Day 5- Umeda

4:16 AM

Yet another shopping district. That's the iconic Hep 5 Ferris Wheel behind me

This is Part 5 of a 5 Part Series that describes in detail my family’s 6D/5N Trip to Osaka, Japan.

We spent four days discovering the cultural and more traditional sights that Osaka has to offer. For our fifth day, however, we visited the modern part of Osaka, its transportation hub, shopping and business district, Umeda.

We woke up that morning with a dilemma: should we go to Universal or not? We are not really thrill seekers. While theme parks are integral parts of our trips in the past, we rarely try out the rides because we are too afraid to do so (haha!). We were likewise told that because everyone seems to be in Japan, we might waste a whole day as we would only spend the same lining up for the different rides. Thus, we have decided to go to Umeda instead.

This bakery located at the Namba Nankai Station sells uber delicious breads

To die for. These breads/pastries are oh-so-good

We rode the subway from Namba to Umeda (420 JPY). From the station, we followed the ever reliable Apple Maps to the Umeda Sky Building. The Umeda Sky Building stands at 173 meters with a rooftop observatory called the Floating Garden Observatory. The building has two main towers, which are connected to each other, by the said observatory. While entrance to the building until the 38^th floor is free, a fee of 800 JPY (for adults; 500 JPY for high school students) has to be paid to access the observatory.

Escalators leading to the 38th floor where one can purchase tickets to access the Observatory

On the 39^th floor, there is a restaurant and a station where you can purchase heart-shaped love locks which can be locked at the Lumi Deck located at the rooftop garden.

At the 39th floor of the Building

Heart locks for sale.

Aside from the Lumi Deck, the rooftop garden also provides an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city.

The Lumi Deck

Love Locks at the Lumi Deck

The unobstructed view of the city from the rooftop observatory

View of the Umeda Sky Tower from below

After admiring the magnificent view of the city, we headed to the Takimi-koji Restaurant Mall on the first basement floor which is an exact replica of a Japanese Street during the Showa Period.

Having admired the magnificent Umeda Sky Building, we began to walk to the major shopping malls in the area, including the Herbis Plaza Ent, Daimaru Umeda, Hankyu Umeda, Hep 5, Yodobashi Camera and Osaka Station City.

Herbis Plaza Ent

Pokemon Center at Daimaru Umeda

Kitkat Chocolatory, B1F Daimaru Umeda

Hankyu Grand Building Umeda

Yes, that's a shopping center! Hello photo bombers!

Yodobashi Camera

We once again shopped to our hearts content, but this time, for pasalubongs which we will take with us back to the Philippines.

Satisfied and a bit sad that we were about to go home the next day, we headed back to Namba where we had dinner at Senryo (6F, Namba Parks) where I finally had my sushi cravings satisfied.