Team trip to Japan. It has to be Tokyo right? Well in our humble opinion, wrong. Although Osaka is one of the most visited cities in Japan, it is often overlooked as a sports tour destination. Here are the reasons why we think it outperforms Tokyo.
PLAY
Ok, first hurdle; as a non-Japanese speaker, lining up a sports match in Osaka involves a bit more work compared with other destinations in Asia. However, we easily managed to setup a football match in neighbouring city Kobe by reaching out to J-soccer magazine.
Kobe Regatta & Athletics Club is one hour from Osaka and can be reached by taxi, coach hire or train. We opted for the train, which takes about 1 hour from Osaka and is fairly easy to navigate. The Kobe Regatta & Athletics Club offers lots of sports and can help set up matches for; football, rugby, cricket, softball, hockey and darts.
If you want an alternative option, social media is a great starting point. Connect with teams and players for amateur teams in the Osaka area, and generally people are quite receptive. Expat community groups on Facebook can provide easier access due to the (lack of) language barrier. A quick Instagram places search can bring up a list of people tagged in that area too. All these strangers that you see are simply friends waiting for you to sliiide into their DMs. As long as you don't do it in a creepy way.
PARTY
Although the third largest Japanese city by population, the action in Osaka can be condensed to just a few locations. This is the single biggest reason for our love of Osaka for a sports tour. With the whole team kitted out in bespoke merch, it is virtually impossible to lose people on a night out. I have to add here, that if you take heed of our suggestions below and rent an Airbnb house, it is very possible to get lost after the night out.
Make sure you take note of the Airbnb location, pin it on your phone or even make temporary tattoos with the address on for the squad. Fool-proof unless someone loses their arm and don’t forget to include the address in Japanese. Buy your temp tattoo paper for easy self printing here.
Unlike more dispersed cities, in Osaka you can avoid long commutes and travelling with bars, clubs and restaurants all within stumbling distance of each other. In our opinion, the district of Namba - home of the famous Dotonburi street and Dotonbori canal - provides enough nightlife for two nights on the bounce. If you are staying a third night, you could venture out to the Umeda district to mix things up a bit.
The nightlife is varied from chilled out canal side cafes serving cans of frosty Sapporo, to nightclubs that keep going until 5am and everything in between. A number of bars along the water here offer all you can drink packages for as little as ¥2,000/ US$20 per person, per night. Great value if you are mindful of your budget and why not hold Kangaroo Court when you have freeflow sake at your disposal?
MENU
Beer: Sapporo, Asahi, Kirin, and more local craft beers than a hipster dive bar in Shoreditch… Japan = phenomenal beer. In fact, we say Japan is the best beer brewing country in the world.
Sake: warm, cold, shots, with sushi… all I know if it goes down easier than Sambuca
Chuhai: traditionally Chuhai is made with Sochu, carbonated water and lemon, however most bars sell it as vodka, soda and a shot of flavour. Our flavour recommendations are grape or Yuzu. Chuhai is effectively a Japanese alcopop that's acceptable to drink over the age of 20.
Highball: a refreshing long drink of whiskey (usually Suntory by default) & soda. Do not take anyone up on the chance of upgrading your Suntory to a premium Japanese whiskey, you are drinking it with soda after all, so a 15 year single malt is a waste of time. A perfect choice to rehydrate (dehydrate less) after a tough sports match in the Osaka sun.
UNWIND
Japan is famed for it's excellent food and beverage culture, as we have already alluded to. Our favourite local delicacies to try out are takoyaki - a fried octopus ball, with the option of cheese. Bizarrely, freeflow options are available.
Other favourites include kushi katsu which are a type of deep fried meat or veg skewers, and yakiniku are Japanese style BBQ with an array of meats. Sorry vegetarians.
In terms of activities, there's loads you can do in Osaka. Starting with sports, you can check out a J-League soccer match at either Osaka Gamba or Vissel Kobe (home of Andres Iniesta). Japanese soccer has a cult and trendy vibe, and accessible for every type of fan.
If football ain't your thing, you could check out the Osaka Dome for Japan's most popular sport; baseball. The 36,000 seater stadium is home to the Orix Buffaloes and accessed from the Osaka Metro Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line. If you can time your trip to see a baseball match, do it. In fact, build your tour around this. You won’t regret it. Sample the truly unique Japanese baseball match day atmosphere as waitresses with Ghostbuster style beer proton packs, walking around the stands, dispensing fresh lager on the go.
Top tip: although you can usually buy tickets on the door, book large group tickets together here.
If you haven't got all your cheering and shouting out of your system, head to the 24/7 karaoke venues. Karaoke is a Japanese staple like sushi or Godzilla, so have you really been to Japan if you didn't do karaoke. For real authenticity, drink whisky highballs, inhale tons of cigarette smoke and sign J-pop with the local party goers / local village freaks.
For more zen vibes, Osaka Kaiyukan is a world renowned aquarium. Perhaps a slightly strange inclusion for a sports tour but hear me out. A peaceful stroll around the Osaka Aquarium helped level us off and temper our return to reality and flight home. The perfect pre-flight hangover cure.
If you're feeling more adventurous, then any-fin is possible in Japan, including indoor lakes with mini fishing rods. It's a catch & release setup with bizarre Japanese prizes.
An oppor-tuna-ty to take the tempo down a few notches and have a couple of beers schooling your mates
WHERE TO STAY
You cannot go wrong with Namba district and anything within 20 minutes’ walk of Dotonbori street is a winner as you will likely be spending most of your time there. If you are further out, splitting a readily available late-night taxi home between 2-4 people isn’t going to break the bank either. There are plenty of hotel options in Osaka offering twin or single rooms for good value. However, what we love about Osaka is the variety of Airbnb options that cater for large groups. On two occasions we have rented an entire house for the team and it has worked perfectly.
ON A SHOE STRING
Accommodation
Hostels can be found for as little as ¥1,600 per person per night. Japanese hostels are great quality and why not book an entire dorm room for the team.
Travel
Stay in Namba, near Dotonbori and walk everywhere powered by Asahi.
Eat
Check out some of the many street vendors selling takoyaki, kushi katsu & okonomiyaki
Merch
Team polo and dazzlin' travel shorts
Party
There's tons of streets lined with izakayas serving frosty beers at reasonable prices. We recommend Hozenji Yokocho in the Dotonbori area .
MID-TABLE
Accommodation
Namba has plenty of twin room hotels on offer from ¥3,000 per room per night.
Travel
taxis. Easy to flag from a hotel, a nightmare to order to an airbnb and they ain’t cheap
Eat
Get your sushi fix in one of the many sushi restaurants you come across. Prices are extremely reasonable, unless you opt for Michelin starred.
Merch
Team polo, limited edition playing kit, dazzlin travel shorts
Party
Get a private karaoke room, a few bottles of sake, and sing the night away with the locals
BALLIN’
Accommodation
Get an entire Airbnb house. Keep the squad together. Have mega fun. Some options here
Travel
Private coach hire for the squad. Expensive yes. Worth every penny? Yes.
Eat
The smell of cooking meats, and particularly Wagyu beef hits you at every corner in Osaka. Being only a stones throw from Kobe, you should definitely splash out on some A5 grade Kobe beef.
Merch
Team polo, limited edition Japanese playing kit, baseball kit, matching baseball hats, dazzlin travel shorts
Party
All you can drink (nomihoudai) at one of the cool, glitzy nightclubs in America-mura. Depends on your music tastes so if you want edgy dance & alternative vibes, head to Club Circus. For a more mainstream crowd and music, Giraffe Club on the Dotonbori canal .
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