After my Autumn Adventures in Kyoto, I decided to stop by Osaka to see a college friend and hit up some interesting cafes with her before heading home to Tokyo. My friend has quite the interesting career history of freelance English teaching in Vietnam and then moving to Japan to eventually accept a software engineer position for Rakuten. She will be moving to Tokyo at the end of this month and I am beyond excited to go on more exciting adventures with her! Crazy how we both met at Michigan State University and ended up here. I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by people who constantly drive me to be a better person!
In celebration of her new job, we bought white wine and chocolates from Family Mart and talked about our recent endeavors. Though I see Osaka as a bustling city full of opportunities, she expressed that there is a lot less to do here than in Tokyo and she can’t wait to make the move. Though Osaka was once a city I considered working in, after hearing this from her it re-affirmed my belief that Tokyo is one of the most exciting cities in the world and has endless things to do and see. More than anywhere else. Despite this reflection, Osaka will always have a special place in my heart as a fun city to travel to. ♥
For more information on Osaka, please see my Super Aesthetic Adventures in Osaka article series!
Cafe Stop #1: TKG Osaka
TKG Osaka, or “tamago kake gohan” as my Japanese friend likes to call it (literally translates to “egg over rice”) is a popular yakitori joint around Kansai. Fortunately it is centrally located and was just a 10 minute walk from my friend’s apartment in Nipponbashi. Though I don’t eat meat, the adorable egg face created with carefully-sliced seaweed completely won me over. This is a dish that you can easily make yourself at home, but this restaurant has special lunch and dinner sets that you can order as a complete meal. I chose a set with vegetables that cost around 1200 yen. Not everyone likes the taste of raw egg over rice, but once you get used to the texture it’s quite the hearty dish.
Address: 〒542-0076 Osaka, Chuo Ward, Nanba, 3 Chome-7, Gems Namba 8F
Cafe Stop #2: Cafe Twinkle’s Recipe
After eating our smiling egg rice dishes, we came across a brightly-painted cafe blaring K-pop with a strong retro vibe called Cafe Twinkle’s Recipe. Not wanting to dash our aesthetic cafe streak, we decided to stop by for a quick drink here. Let me tell you that the banana juice and interior decor was off the chain. Plus the waitress noticed I was wearing a BLACKPINK hoodie so she decided to play “Lovesick Girls” for us. This was the highlight of my trip. Honestly if you have time I would recommend stopping by here because you never know exactly what you’ll walk into. Next time I would love to try their cakes and macarons!
Address: 〒556-0005 4-chōme-17-10 Nipponbashi
Cafe Stop #3 Osaka Panda
Here it is—my main reason for coming to Osaka: to eat panda ice cream!! Osaka Panda is extremely small but serves up delicious baked goods, ice cream, and drinks. I originally discovered it through my Instagram algorithms and was enamored by its adorable design. Though there are panda pies and ice cream drinks galore, we decided to try the seasonal panda parfait. This included ice cream, chocolate, pie crust, granola, and sweet potato flavor which created a rich taste full of flavor. I would recommend this cafe to my friends because it is near Denden Town and offers takeout options. If you go, please tell me what the seasonal parfait looks like! I see the December one had reindeer antlers which really makes me wonder what other new sweets they’ll introduce here.
Address: 4 Chome-13-15 Nipponbashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, 556-0005
Pit Stops
Now that we had nearly limitless energy from all of the delicious food we ate, we decided to go sightseeing around Osaka by foot! We first dropped by the Pokemon Center where we were immediately handed a limited edition Pikachu card. The festive kimono it was wearing really fit the mood of this trip. I picked up some Pokemon cookies for my coworkers and then scurried out because it was extremely crowded for the holiday. But really, when is the Pokemon Center not busy? Sometimes you just gotta [politely] push past the crowds to get what you want!
We next walked around Denden Town and looked through the anime shops just for fun. There was an outdoor flea market going on much like the ones you see in Akihabara selling figures, plushies, and DVDs. Though nothing caught my eye, the memories of all the anime I watched between freelancing came to mind and I felt happy. Revolutionary Girl Utena was one of the best anime I had discovered this year. We also stumbled upon a poster with Tifa advertising a game music event called VGM-FUN. Though the event had already passed, we decided we would try to check out a similar one if our paths crossed again in this wonderful city!
Heading Home
Due to the large number of people that came to Osaka through the GoTo Travel Campaign, I decided to head home around 3pm. The reserved seats on the shinkansen were already sold out so I bought a non-reserved ticket. Fortunately there was enough room that I was able to take a seat! But in the future I think I will try to reserve one in advance so I don’t have to stress about it.
When I arrived home, my cat Leo was waiting for me. Though I had a lot of fun and took a ton of amazing pictures, I was extremely happy to be back! This was my last trip of 2020 as international travel is restricted and even domestic travel is discouraged. In 2021, I have my sights set on Okinawa and Kyushu. I would also like to go to Awaji and Aomori in the spring if they are open.
In my next article I will be talking about the limited things I was able to do in Tokyo over the New Year’s holiday. Though there are more things to do here than in other countries, it definitely felt weird to me not spending NYE on a tropical island. However, I was able to make the best of the situation and do a lot of freelance work for extra cash. When the opportunity for travel comes again, I will be more than ready!
Thank you to all of my readers in 2020, and I hope to update even more this year. Please stay safe and look forward to more articles from me!