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Traveling from Tokyo to Osaka
On day five of our trip to Japan, it was time to leave Tokyo and journey to Osaka! If you are following along with our day-by-day recount of our trip to Japan in March/April 2024, you can imagine by now that we were pretty exhausted – you can see it on our faces, but we were still having fun!
If you have missed any posts – all the links are below!
You can travel from Tokyo to Osaka in several ways—a seven-hour drive to the west, an hour-and-a-half flight, or a three-hour adventure on the Shinkansen, aka bullet train. We had been looking forward to experiencing the incredible bullet trains in Japan, so we were excited—but first, we had to figure out how to purchase and use the tickets!
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Buying Shinkansen Tickets
Buying Shinkansen tickets online or in person in Japan is incredibly convenient. Any JR ticket office or ticket window can sell tickets. Larger train stations like Tokyo and Kyoto also have dedicated Shinkansen ticket offices. However, we decided to buy ours online the night before to ensure we could book seats at the departure time we wanted, giving us peace of mind for our journey.
Our first step was to enter our travel route from Hotel Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to our next accommodation, Fraser Residence in Namba, Osaka, in Google Maps. Once we found the route and time slot that worked for us, we purchased the same trip on Klook, paid on the app, and received an email with QR codes and step-by-step (with photos!) instructions on how to redeem our QR code for physical tickets at the station.



We learned that checking in to a hotel early in Japan is very rare, so we didn’t feel rushed. We slept in, ate crepes for breakfast, and said goodbye to Tokyo before heading to Shinjuku Station. It was pouring rain outside that morning, so we were so thankful that we used the Yamato Luggage Service to send most of our luggage ahead of us to our next accommodation.
Yamato Luggage Service
Our favorite service of the entire trip was the luggage forwarding service provided by Yamato Luggage Service in the lobby of most hotels. This service is priceless, and we highly recommend it. Navigating transportation with a bunch of luggage in a city you have never been to felt like an impossible task and a massive annoyance to other travelers, so we opted to utilize it for a small fee between each hotel.
On the first day of check-in, we inquired about the service, and it was really easy! The staff helped us fill out the paperwork with the correct address of our next hotel, verified our next reservation, and required us to have our bags in the lobby one full day before check-out. (Each hotel may be different, so always ask on the first day.) They attached the tags to our bags, and off they went!
Mark and I each kept one small rolling suitcase full of the next three days’ worth of clothing and sent the rest ahead. It was amazing to be free of all the luggage and know it was waiting for us at our next hotel. It was a very rainy day! Our small rolling suitcases and winter raincoats from Amazon came in conveniently handy that morning, too!
You can buy our rolling suitcase here, Marks coat here, and Brittany’s coat here.
We walked about 8 minutes from the hotel to Shinjuku Station, where we entered Yamanote Line Platform 14. We then traveled to Shinagawa Station, where we could catch the Nozomi Line (Shinkansen).
Using Google Lens & Maps in Japan






Shinkansen Tickets on Klook
Once we arrived at Shinagawa Station, we needed to locate the Shinkansen terminals and find the proper ticket machine to collect our tickets from Klook. It’s easy to find them if you take your time and follow the signs. The ticket machines were located just next to the Shinkansen ticket gate entrance. The Klook instructions were easy to understand in English and showed you how to use the ticket machines to redeem the QR code for physical tickets. I pressed English on the ticket machine, followed the prompts, scanned the QR code, and out popped four tickets.
Something we didn’t realize before traveling to Japan is that when you take the Shinkansen, you need not only the Bullet Train ticket but also a local ticket to accompany it. Thankfully, Klook made it simple by charging and providing both tickets simultaneously.
Our First Shinkansen
The next essential step was purchasing Bento boxes for the train ride! In Japan, it’s standard to not eat or drink in public spaces like trains, buses, or even while walking. However, the Shinkansen is different, and travelers are almost expected to bring all kinds of yummy treats on the ride with them. We chose these delicious fried rice and fried chicken boxes, Eki sushi, and drinks for our journey to Osaka.
Hot Tip: Since there aren’t many trash cans in public in Japan, the staff often walks the aisles with trash bags so you can dispose of everything you have accumulated easily!
Once we bought our snacks, we headed through the ticket gates. You enter both tickets (local and Shinkansen) through the gate at the same time, then collect them and keep them safe because you need those tickets when you get off the train three hours later in order to leave the station!
Pro Tip: Don’t lose them!












Travel by Shinkansen
The Shinkansen experience was everything we hoped it would be. It was impressively clean, comfortable, spacious, and fast! The seats practically recline to the lying-down position, they are heated, the leg room is off the charts, and a lovely footrest makes it easy to relax.
The average speed of a Shinkansen is around 150–200 miles per hour, and yet the ride is relatively smooth and quiet. Everyone on board seemed to abide by the same rule of staying calm and serene, which was so peaceful. It was a rainy and overcast day, so we knew there was no hope of catching another glimpse of Mount Fuji. It was a perfect day to eat good food and take a nap.
Pro Tip: You can see Mount Fuji from the right side of the Shinkansen when traveling from Tokyo to Osaka and from the left side when traveling the other way. The best views are from window-side seats F (or seat D in Green Cars)
Arriving in Osaka
The Shinkansen offers travelers an exceptionally unique and efficient travel experience, which we absolutely loved. We arrived at Shin-Osaka Station precisely on time. We followed the rest of our Google Maps trip by using our Pasmo IC cards to travel on the Midosuji Line to Namba Osaka Station. It was a short walk to our new home base, Fraser Residence Nankai in Osaka!
We arrived just after the standard check-in time of 3:00 PM and were promptly given a room on the 11th floor with lovely city views. As soon as we entered the room, we were greeted by our luggage, which had been delivered and was set up nicely and waiting for us.
Fraser Residence Nankai Osaka
Fraser Residence Nankai Osaka is the perfect location and the comforts and amenities of a home. We chose this hotel based on its ideal location, cost, and the simple fact that it provided in-room washers/dryers. This hotel stay was mid-trip, and we knew we would want to do laundry to recycle many of our clothes instead of overpacking for fourteen days. It worked out great, and we highly recommend this hotel! Read my full post about Fraser Residence here!






Namba Ribbon Restaurant
Another fantastic perk of Fraser Residence is the on-site hotel restaurant and bar located in the lobby. Namba Ribbon Restaurant is known to be one of the best restaurants in Osaka. It serves a fantastic daily breakfast with over 30 Japanese and Western dishes.
As soon as we dropped off our belongings in the room, we headed down to the bar to toast in celebration of successfully traveling across the country of Japan for the first time.
We also enjoyed duck prosciutto and plum liquor and watched Osaka rush hour walk past. Since this was the middle of our trip, we knew we wanted to slow down a bit, catch up on laundry, and sleep, but since we were in a brand new city, we had to go for a walk, right?






Exploring Dotonbori
Again, Fraser Residence’s location is perfect! We were less than 10 minutes from the lively entertainment area of Dotonbori, Osaka’s most famous tourist destination renowned for its neon lights, extravagant signage, and enormous variety of restaurants and bars. Where Tokyo felt like a smaller New York City, I’d describe this area as Japan’s Las Vegas.
The name Dotonbori refers to both the Dotonbori Canal and the Dotonbori Street that runs parallel to it. It is one of the most colorful areas in Osaka and is a must-visit for anyone traveling through the Kansai region. Osaka is known as the “kitchen of Japan,” Dotonbori is one of the best places to experience Japan’s extreme love for food. Many famous restaurants in this area serve up just about anything you can think of, but most well-known for Takoyaki, crab, sushi, and prime Japanese beef.
This area was incredibly crowded for a Monday night, but we walked all along the streets, alleys, and shops, looking for good photo spots. The Glico Running Man is one of the most well-known landmarks in Osaka. It is a giant neon sign in Dotonbori, Osaka, Japan, depicting a man running on a blue track. The sign was erected in 1935 to promote the Japanese food company Glico. The Glico Man has been the unofficial mascot of Dotonbori and is a popular photo spot. Once we took a few photos, we were ready to leave the crowds and get something good to eat!


















Kura Revolving Sushi Bar
On our first night in Osaka, we both craved sushi for dinner. Mark and I love sushi. A sushi date night almost 15 years ago was one of our earliest dates and it’s been a tradition ever since. So we decided to try our first sushi conveyor restaurant – Kura Revolving Sushi Bar.
We loved Kura Revolving Sushi Bar. This place was fun! We did go to the Kura in the heart of Dotonbori, but the queue was over an hour, so we opted to start walking back to our hotel and go to the Kura location outside of all the touristy madness. We walked right in and were seated within minutes. It was a learning curve to figure things out at first – when you don’t know the language and you have never been to a conveyor belt-style sushi restaurant, it can be confusing, LOL!









We quickly got the hang of it and ordered drinks and specialty sushi items from the order screen. They appeared on the top belt within minutes, and we grabbed anything that looked good as it passed by on the lower belt. At the end of your meal, you place all your dishes into the slot on your table, and your bill is calculated and printed out. You then take your bill to the front counter and pay at a machine. We never spoke to a human person during our entire experience! So cool!
With very full bellies, we walked back to our hotel in the heaviest rain of the entire trip. It was a full day of cold and rain, but it was also so peaceful after such a big day. Thanks for reading! Posts about Fraser Residence and Himeji Castle are coming soon!
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I was so curious about the bullet train. With it going so fast, I wonder if it bothered people that are prone to motion sickness. It looks very comfortable, which was surprising to me.