Here is Part 2 of my Japan blogs. This covers the areas within walking distance of the hotel. Every spot mentioned here took about 10-15 minutes.
NOTE: Even though I have Namba and Dotonbori in two separate sections, Dotonbori is actually within Namba. Since Dotonbori is a key location in some of the Yakuza games, I like highlighting it as a separate place.
Below is a link to a previous entry about these areas.
NIPPONBASHI
DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons
OVERALL THOUGHTS: We wandered around Nipponbashi often, especially when we wanted to check out Den Den Town for some nerdy shops like Animate or Volks. I liked that this area was within walking distance.
PLACES VISITED:
Den Den Town (RE-VISIT)
A shot of Den Den Town.
A shop that sells goods for Dark Souls, Warhammer, Elden Ring, World of Warcraft, and other series. The merchandise is pretty pricey but looks like nice quality.
Hikaru no Go Exhibit
While my boyfriend and I were walking around Namba, I saw a poster and standee advertising a Hikaru no Go exhibit. Being a Hikaru no Go fan, I wanted to check it out. It was located in Space Gratus, which we found out was some gallery space with Animate. We went to Animate on the last day of the exhibit, but couldn't find Space Gratus on any of its floors. When we were about to give up, I saw a Hikaru no Go sign or poster on a building just across. It turned out that the building across from Animate was Space Gratus. Phew!
Admission into the exhibit was 2200 yen each. I was a bit surprised because the poster didn't mention any admission price, but I didn't mind. For me, the exhibit was very nice. There were tons of original manga pages with a few key locations or scenes recreated with real furniture. Close to the end there were coloured pieces like manga covers and some promotional artwork.
On another floor was an eating area, which I think needed some kind of ticket or reservation to enter. There was also a gift shop that had tons and tons of goods. For any Hikaru no Go fan, it was a shopping paradise. Sadly, almost everything was a bit on the pricey side (and in gacha format, ugh). I still got a few things, which you'll see later in my "Swags" post.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself. I was also happy to see attendees of varying ages (around 20-50+) at the exhibit. The fandom for Hikaru no Go still lives on! :)
A recreation of Hikaru's room depicting a specific scene.
Sai and some manga pages featuring him!
Kuromon Market
When I looked up places to visit in Namba, Kuromon Market often came up. Kuromon Market is a shotengai (a shopping street) that has a lot of foods and goods to buy. We got there just as the stalls and shops were opening up. Barely anybody was there but when it got to noon, the market was packed.
It was a really neat place. There was a dining area with a bunch of benches and lots of food stalls. I haven't seen any other shotengai with a dining area before. There was also a supermarket. We also saw a small walkway in the middle of Kuromon Market leading outside to a couple cafes selling what looked like handmade souvenirs.
I would definitely come back! :)
One entrance into Kuromon Market.
The little walkway in the middle of Kuromon Market. It was random and inviting.
OTHER PHOTOS:
Something neat around Den Den Town.
Why are there figures of the Netflix One Piece characters??
NAMBA
DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons
OVERALL THOUGHTS: For this blog, Namba covers the rest of the areas surrounding the hotel that aren't highlighted. We did a lot more exploring on foot to see what things we could do and check out close by.
Keeping this here from the previous Japan blog:
For those wanting to maximize the JR lines, you may want to stay at a hotel closer to the Osaka Loop Line or closer to JR Namba, if you don't mind changing lines. It was about a 10-13 minute walk to JR Namba from our hotel.
PLACES VISITED:
This was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. My boyfriend enjoys checking out shrines and temples so I try to include some in the itinerary. Namba Yasaka Shrine doesn't cover too much area, but the large lion head stage more than makes up for it. That lion head is huge and menacing in an awe-inspiring way. There weren't too many people when we were there so the shrine also felt very peaceful with all the surrounding greenery. I'd recommend checking it out at least once.
A closer look at the lion's head. It looks ready to suck up everything surrounding it.
There is a note to not write on the table. Clearly, it wasn't followed!
An area to do the cleansing ritual that is common at shrines. The cleansing ritual involved drinking some of the water, but apparently the ritual got changed after the COVID pandemic.
Parks Garden is at the top of this shopping complex called Namba Parks. We checked this out on a whim and it was very scenic. There was a lot of greenery and neat architecture. There were several flights of stairs with varied plants at each level. It's definitely a place to visit for a scenic experience. It was slightly windy, though, so maybe bring a light jacket.
My boyfriend standing in front of the Parks Garden signage.
The entrance looks a bit majestic.
Look at all the plants!
I like that there are some people just chilling on the green.
Across from the hotel was Namba Square, an open area that would often have chairs and tables for passersby to sit and relax a bit. Sometimes those chairs and tables would be put away and events would happen instead. During our trip, we saw two events pop up in Namba Square. We checked out the first event briefly because we had some time and it was music-oriented (which really interested me). We didn't have time to check out the second event, but we glanced at it briefly when walking by.
The schedule for the second pop-up event.
The set up looked very interesting.
We went to Karaoke-kan again. Prices went up slightly but they were still cheaper when compared to doing karaoke in Toronto.
I crappily sung a song from this anime, hehe. :)
I took a picture here because infomen booths are in the Yakuza games.
Whoever put these two prizes side by side is cruel! T_T
DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dotonbori is still Dotonbori. It's a place with a lot of beauty, food, shopping, and people. The crowd can be off-putting sometimes, but if I'm ever in Osaka, I will always do my best to stop by -- because I love Dotonbori so much. :)
The beauty of Dotonbori at night.
Water bottles and flowers offered to the two firefighters who were killed during the Dotonbori fire back in August 18, 2025. May they rest in peace *bows*
That's it for Part 2. For anybody waiting all this time since Part 1, thank you for waiting! Fingers crossed that Part 3 will come much sooner *fingers crossed*
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments about any of these places I visited, feel free to say something in the comments box or fill out a contact form!
PLACES VISITED:
Namba Yasaka Shrine
This was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. My boyfriend enjoys checking out shrines and temples so I try to include some in the itinerary. Namba Yasaka Shrine doesn't cover too much area, but the large lion head stage more than makes up for it. That lion head is huge and menacing in an awe-inspiring way. There weren't too many people when we were there so the shrine also felt very peaceful with all the surrounding greenery. I'd recommend checking it out at least once.
The entrance to Namba Yasaka Shrine. The lion's head really stands out.
Parks Garden
Parks Garden is at the top of this shopping complex called Namba Parks. We checked this out on a whim and it was very scenic. There was a lot of greenery and neat architecture. There were several flights of stairs with varied plants at each level. It's definitely a place to visit for a scenic experience. It was slightly windy, though, so maybe bring a light jacket.
Pop-up Events at Namba Square
Across from the hotel was Namba Square, an open area that would often have chairs and tables for passersby to sit and relax a bit. Sometimes those chairs and tables would be put away and events would happen instead. During our trip, we saw two events pop up in Namba Square. We checked out the first event briefly because we had some time and it was music-oriented (which really interested me). We didn't have time to check out the second event, but we glanced at it briefly when walking by.
Overall, it's nice seeing random events pop up in Namba Square and seeing various people gather.
The schedule for the first pop-up event.
Going by the schedule above and the time I took this pic, this would be the idols segment. They were singing and dancing.
OTHER PHOTOS:
A shot of Namba at night.
Pay phones still exist!
These were the movies playing while we were there. I watched Kokuho in theatres (in Canada) months after the trip!
The standee and poster advertising the Hikaru no Go exhibition. I'm glad I noticed them.
DOTONBORI
DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dotonbori is still Dotonbori. It's a place with a lot of beauty, food, shopping, and people. The crowd can be off-putting sometimes, but if I'm ever in Osaka, I will always do my best to stop by -- because I love Dotonbori so much. :)
Dotonbori Hotel looks very funky!
Another shot of Dotonbori at night.
The crowd of people wanting to go on the Tombori River Cruise. If the crowd wasn't so huge then we would have tried taking the cruise.
That's it for Part 2. For anybody waiting all this time since Part 1, thank you for waiting! Fingers crossed that Part 3 will come much sooner *fingers crossed*
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments about any of these places I visited, feel free to say something in the comments box or fill out a contact form!
Take care, stay safe, and until next time! :)
