Japan 2018: Let's go to Osaka & Kyoto (Pt. 1 - Osaka Castle)
DAY 5
On day 4, I had to wake up 5AM to get ready for my 6:06AM shinkansen (high speed rail/bullet train) to Osaka! I was so excited because this would be my first experience riding the shinkansen and eating a bento. “Wait, but if you're only a 15 minute walk from Tokyo station why did you get up early.” To that I say, don’t judge me - I take long to get ready, ok? But the most important thing of course, was so I wouldn’t miss the train. Trains in Japan are famous for its punctuality.
PREAMBLE
The area where you board the shinkansen is in a different area from the regular trains, so I’d advise to go at least 30 minutes early so you can 1. find the gate and 2. get a snack for the ride! You’ll know your in the right area if you see blue gates - there are signs - and double check you are entering the correct terminal.
One note: if you are using your JR pass and ticket, you just show your pass to the person on the side and give them your ticket to punch. If you are using your Suica/Pasmo and JR pass, put your ticket in the slot and scan your card. Also, I believe the station opens at 5:30AM and if you take the earliest train like I did, most of the bento shops actually IN Tokyo station won’t be open - there are shops on the platforms though.
Now that you’re through the shinkansen gates, follow the signs to your correct platform and wait by the correct car number. Hopefully you’ve planned to have a little bit of time to go grab a coffee from the vending machine and a bento box from one of the many shops. The train ride will be approximately 2h30mins, so I’d recommend it. There will be servers walking up and down the train every so often selling food and drinks but these will be more expensive.
I bought a can of black coffee and a can of cafe au lait from the vending machine for the trip - yes, Japan has vending machines that not only dispense cold drinks but hot drinks as well, its AMAZING! Then I got a bento box that had unagi (eel), clams, anchovies (I believe those are), and a few pickled vegatables served with rice - which costed about 1500 YEN (~$15 USD, so wasn’t exactly the cheapest breakfast).
I would give the bento a solid 7/10. The seafood was nicely seasoned and paired great with the rice. Pickled things I enjoy sometimes but I had no idea what that white thing was and it had the strangest texture - it was soft/mushy but it crumbled in your mouth? Definitely 10/10 for the coffee - hot drinks from a vending machine?! COME ON
But now’s the time to sit back and enjoy the ride.
A little tip for you: try to reserve a window seat on the right-hand side for your trip (from Tokyo to Osaka) and on a clear day can see Mt.Fuji!
Mt.Fuji from the shinkansen
I only planned to stay in Osaka/Kyoto for 2 days and 1 night - with the train ride there being the first day, so I had to plan accordingly. I knew I wanted to see the main touristy things because my thought was, “you just have to - especially if it’s your first time.” So, my first day would be going to Osaka castle and then walking around Dotonbori before taking a train to the Kyoto area to explore the Arashiyama bamboo groove, monkey park, and of course, Fushimi Inari - the one with the thousands of orange (tori) gates. I will be talking about Kyoto in my next Japan trip post, so stay tuned for that.
OSAKA CASTLE
Finally, after the decently long train ride - I’m pretty tired and grumpy from having to wake up pretty early in the morning but I’m extremely excited to explore! It drizzled just a tiny bit as I left the station, walking towards Osaka castle but it quickly dissipated.
There is no “easy” way to get into the Osaka castle grounds - it’s still a good 15-20 minute walk from the nearest station. It’s surrounded by large stone walls and moats, so makes sense it's a bit of a trek to the castle. As I was making my way inside, I saw a lot of school children but they had their little coloured hats on that I believe indicated their class/grade - real cute.
Hopefully when you go, Osaka castle won’t be under construction as I know they’ve been starting to do construction for the 2020 (now 2021) Olympics. It was beautiful to look at and experience! There is quite a lot of people there, so I’d advise to go earlier. Also, I hear there are cherry blossoms there when it’s in season, so you can snap an even better picture when you visit!
You can pay a small fee (I believe its 600 YEN or ~$6 USD) to enter the castle but I hear there isn’t much to see… So I decided not to bother with that. Though if you do go in, you can get a great view of the surrounding area! Unfortunately, the area wasn’t as peaceful and serene as my trip to Meiji shrine (I got there around 7AM) so I didn’t sit and enjoy the scene for too long.
There are a few food vendors in the surrounding area if you get hungry or thirsty. I was heading to Dotonbori next, so I knew I had to save my stomach for all the delicious food I was going to eat there.
Stay tuned for my next post where I explore Dotonbori! Tons of delicious food pics to come!
-Thomas