We were planning on a family holiday for Sofia’s academic year end for a while. After much consideration, we decided on Osaka. Japan in general is kid friendly and it’s easy to move around.
18 Feb 2023
Our flight to Osaka was on Singapore Airlines. We had a transit at Changi Airport. It felt nice to be back in Changi. The last time I transited in Changi was way before Covid started.
I was excited to see the Kris Lounge for Business Class, but it turns out, it was packed with people. It wasn’t very comfortable. We had to wait for a while to get proper seats for all of us.
19 Feb 2023
Our connecting flight to Osaka was at 1:30AM. The girls were already asleep but they woke up as we boarded the plane. They were very excited to be in an airplane.
We arrived in Osaka 8:30AM. The Covid-19 immigration process was straight forward as I had done all the paperwork on-line.
After collecting our bags, we went to Starbucks at arrivals. I went to Lawson at arrivals to collect the portable wifi unit, but turns out, it didn’t arrive. Later I checked my email again and noticed they said the Lawson at arrivals is under renovation (it does look like a temporary stall) and they couldn’t deliver it. Honestly it was very disappointing.
To get to the city, we decided to take the train. We walked to Kansai Airport train station to get our Icoca cards. Icoca cards are pre-paid and can be used on all public transport in Osaka and for payments are selected shops too.
After getting our Icoca cards, we took the Haruka airport express train to the city. Interestingly, the Haruka train was themed in Hello Kitty.
After we arrived at Osaka Station, we had to sort out the many luggages we had. It was a busy station. Given that we had a lot of bags to manage, we had to split up.
I took 3 large bags and then took taxi to hotel. Finding the taxi stand was quite a struggle as the area was new to me. The taxi driver didn’t speak any English but that wasn’t a problem. He just seemed annoyed with my large bags.
Our apartment, Bon Umeda Condominium, was technically quite near (less than 10 minute walk). But I couldn’t get there with 3 large bags. Using the taxi, I arrived there around 1PM.
Since check-in is later at 4PM, I used their storage facility at the back.
After being relived of the heavy bags, I walked back to Osaka Central to rejoin the rest. The walk gave me a better bearing of the place. It’s a nice neighbourhood with lots of convenience stores (Family Mart, 7-Eleven) and cafes along the way.
After arriving at Osaka Central, I rejoined the group at Daimaru. We had lunch and after that, I took the kids to the Pokemon center.
On the way down to the taxi stand, I stopped by Starbucks to check out their local menu. It’s interesting to see they have a special Sakura latte due to the upcoming changing season. I was also interested to see how different is the menu here compared to other countries.
We then took a taxi back to condo. The kids were tired and wanted to rest for a bit.
After settling in our condo and resting for a short while, we went out again. We walked to Hankyu San Bangai. There were a number of interesting shops at the lower ground area of San Bangai.
I saw Kiddyland (selling various anime and cute stuff), an Ultraman shop, a train enthusiast shop, a nice fabric shop and others. There was a also a premium looking foodcourt below it, called Umeda Food Hall.
Initially I wasn’t hungry, but after looking at the many restaurants at Umeda Foodhall, I decided to give it a try. I ordered the cold soba with shrimp tempura. It was surprisingly very good.
On the way back to Bon Umeda, we saw an interesting looking takoyaki shop. The kids were excited to try it out. We ordered a set and sat by the street. I guess this was the best authentic street food experience we had so far!
Related posts: Osaka 2023 part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5
Imran Jaafar 