Tere!

After spending two weeks in my hometown, I headed to Osaka. Mainly I stayed in Osaka, and yet at some point I stayed in Kyoto too.

In this article I’m gonna make some comments on how staying at accommodations in Kansai was.

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Table of Contents

     1. Osaka
          a. Business hotel Nisshin Namba Inn
          b. FON-SU B&B
          c. Quintessa Comic & Books
          d. HOTEL MORNING BOX
          e. KIX House Waraku 2 goukan
     2. Kyoto
          a. HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA
     ★Summary

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1. Osaka

a. Business hotel Nisshin Namba Inn

The first accommodation that I stayed in was Business Hotel Nisshin Namba Inn. It is literally located in Namba, Osaka.

The accessibility to Nisshin Namba Inn is quite good. I arrived at JR Namba station, and if I walked it would have taken only 10 minutes. Since I had two 20 kg suitcases, I took Uber. There are a few more taxi apps in Japan, but their apps were not available in App Store Estonia. Therefore, Uber was the only option for me. From JR Namba station to Nisshin Namba Inn, it cost less than 700 JPY on Saturday afternoon.

Around Nisshin Namba Inn, there are some restaurants, a drug store, and what is best, two convenience stores (kiosks) called Family Mart. In some countries, Family Mart exists with the name of “Famima” which is an abbreviation that we Japanese use.

I booked a double room. Usually, toiletries in Japanese hotels are furnished in each room, but due to COVID, in Nisshin Namba Inn, it was self service. However, when checking in, they gave me a bag with a few cotton swabs, a hair tie, one-time liquid cleansing as well as a mask. In the bathroom, there was a new soap. Hence the only thing I took from the toiletry box was a body wash sponge. I had my own toothbrush too, so I didn’t have to take one.

In the bathroom of Nisshin Namba Inn, there were bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. This is a good point because I don’t have to consider how much I can use those liquids!

In the room, there is also a microwave, a small fridge, a cooker, a kettle in addition to a closet. In the closet there were three hangers. Since it’s a hotel, a pair of slippers and a hairdryer was also in the room. What is more, I had one bag of tea and one set of instant coffee.

Nisshin Namba Inn offers breakfast too. Don’t expect anything fancy. There are several different types of bread (both savoury and sweet ones) and yoghurt as food. As for drinks, there are coffee, instant coffee, tea, instant soup in addition to juice and milk.

I’ve had something wrong with my belly whenever I ate bread or pasta. Sometimes it was fine, for instance, when I ate my mum’s sourdough bread sandwiches. Immediately after eating some pastries in Nisshin Namba Inn for breakfast, my belly bloated. Since they didn’t offer anything else like rice, I decided not to eat those pieces of bread for breakfast in Nisshin Namba Inn.

Also, of course there is free Wifi in Nisshin Namba Inn, and the connection was very good. I did a school theory exam for driving online, and there was no problem.

b. FON-SU B&B

FON-SU B&B is located in Shinsaibashi area but quite away from any stations or the main streets in Shinsaibashi and Namba. The exact location is in the residential area.

The good points of staying in FON-SU B&B are that three convenience stores (7-eleven, Lawson and Family mart) are nearby.

However, there are multiple negative points.

First, it is not a B&B. Though they say “B&B”, they don’t include breakfast at all. There is their cafe in the same building, but it opens at 9. I was very disappointed, and felt like I wasted money. I chose FON-SU B&B because it says “B&B”. Then what is it? It’s a hostel with private rooms. Mine was a private room as I had two big suitcases.

The second point is the location from FON-SU B&B. When I walked somewhere from FON-SU B&B, there was no problem. However, when I had to move to the next accommodation in Kyoto, 10 minutes by walk with two 20-kg suitcases was too much. I eventually took Uber to the nearest station as from the station the transport didn’t seem to be that hard.

Thirdly, I didn’t like their way of speaking. I had to call them on Skype in the morning like at 7.30 because I had no idea how to get out while the main entrance was closed. They answered and they sounded as if they had wondered why I didn’t know how to get out of the building outside the active hours. When checking in, they taught me how to get in late at night or in the early morning because the door requires a code. However, they didn’t tell me how to get out of the building during such a time. When I met the person who answered my call, she was nice, but her way of speaking on Skype wasn’t guest-friendly.

When I come to Japan again, I wouldn’t stay in this hostel again. If you are on a budget trip or local trip in Japan, it could be an option.

c. Quintessa Comic & Books

Quintessa Comic & Books was an interesting hotel because there were lots of comics books! The number of comic books was not as big as internet cafes. However, it was satisfactory as they had “Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no yaiba)”.

At that time, it was said that the third season of “Demon Slayer” anime would start in the coming months, and I had not watched the second season. When I didn’t have any plans to go outside, I spent some time reading “Demon Slayer” in the hotel room.

It seemed that there were some guests who just wanted to read comic books in Quintessa Comic & Books.

The hotel toiletries including tea, coffee, and face wash were self-service. Of course, I took extra for the next trip I planned.

d. HOTEL MORNING BOX

I didn’t like HOTEL MORNING BOX because my hotel room was too small, it was chilly inside, and there was no drink in the room. On the other hand, the good point was that there was a large communal bath. Since it was not onsen, it was just a large version of a regular bathtub, and yet it was very comfortable to soak my full body there alone. (Yes, there was no one in the bathroom.)

HOTEL MORNING BOX also had a shared space where guests could eat and do some computer jobs. I could use this space even after checking out.

I really liked the communal bath, but I wouldn’t stay at HOTEL MORNING BOX again.

e. KIX House Waraku 2 goukan

Waraku is in Rinku, and around 15 minutes away by walk.

Speaking plainly, I am not sure if I will stay at Waraku again because of the taxi issue there. Since Rinku is in Osaka, I thought Uber was available. However, when arriving at Rinku town station, there was no Uber. Even regular taxis were not there. I went to the reception in the hotel beside the taxi area in the station, and asked them to call a taxi. Gladly, they did, and I was able to go to the accommodation by taxi.

Due to this, I had to do something for the transport the next morning. The taxi driver was luckily very kind, and when arriving at Waraku, he called his taxi company, and let me book a taxi ride the next morning.

Maybe it was still cheap to stay there and go to Rinku town station, and take a train to the airport, but I didn’t like the accommodation itself. My room was on the upstairs, and I had to bring two heavy suitcases there, which was not easy.

2. Kyoto

a. HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA

I stayed at HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA because I was supposed to hang out with my friend in Kyoto. However, owing to her company’s rule on COVID, she cancelled the plan. Therefore, the accommodation was still in Kyoto.

HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA is located just next to the Hankyu Omiya station.

The room looked fashionable, but I didn’t like it that much as there was no table in the room. There was some space in the TV rack, but it was far from the edge of the bed, so it didn’t work well as a table.

Around HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, there are convenience stores and a supermarket. If you want, there is a McDonald’s too near HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA too.

In HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, in the common area, there is a microwave though I didn’t use it.

★Summary

To be honest, I wanted to stay at a weekly flat in Osaka, however, it was more expensive than staying at hotels.

Next time, I want to stay in Osaka or somewhere for one month so that I can stay at a monthly flat, and go to some other far away cities such as Tokyo and Okinawa from Kansai on weekends.

Aitäh! 🙂