Osaka aquarium and Dotonbori

Our first day in Osaka Japan

The first day after we arrived in Japan we took a little walk around the area.  It was obvious immediately that this was a much different city than Tokyo.   Even though it’s just 2 hours away the people in Osaka dressed and acted much different than what we experienced in Japan.   People were more informal and everyone seemed a little less robotic here.

We decided to head to a place for lunch that had decent reviews on trip advisor called the Kuma Cafe.  While the lunch was excellent, the owner of the restaurant is what we really remember!  As soon as we walked in we felt like were back at home.  The owner, an Australian, quickly greeted us as if we were old friends and struck up a conversation.  Since conversations were rare for us we were happy to have anyone to talk to.

We mentioned we were on a trip around the world and just about 10 days in.  He quickly grabbed some paper and sat down at our table with us.  He spent the better part of 30 minutes writing out all the cool things to do in and around Osaka.   He even took the time to tell us all the coolest things to hit while we were in Australia.   At the end of our meal as we were checking out he handed us his card and wrote his personal cell down and told us to call him when we hit Australia if we need any help.

Needless to say, it was nice getting to talk to someone and he was beyond generous helping us out!

The Osaka Aquarium

One of the the first things we did after getting to Osaka Japan was go to the aquarium.   It was one of the top rated things to do and we were not disappointed!  The aquarium is centered around a large tank that you walk around.  There are exhibits all along the outside of the larger tank and you slowly work your way deeper as you walk through each exhibit.  It’s hard to capture in the photos just how large the tank was but it was pretty impressive!

After the aquarium we took a ride on the Ferris wheel that was nearby.  It was a pretty cloudy day so the view wasn’t the best but it was some cheap entertainment!

Chaos in Dotonbori

After hitting the aquarium we decided to go to the Dotonbori area over the next few days.  The dotonbori area of Osaka Japan is like the epicenter of the city.  Everything seems to revolved around this area.   At the time we didn’t realize it but we would be spending the rest of our time in Osaka staying in AirBnB’s surrounding this area.

Simply walking around the area kept us entertained for a long time.  There’s so much going on it’s hard to keep track of.  It was a very touristy area with lots of people snapping photo’s.  However, it seemed to be a favorite among local tourists as we still didn’t see a large number of foreign travelers in general.

One of the must do activities in Dotonbori is to take a photo in front of the Glico man.  The Glico man sign is one of the most famous locations in Japan and you’ll see it in almost every mention about traveling to Osaka.