Japanese look nice in general: nice hair, well dressed, good manner, and stylish in their own way. If you are shopping and hanging out in Osaka and Tokyo, try getting a haircut and get nails done. It’s fun.
The renovated Osaka Station has become a modern complex connecting trendy shopping malls, including Lucua, Lucau 1100, Dymaru, and Osaka Grand Front. Of course you may walk to Umeda area. There are so many restaurants and shops that it will take more than a day to cover everywhere.
Fancy a modern Japanese style afternoon tea in Osaka? Kanmi Koyori (かんみこより) is a nice place to have a lunch/afternoon tea break in Umeda shopping area.
Japan is never short of coffee shops. So if you miss the breakfast serving time of your hotel or fancy trying something else other than your usual buffet, there are always many choices around JR stations, subway stations, and in commercial buildings and shopping malls. There are more and more western restaurant setting up branches in Japan. This Sarabeth’s is from Manhattan, New York. There is a real Sarabeth, an award-winning jam-maker who started her humble jam business with her husband and business partner in 1981, and now owns a jam-factory, a bakery cafe and 9 restaurants. Sarabeth’s was named “No. 1 dessert restaurant in New York” by a survey and praised as “The Breakfast Queen of New York” by New York Magazine.
Chayamachi is Osaka Kita’s most popular downtown area for young people. It’s a modernized area with trendy stores such as Loft, NU and NU+ shopping malls, HMV, coffee shops, boutiques and many eateries. There is a good mix of young culture and business people. I like this area because there is a good wide variety of things to see, places to shop and eat.
Do you know how many vegetables you need every day for a healthy diet? 350 gram according to Camp, a restaurant chain that specializes in vegetable curry in Japan. They serve vegetable curry with their own secret recipe of curry with rice. And you may choose the portion of carbohydrates (rice) and spiciness (from light to very hot).
Osaka is a major base city if you plan to view cherry blossoms in the west Japan area, including popular destinations such as Kyoto, Nara and Wakayama. In Osaka city, there are three major spots where most people view cherry blossoms: Kema Sakuranomiya Park, Osaka Castle and Mint Bureau. The cherry trees in Kema Sakuranomiya Park and Osaka Castle blossom around the same time which is earlier than those in Mint Bureau.
Just two JR stations away from Osaka on the loop line, Kema Sakuaranomiya Station is right at the riverside where the magnificent 4,700 cherry tress are planted. It’s beautiful during spring time and you can see it on the JR train.