Osaka

Review of traveling in Japan, Osaka | The city where my heart smiles 🍙🍁🎠

Have you ever felt that? Just stepping out of the airport and smelling an unfamiliar air, and suddenly your heart starts beating faster for no reason. Osaka… the city that makes us feel that way from the very first second we arrive.

No loud announcements, no loud people, no rush. Just cool breeze and the smile of a Japanese auntie waving at the bus. Osaka doesn’t shout for us to love it, but somehow it makes us fall for it before we even realize it 🍃

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🧸 The cuteness that doesn’t try but captures your heart tightly

Osaka is a city that doesn’t have to try to be cute because it’s naturally cute. Whether it’s a small sweets shop on the street corner or the sound of a bell ringing when someone opens the shop door, it’s all the genuine Japanese vibe that makes us feel very warm inside.

Just walking around small alleys, you’ll find neatly arranged little things, pastel-colored cafes hidden in building corners, an old man selling crepes in front of a shop, and cats rolling in the sun beside a shrine. Everything feels like a scene from a movie we once dreamed of 🎥🍂

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🍜 Osaka = The city where your stomach is never empty

For food lovers… Osaka is heaven!

Starting with the city’s icon, round, bouncy, hot takoyaki. Crispy outside, soft inside, biting into it releases the fragrant sauce smell, with chewy octopus inside, sprinkled with dried fish flakes dancing on the surface… The feeling is like “Ahhh, so delicious!!” 🐙🔥

Next is okonomiyaki, or Japanese pizza, with everything we love in one pancake—pork, egg, vegetables, sauce, and melty cheese baked hot until the whole shop smells like a grill baking happiness into every bite 🤤

While walking, you’ll find shops selling green tea soft serve that smells amazing~ Eating it feels like walking in a tea forest. Some shops have daifuku with smooth red bean filling, others have crepes with fresh strawberries drizzled with light sweet sauce… Eating almost made me forget to take pictures 🍦🍓

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🛍️ Shopping is fun, life is very happy

Osaka is not just a city of food but also a city of cuteness! Shopping districts like Shinsaibashi or Amerikamura are heaven for fashion lovers, cafes, and quirky cute things that are irresistible.

Just a few steps and you’ll find quality secondhand clothing stores, cat cafes, dog cafes, bear cafes (all kinds of cute), or even postcard shops with hand-drawn whimsical designs we’ve never seen before 🐾

Of course, Don Quijote is a must-visit spot. Not going there feels like you haven’t really been! Inside, there’s everything from daily necessities to rare Japanese snacks, face masks, cream-filled fish-shaped snacks, weird-flavored KitKats, to keychains shaped like raw fish… Walking in feels like getting lost, but your hands keep grabbing things into the basket nonstop 😆💸

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🌃 Dotonbori… The more night falls, the more it melts your heart

Dotonbori at night… feels like a different version of Osaka 🏮

Multicolored neon lights reflect on the canal water, the chatter of people, laughter, the sound of takoyaki vendors flipping batter on the grill. Everything is lively but not chaotic, like everyone is living life at their own pace.

We stood on the bridge with the Glico sign behind us and smiled unconsciously — because it’s truly “happiness” 💫

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☕ Cafes so cute you want to sit all day

If you ask if Osaka has cute cafes? The answer is… so cute it makes you want to cry! 😭💕

Each cafe has a unique theme. Some are decorated in warm vintage style, some are Korean minimal, some feel like stepping into a fairy tale world with bookshelves, soft sofas, the aroma of coffee, and fluffy cakes that look like clouds ☁️🍰

I once sat in a small shop in a quiet area, ordered a berry cake and hot latte, then took out my sketchbook to draw happily. The atmosphere, sunlight, and soft music felt like the whole world was gently embracing me 💕

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🍃 Osaka… is a refuge for the heart in this world

Osaka is not the biggest city in Japan, nor the most modern. But Osaka is a city full of “small happinesses.”

It’s a city with affectionate cats sunbathing in front of shrines. A city where strangers smile at you in ramen shops. A city where just buying daifuku feels like getting a hug. A city where you don’t want to rush because every corner is so cute 🌸

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💌 Thank you, Osaka, for making my heart bloom

Thank you for the cute sweets. Thank you for the warm lights. Thank you for the simplicity with care. And thank you for making me love myself again 🩵

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If anyone is hesitating whether to come to Osaka? I say… come. Once you come, you’ll know that “true happiness” sometimes doesn’t need loud noise. It might be in a small alley, a roadside sweets shop, or the cool breeze blowing by the canal 🍡🌬️✨

Osaka never told us to love it, but we accidentally fell in love with it wholeheartedly 💘

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