TL;DR – I take a walk through Osaka and find a Pokémon Center.  

Disclosure – I paid for my flights, accommodation, entry, and everything you see purchased in this article.

Exploring Japan –

I had always planned to go back to Japan one day, and had started making plans to go back in 2020, and then 2020 happened. But late last year, I finally had the chance to put those plans back in motion as I flew out of Melbourne for Osaka, and thus my time in Japan began.  

When I started this trip, I had a complete schedule planned out with everywhere I wanted to go, but like all plans, even detailed Excel-documented plans, nothing survives first contact with the enemy. In this case, picking up a bug somewhere. However, while my plans were curtailed, I did still get to do part of what I wanted to do on day 3. Today, once I felt up for it, I thought I would go on a walk through Osaka down to Dotonbori.

As I was going for my walk, exploring the shops and alleys on my way down, I was captured by my siren song, which let me know where to go next. Though I knew there was a Pokémon Center in the area, finding which exact tower it was in was a bit of a challenge.   

Now, I sort of knew what to expect when turning up to the Pokémon Center, but seeing the Pokémon come into view as you reach the top of the escalator was a surprisingly emotional moment. I also thought I would know the many things they were selling, but Pokémon merchandise knows no bounds. Nostalgia might be a powerful drug, but it works.

After making my pilgrimage, I looked around for a late lunch and found an English pub. Now, you may be asking why I went all the way to Japan to go to an English pub? A fair question. But one of the things that Japan does very well is take foods from around the world and make them their own. So, it actually is interesting to go to an English pub in Japan to see what a Japanese version of an English pub’s fish and chips will be. It was very different, but still good.  

Then, I know it is overhyped, and it is a tourist trap, but if you are within walking distance of Dotonbori, you probably should visit Dotonbori, at least to see it in person. Also, more than anything, it is kind of fun. Things become tourist attractions for a reason.  

By the time I finished my walk back, the sun had started to set, and all the trees were illuminated for the night. There were many signs that it was time to head back to my hotel, the other being that one of my shoes chose this moment to have a complete blowout. It would have been a disaster because it is hard enough to get shoes that fit my big feet in Australia. However, I am forced to thank my parents for insisting on bringing a spare pair “because you never know”. It had never been useful advice up until this point, but like all things, you don’t know how helpful something is until you have to use it.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images and content have been created by the author unless stated otherwise