#Eda85DaysInJapan | Chapter 1: Revisiting Osaka
🗓️ Dates: 22–26 April & 1–3 May 2026
This was the actual start of the trip!
Frankly, I was not too fond of Osaka before, as I felt like it was just another city, and it’s one of the last places my parents and I traveled together, so I had been feeling quite emotional ever since I landed. I could not hold my tears once I was on the Haruka express train from KIX to Shin-Osaka. The memory of the three of us sitting together on that train leaving Japan was still so vivid.
However, maybe because I stayed longer this time and was based in Shin-Osaka rather than the busy city center, it felt quite different. Dotonbori was still very busy, of course, but I made time to visit Shitennō-ji, Sumiyoshi Taisha, and Namba Yasaka Shrine, and I even got pleasantly lost wandering the rainy streets of Namba at night. I visited Nakanoshima for the first time and checked out the Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest — I was genuinely impressed by how they categorized the books; it felt much more reader-friendly, organizing collections by stages of life and experience rather than only standard subjects.
📍 Shitennō-ji
As one of the first state-sponsored temples of Japan that was founded by Prince Shotoku in 593, it has weathered numerous damages from disasters and wars to still survive until the present day. I managed to stroll inside and check out the valuable Buddhist art pieces and climbed up to the garan, then I realized it’s lined with thousands of miniature golden statues, shrines, and small plaques.
📍 Sumiyoshi Taisha
It’s quite surreal to stand in this 2,000-year-old shrine and it’s actually the first shrine I’ve visited on this trip. I managed to find a set of three stones each inscribed with the characters "Five" (五), "Great" (大), and "Strength" (力) from a dense gravel pile—legend says collecting all three grants five protective energies: longevity, fortune, health, wisdom, and wealth. It took me almost 45 minutes!
📍 Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest
Famously designed by Tadao Ando, it features a large staircase and an interactive rest room in a cylindrical space. Apart from the architecture, I was more impressed by the book categories. Using themes like "Beautiful Things" or "To Live / To Die" rather than standard subjects like Philosophy, Language, or History could intrigue so much more interest.
🥾 Hiking Minoh Waterfall & Katsuoji Temple
After completing the Kumano Kodo trail, I kept the momentum going with a hike starting from Minoh-kayano Station.
The walk began through quiet residential neighborhoods before heading up toward Minoh Waterfall. The start was a bit steep, but the trail flattened out and became super chill, easy, and refreshingly cool—plus, I got to meet plenty of local doggies out for their walks along the way!
From the waterfall, I carried on hiking up to Katsuoji Temple, which took about another hour. The temple grounds were so much bigger than I expected. I had seen photos of the famous red Daruma dolls online before, but seeing them in real life was a total "wow" moment. Thousands of them were tucked into every ledge, stair, and stone surface, blending in so naturally with the ancient architecture.
A super fun touch at Katsuoji: visitors are given a postcard and get to collect stamps at six different stations across the grounds. Each layer prints a different color/pattern over the last, gradually building up into one complete, finished artwork by the time you reach the end!
📱 The Great Battery Emergency
To round off the day, I had a classic travel incident. Every single one of my devices—phone, watch, everything—was completely out of battery on the way back. The catch? I was using a digital one-day transit ticket on my mobile app to get through the turnstiles! I had to literally rush down and sprint through the station, managing to tap out at Shin-Osaka Station with a terrifying 1% battery remaining on my phone screen. Talk about perfect timing.
It turns out that taking a slower pace and changing where you base yourself really shifts how you see a place.
