Osaka has become a welcoming place for us with friends, a hotel where we and our trikes feel at home, familiar sights and barrier free riding on the sidewalk, the road…. For a cyclist travelling in a foreign country, it is awesome to ride with confidence that you are welcome anywhere and not upsetting locals. At the beginning of our trip in April, we pre booked our end of trip hotel stay at The Lutheran for 3 nights. This was was good as we paid ¥6500 ($65 incl tax ) per night, compared to the significantly higher summer rate that is now in effect. We decided to add on a 4th night as we want time to fold/wrap our trikes and explore more of Osaka. But, also because Mary Ellen can’t shake this respiratory bug she has had….a few days of rest will help before the flight home.
We have been lucky to find 2 hotels we love here and it is no coincidence that they are both located on the border of the Castle grounds. We love spending time on the vast Castle grounds. Staying in this area suits us as it is very low key yet conveniently located with more locals than tourists. Hotel the Lutheran is comfortable and homey with incredible staff and most importantly a parking garage in which they reserve a spot for our trikes. Our other go to hotel in Osaka is the KKR Hotel, a beautiful hotel with stunning views of the Castle from your room, more upscale yet friendly and welcoming to us and our trikes. They couldn’t accommodate our trikes in the garage but offered space in their beautiful lobby. When we would return from a ride, the manager would emerge, impeccably attired in a suit and help us. He would produce a cloth screen to give the trikes privacy. Extraordinary. As I have mentioned before, booking.com has been a valuable resource for us as the rates we got for this hotel were incredible. (By the way, we are not getting any endorsement from booking.com, it is just a tip as it has really helped us here.)
The restaurant at Hotel The Lutheran offers a buffet breakfast and an Italian/Japanese themed lunch. The food is excellent and we have really enjoyed the lunch which features an entree served to you and help yourself salads, soup and beverages…all for ¥1000-¥1200.
Celebrating our anniversary with lunch at our hotel. Barry had a delicious rice bowl with yummy rare beef and I had pasta with fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions. Delicious.
Yoshi is assembling a carbon recumbent from Hungary - a beautiful bike. . We have been delighted to have made Yoshi’s acquaintance and look forward to seeing him when we return.
We have discovered an incredible bakery in the neighbourhood of Yoshi’s shop. It is a day of many farewells…including this bakery. Pictured are a doughnut with red bean paste filling, almond torte and a puff pastry topped with deliciousness.
This bakery is a gem and one of the better ones we have visited in Japan. Their pizza slices are incredible and they offer an incredible selection of sweet and savoury. The bonus is the affordable good coffee and the quality of the baking.
We have been wanting to have a leisurely walk through one of Osaka’s giant department stores. Unlike in Canada, where department stores are closing down, here in Japan, massive historic department stores are thriving. We read about the storied history of the Hankyu Department Store which has thrived in this same location since 1925. It began in 1925 as Hankyu Market and in 1929 became the world’s first Railway Terminal Department Store. This very popular store is located at Osaka-Umeda station. The store spans from 2 underground floors to 11 floors above ground. There are 2 food floors and 2 restaurant floors. This department store welcomes over 50 million visitors a year. Massive renovations took place over seven years with the store reopening in 2012. A visit here is not just about shopping as it is foremost a cultural experience within a concept of a more enjoyable lifestyle with insights to Japanese lifestyle and living.
Visitors who are in Japan for less than 6 months are not required to pay sales tax. We appreciate that all stores make this easy for you. Usually there is one till that does this. Your purchase must be ¥5000 ($50) or more. At Hankyu, they have a department which is devoted exclusively to this service and it is very organized. All you need to do is show your passport, present your invoice and you are refunded immediately. We experienced this when we bought our tent as well. It is nice not to have to deal with tax rebates at the airport, as there is always a possibility that it might be forgotten.
This floor is an Events area with food trucks installed to create the feeling of an outdoor eating area. The open ceiling of 4 floors makes this an interesting place to relax and windows from upper floors have a view of this area.
It was interesting for us to see special installations of crafts, indoor gardens like in this photo, technology, Japanese objects for living on various floors. It felt like visiting a gallery of beautiful things, but it was interactive as well as a place to buy these interesting items. What a great way to showcase Japanese design, as well as designers and creators who are not from Japan,in such an interesting way without any pressure to buy.
We really enjoyed these extraordinary “indoor gardens” which, like everything we saw here are made in Japan and for sale. It seems like a great idea to bring the outside in when living in a space that may have limited outdoor space or may be a high rise.
We first saw these glass blown wind chimes at a shrine in Kyoto. Each hand painted chime makes a different sound. We ended up buying four different ones.
Meet Nikibo…your robot companion. Nikibo is part of a special event at Hankyu showcasing Japanese inventions and creations. This cat like creature, can talk to you, wags its tail, follow your moments and voice with endearing movement and I read that Nikibo can even make farting sounds to make you laugh. Like a cat, it likes it when you pat its head or scratch its chin. Made by Panasonic and created by a woman, this sweet fellow is truly a Japanese creation.
When we arrived at Hankyu Department Store on the subway level, we entered the store on a food floor. Pardon the pun, but it was a feeding frenzy. The crowds were massive and everyone was lined up or checking out what was available. For us it was mind blowing as everything looked amazing. We decided to have a wander through the various floors and come back when we were ready to take the subway back to the hotel.
Eel is immensely popular in Japan. However, it can be very expensive.
Visiting Hankyu was a unique cultural experience. It was like an interactive museum but with the touching of displays allowed and being able to take things home if desired. Floors were themed with the usual store floors…ladies, men’s, etc. We loved the Living Japan floor with exquisite pottery, tea service sets and an area called Japanese Handicraft Salon, featuring special crafts. Another floor of note was the Green Age floor with sustainable products designed with the concept “symbiosis between people and nature”. We would return here on another visit and take more time just to stroll through. It’s free and only costs what you may buy. Just enjoying the excellent service with staff ready to serve and others shining, buffing and organizing . No one stands around looking bored…they keep busy and share a pride in their work. Refreshing.
Our special parking area for our trikes. It’s the first time we have seen Mary Ellen’s name (part of it) written in Japanese. We will be spending some time here as we are novices at folding and wrapping our trikes for a flight.
A note about parking garages in Japan. Space is limited which requires ingenuity and creativity to manage this problem which means that a parking attendant is always on hand. Some garages have a single external door. The car is driven onto a round platform which then takes the car through the door and up to its appointed spot. The garage at our hotel has what appears to be a conventional parking garage. You drive down a ramp below the hotel and it looks small….perhaps 10 spaces. However, hydraulics make the space interesting, as there are parking spaces below the ground level and there are three tiers above as well. It is fascinating to watch the attendant manipulate the space for parking or retrieval. We were given one of the stationary spots which are on pavement and no hydraulics are involved. We now understand that when researching accommodation with the hope of a parking garage providing parking for our trikes, it is best not to assume that this will be the case. We try to find photos or read reviews which may refer to bike parking. As well, reviews can usually help you figure out how flexible the staff are at finding alternate spots, perhaps in the lobby or your room. The good thing however, is that Japan is generally pretty safe and honourable regarding your property and in the end, we used our judgement. No problems on our trip. 👍
Well, this has been sweat inducing work. This garage is below ground, but it is hot! Our clothes are soaking wet and it is hard to see past the sweat that flows down our foreheads.
Happy that the job is almost complete. We bought our packing materials at a nearby ¥100 store but we need more supplies. Off for a walk once we have cold showers.
Barry is showing how the folded, wrapped trike can stand on end. It is quite stable. We are also really happy with the ease of moving our trikes when they are folded. Simply grab the rear wheel or the rack and push it like a wheelbarrow.
Note the motor which is a black blob near the top. We were worried that it would be vulnerable if handled roughly or dropped, so we bought $1 (¥100) stool cushions and an extra round cushion which we secured with $1 bike basket covers and lots of tape. It seems pretty good.
We are pretty happy with the end result. Thanks to the many items like packing tape, bubble wrap, foam sheets, zap straps and assorted household goods that gave their all to make our trikes safe.
We have walked by a quaint old coffee shop that looks amazing. We love that this gem has survived the addition of modernity which surrounds it. It looks like they live above the shop. It is close to our hotel and we feel we need a pick me up after our work on the bikes.
We have been intrigued by this wee coffee shop which also features house made ice cream. It has been here for decades. As we walked by we saw a crowd of workers who were enjoying a post-work treat, so we joined them.
The ice cream is placed in this Mochi shaped cone. Delicious. One of the women having ice cream, gave me a thumbs up and said…very old place, same owners..best ice cream. We agree.
We had a successful shopping trip to Seria and somehow Barry restrained himself from asking for a price check. We weren’t sure how a Japanese clerk would take it if he asked for a price check when everything is the same price.
After shopping at Seria, we felt we deserved a coffee and snack before we walked the 2 Km back to our hotel. Komeda’s Coffee has a long and popular history in Japan and we have not visited one before. So it’s now or never.
Normally we would buy our coffee at convenience stores, as you could get large servings of excellent coffee for around $2. In our opinion, out of the three major convenience stores, Lawsons offered the best coffee. However, when ordering a coffee in a coffee shop you can expect to pay between $4.50 and $6.00
