Ōsaka and Kyoto with kids. Day 4: Ōsaka

Quick Japanese Pronunciation Tip

Why do I keep writing "Ōsaka" with the bar over the O? The correct pronunciation in Japanese has you hold the O for two beats. Sounds weird if you do it in English. Sounds weird in Japanese if you don't.

Our Day

For our last day in Ōsaka we wanted to visit Ōsaka Castle, a cat cafe, and a children's science museum I read about online.

Google Maps tracked our day for us

Ōsaka Castle

Ōsaka Castle was easy to reach by train. We took the Ōsaka loop line and got off at Ōsaka Castle Station. It was a beautiful day and the cherry blossoms along the river were in full bloom.

Sightseeing barges offer a nice view of the cherry blossoms

Not too far inside the park we noticed a road train that would take us right to the castle, which sounded great since our feet were sore from all the walking over the past two days. The man who gave us our tickets spoke Japanese, English and Chinese and told us that the next train would leave in about half an hour, and we could get out of line if we wanted but seats were first-come-first-served. There weren't too many people around so took a few minutes to walk around and get some drinks, making sure to get back in plenty of time.

Choose to go to the castle or to another station

There are lots of different tour options at the castle. Many offer timed tickets so you can purchase now and have a guaranteed spot later, like the golden boat tours. We opted to guide ourselves since we couldn't stay very long if we still wanted to do the other things we had planned for the day.

Golden boat tours offer a unique view of the castle from the moat

It's difficult to get a sense of scale without people in the photo. Hi, little family!

It's easy to walk by this enormous rock, until you ask yourself how they got it there.

The castle grounds are wide and open, and attract entertainers and exotic animal handlers. We watched a juggling act, and came across a man with a hawk that was tame enough for the kids to touch!

Any day is made better with animals

Cat Cafe

We left the castle through the southwest exit, had lunch at Sukiya (a popular chain restaurant), and caught the subway to Nakazakicho, the station nearest the cat cafe we scouted out online. Neko No Jikan let us right in and had no issue with our kids interacting with the cats. Truthfully none of them were interested in being petted or playing, but as soon as we bought snacks for them they immediately changed their attitude.

Rough tongues tickle!

Suddenly decides he's a lap cat

One drink was included with our paid hour with the kitties, so I brewed a cup of Earl Grey and sat watching the outside world with the cats. The cafe overlooks a playground that has cherry trees and lots of birds. It was a nice way to spend a quiet few minutes.

Watching cherry blossoms fall and birds fly

Kids Plaza Osaka

Once our hour with the kitties was up, we walked about 10 minutes to Kids Plaza Osaka. Check out the link (in English) to get a better sense of the place. I can't really do it justice here. I think kids from 2-12 will enjoy it the most, but there is so much to offer than really anyone can have a good time here. There are interactive displays, a huge indoor playground, plus lots of quieter areas too.

Bubble chamber

Just a note of caution: kids can quickly access other floors and rooms, and keeping them in sight at all times is nearly impossible. It's still a very safe area, and staff are visible and plentiful if you need help. Your best bet is to arrange a meeting spot because it's highly likely someone will get lost at some point.

Slide, climb, crawl, hang, go nuts. Lose your kids.

Try out musical instruments from all around the world.

We definitely wish we arrived here earlier because there was so much more that we wanted to see and do than we could in an hour. 3-5 hours would have been better, actually. We reluctantly left when the doors closed, and made our way back to our place for dinner and packing.

As we looked back on our trip we agreed that we all wish we had more time to spend, but that we were pretty satisfied with our itinerary and the things we got to see and do. Our mix of activities kept a good balance between things that were interesting for kids and things that the adults wanted to do. It was definitely a trip I would make again.