After our first few days in Tokyo, we headed out to the next leg in our journey: Osaka.
We bought JR Rail passes before we left for Japan so they came in handy as we entered the different train stations along the way. Tokyo station was pretty tourist friendly and easy to navigate around so we found our bullet train without any problems.
Day 3: Osaka
We headed out on day 3 to Osaka.
We boarded the bullet train in Tokyo and we were on our way! The bullet train ride was super smooth and quiet and we were in Osaka in no time.
We checked into our hotel in Osaka at the St. Regis and when we got to our room we noticed a refreshing drink and chocolate as a welcome amenity!
The hotel staff was so friendly here! They told us that the cherry blossom festival just started this week, and that there would be a big event in a park alongside the river not too far from the hotel. Perfect timing!
The sun started to set as we set off across the river to the cherry blossom festival.
We were all so happy to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom when we got to the festival!
The festival lasts only for 1 week during the year when the blossoms are at their peak. We were totally bummed to miss the peak bloom in Tokyo, but we arrived just in time in Osaka for the start of the festival!
The cherry blossom festival was simply amazing!
There were tons of people of all ages from all different parts of Japan, and all kinds of food and game booths lined up along the riverside.
We enjoyed a lot of delicious food: takoyaki, yakisoba, oden, grilled corn, and okonomiyaki just to name a few! When I first made plans to visit Japan to view the cherry blossoms, I couldn’t have imagined us ending up at a huge festival like this.
Our first night in Osaka turned out just perfect!
Day 4: Osaka (continued)
The next day we signed up for a walking tour around Osaka.
Our guide was super friendly, and we also made friends with some other people on the tour. We learned a lot about the overall history, and it was also a great introduction to the city.
Next up, we headed for Osaka castle.
We walked the castle grounds for a bit and took plenty of photos.
As the sky got darker, we headed to the top of the Umeda Sky building for a spectacular 360 degree night view of the city.
Bel also got a chance to practice her shadow puppets.
Osaka is a really beautiful city at night.
We retraced a lot of the streets that we took in the walking tour during the day, and they looked completely different at night.
For dinner, we found a restaurant that specialized in Matsusaka beef (We actually saw this place earlier on our walking tour).
We sampled a bunch of different cuts in our own private room with grill. The beef was very very tender, and very very delicious!
This was also Eric’s last night with us before he went to visit Uncle George in Kyushu. We’ll meet back up with him later in our trip when we’re back in Tokyo.
