quite a bit of time taking pictures in front of the Glico Running Man as there were so many people, we took turns to take picture with the Glico Running Man. The marketing team at Glico is definitely doing an excellent marketing job.

After the photo taking, we walked towards Kani Doraku to make our dinner reservation. As the table will only be available in 45 minutes, which worked well for us as we were not hungry, we took the opportunity to check out other restaurants along the stretch. All the restaurants have amazing billboards, “shouting” for attention, telling you the food they serve.

 

Next, we cross the road and checked out Sennichimae Shopping Street (千日前). We did not enter any of the shops, just looking from outside and strolling along the street, feeling the energy flowing through the shopping street.

 

When it was about time, we walked back to Kani Doraku for dinner. We had Kyouzan, the crab’s traditional multi-course set dinner that comes with snow crab and king crab served boiled, raw, grilled and deep fried, and crab sushi, crab steamed egg custard, soup and fruits. The food was alright.

 

It was half past eight when we finished our dinner. We joined the crowd, walked along the shopping streets. The whole place was filled with people and we could feel the energy of the city. Unfortunately, some of the shops along the street were getting ready to close for the day which we thought it was rather early for a Friday evening.

At around half past nine, most of the shops were ready to pull down their shutters so we made our way to the subway station to go back to Kyoto. We took the subway to Yodoyabashi Station to change to Keihan Line back to Gion-Shijo via the Special Rapid Service (Red Sign).

We had a wonderful day at Osaka, pity that we did not stay for a night as there are so much to do and see in Osaka.

This is part of My Kansai Region Travel Series, stay tune for my next post on our last day of sightseeing for the trip.

 

Thank you for stopping by

Audrey

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