Last week I had the chance to make a quick visit to Osaka. I was there for work so the time to do sightseeing was very limited, but I did manage a little bit. Sharing this mostly for the sake of fellow tennis & Shitenhouji (四天宝寺) people.
1st picture: detail at a nice vegan restaurant (link) a few stops away from the main station, walking distance away from Dotonbori.
2-3: Around Osaka castle.
4-5: One of the stations around Shitennouji, along with a random geta wearing mascot.
6-9: Shitennouji (四天王寺)
10: Random street near Shitennouji and the school named after it.
To be honest, my impression of the centre of Osaka wasn’t that memorable - it just seemed quite urban, with not much green or personality. Both me and my Japanese colleague struggled with google maps and the lack of proper signs, and had some trouble finding our way around quickly. We also happened to be there in the lead-up to the G20 Osaka Summit, so it was a bit inconvenient with coin lockers out of use etc. I didn’t even take any pictures of the areas close to the centre.
That said, with local recommendations, we found good places, including a lovely restaurant with a nice bohemian atmosphere. Among the more obvious sightseeing places, Osaka castle was a bit of a mixed experience; the surrounding area is nice with water and trees, and the castle itself is beautiful. However, the inside has been renovated as a museum, and though some of the contents were even tennis relevant (including a story about Sanada Yukimura’s army battling against Echizen soldiers near Shitennouji), it was a bit of a shock compared to other castles where the interior is still remaining.
A few stops away from the castle on the loop train, you can get off at Teradacho and start walking towards Shitennouji temple area. There seem to be a lot of schools around this area, as the streets were full of school boys. Also interesting here and elsewhere in Osaka was how the streets are a lot wider than in many other cities, so it feels spacious everywhere. On the other hand, that made the atmosphere feel a bit less homely compared to some other cities.
The Shitennouji temple area was, however, quite different from its surroundings. As soon as you enter the temple area, you see it’s not just the usual quiet type of temple, as the grounds are full of little flea market style tables and little tents. They had pretty much everything there, including cacti. I can already see Shiraishi showing that to Fuji, or Koharu and Yuuji and the rest of the Shitenhouji crew shopping outfits and props for their gags. In front of one of the temples, I can imagine Chitose skipping class to just watch the turtles stay still in the sun. Of course, there were also spots with a more quiet and spiritual mood, so all in all it was an interesting mix. (My pictures of most of the ain temple buildings are were not so spectacular, so recommending to just google if you want to see what they actually look like.)
I loved the hippie vibe of this area, and as it was bigger than expected, didn’t even have the time to go through everything and find the legendary gate. If anyone is planning go, I recommend going with decent time - 30 minutes is not enough.
Something I haven’t done yet but am planning to is to read more about the history of this area. After visiting, I was told by a local friend that previously the lowest “caste” of Japanese people used to live around here, and this friend of mine was still warned by her parents against going there. She had never been there, but had read it had become nicer in the recent years. To me, it all seemed very safe and normal.
I also made a quick visit to the Dotonbori street to take a picture at Glico since that’s apparently what you do in Osaka. But all the other tourists as well as the locals where there, so the amount of people was just too much and I got out as soon as I could.
In hindsight I wish I had reviewed the Osaka episode before going to try to figure out more places to go to, but that will have to wait for my next chance to visit. But after this very brief trip, I think my overall impression was that I could feel the Shitenhouji mood at the Shitennouji temple, but not so much in the rest of the city.
