Tag 2 in Osaka

Day 2 began for me at 6 AM, quite early. I woke up feeling fit and well-rested. Ramona, on the other hand, slept for a full 15 hours and only woke up at 11 AM, looking quite worn out. Anyway, I made good use of the time, wrote the blog, and got breakfast. We had sweet bread; I had a piece with cheese, and Ramona had a piece with chocolate. Or so I thought. It was actually Wakame, a type of seaweed, and underneath was a strongly salty, fish-flavored cream 🤭

After the disastrous breakfast, we made our way towards Osaka Castle. The weather was fantastic, summery, and perfect for a little walk. 

The Osaka Castle, built in the 16th century, now houses a museum displaying historical Japanese artifacts. From the top floor, you get an impressive 360-degree view of the city. The extensive grounds are surrounded by a moat, providing numerous photo opportunities – especially from the bridges leading over the moat. Boat tours around the castle are also offered.

After many stairs to the castle and a rather long stay on the grounds, hunger slowly kicked in (Ramona hadn’t even had breakfast 🙈). So, we headed towards Osaka City in search of the recommended Ramen KAZUYA. After about a 30-minute walk, we finally found the small, charming shop. Ordering is done simply through a vending machine. Personal items like hats or bags can be placed in a box and stored on a shelf above the seat.

And what can I say: The ramen was simply heavenly. The broth was so creamy that it almost resembled a sauce – and the meat topping was melt-in-your-mouth tender. A true taste sensation.

Since the Kuromon Market, a popular food market, is located very close to the ramen shop, we only shared one ramen – leaving enough space for snacking!

After so much food, we needed to move a bit again (the perfect tourist cycle 😅), so we made our way to Shinsekai. This is a small, colorful district full of restaurants and souvenir shops. It’s also home to the Tsūtenkaku, a true landmark of Osaka – a communications tower with a publicly accessible observation deck.

Unfortunately, our timing wasn't ideal: The souvenir shops were just closing, and it was still too early for the tower’s famous night illumination. Therefore we didn’t spend much time in the district – but we will definitely come back at a later time.

To conclude the day, we made a detour to one of Japan's longest shopping streets: the Tenjinbashi-Suji – conveniently just a stone's throw from our accommodation.

This street features around 600 shops lined up – from cat cafés to izakayas (Japanese pubs), there’s plenty to discover here.

And what can I say – we couldn’t resist stopping at one of the local eateries: the Tsukumo Udon Tenjinbashi. An absolutely right decision! There we had the best udon noodles ever – Kama-age Udon, freshly boiled. These are still entirely prepared by a true master (Shinuchi) by hand.

Then it was back to the hotel - completely stuffed! 😇😅