A night in Osaka

Japan, Travel

Our flight from Honolulu to Osaka took about 8 hours, which was enough time for a really sore butt and not a lot of sleep. It turned into a long day due to the time change, and we arrived at Osaka Kansai Airport close to 7pm. The Covid rules were recently relaxed so we didn’t have to do a test on arrival, but there was a bit of shuffling around to verify our pre-flight RT-PCR test results and go through the procedures. At the immigration window, I received my Resident Card so I can stay for long periods. The default is 1 year, but it should be relatively easy to extend when needed.

Swissotel Nankai Osaka

The Swissotel is literally in the Namba Station in Osaka, which makes it very convenient for our one night stop. We took an express train from the airport to the hotel (35min), and Namba is one of the main train stations that connect local and long distance trains.

The hotel was pretty nice, we had breakfast there with options for western style food or traditional Japanese. We tried both, while the daughter devoured some pancakes and pork buns. They were quite yummy, and the view from the top floor was nothing to scoff at.

Our room was big for Japanese standards, and the view was pretty amazing from the 30th floor. They also have a pool, which our daughter wanted to try. An interesting twist was the requirement of a swim cap, presumably to keep the pool free of everyone’s hair. Certainly the pool was quite clean, but that was a first. Conveniently, they have spares you can borrow, so no need to bring your own. view

Namba District

After a restless night and jet lag, we decided to take a stroll at 5am around the area. walk

Since most things were closed, we will come back and write more about this area in a future post. Namba is one of the more happening parts of the city, with some famous landmarks, restaurants and shopping. The early morning walk was interesting, we saw some young party people heading home after a night of fun (on a Wednesday night?!), and early-riser business men slurping on ramen in their dark suits.