[Japan Fall Vacation] 2D1N in Osaka with a day-trip to Nintendo Museum (Kyoto)

The much-anticipated new Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan opened in October 2024 and Baby balloted for the tickets prior to our trip. Luckily enough, we were chosen to be able to purchase the tickets online. All tickets were released as per a lottery draw system. There are no tickets on sale at the museum's premises, and security guards at the Nintendo Museum will check your ticket against your passport. 

We made our way from Kinosaki Onsen to Kyoto to visit the museum. It is located in the small town of Uji which required us to take the local line from Kyoto station. After a fairly short walk from the nearest train station, we discovered that the entrance to the Nintendo Museum was quite subtle - very understated and not what we were expecting at all. The location is in a very sleepy neighborhood with very little amenities. 

Once we entered the security gate, there were a couple of selfie spots in the grounds including the iconic Super Mario Green Pipes.

The Nintendo Museum comprises of two floors of exhibits and gaming, a shop full of exclusive Nintendo merchandise, and a semi-themed cafe. 

Do watch out for the Pikachu manhole cover!

Without further ado, we began our Nintendo Museum experience. The first thing we did was to take pictures with Toad and music and various sound effects were played by stroking or touching their heads!

Each Nintendo pass had 10 coins allocated to it, on which we could use to play games on the lower level of the museum. No photos were allowed at the main museum area.

Once we had finished our tour of the main exhibit area of the Nintendo Museum, we went downstairs to the main gaming area to use our credits. 

We played some old school games using your shadow as the controller! 

We also loved playing the classic NES, Wii, Super Nintendo Games using big controllers! 

We moved on to the Nintendo Museum Gift Shop after finishing up the 10 gaming coins. We wanted to buy the limited-edition cushion controllers which were exclusively available at the museum, but too bad, they were mostly already sold out when we got there. Nevertheless, we were still able to pick up some cool collectibles. 

Overall, I loved the Toad exhibit, as well as the various experiences of using our Nintendo pass / coins to play games, but I felt that it wasn't enough to keep the hype up. It is definitely not something that we’ll be making a repeat visit to unless they unveil something amazing! Of course, I speak from a non-video game fan point of view, as my baby absolutely loved the place. He basically became a Kidult again while he was here!

After leaving the Kyoto, we made our way to Osaka, as it was our last stop of this Autumn holiday to Japan. Upon reaching Namba Station from Kyoto, we headed straight to Swissotel Nankai Osaka which offers the best luxury Japanese hospitality in an unsurpassed location. It is situated right above Nankai Railway’s Namba Station - It's one of the busiest subway stations that connects to everywhere in Osaka as well as to the rest of Japan. In short, this hotel is incredibly convenient, and convenient is a key thing when travelling with big luggage, because you don't have to worry about taking the local train or walking through narrow walkways to your hotel while rolling your luggage! We have no doubt that, if we were to return to Osaka, we would be staying at the Swissotel Nankai Osaka again!

We only stayed for a night in Osaka before catching the home-bound flight. After dropping our bags in the room, we headed down to Dotonburi which was literally a 8-10mins walk from our hotel.

We had our late dinner at our favorite place for Japanese ramen - Ichiran Ramen! This is a mandatory eat at any parts of Japan we visit! The soup broth tasted awesome, and the noodles were firm and chewy too.

This eatery place is highly recommended to people who are looking for tasty Ramen! Prices could be more affordable though, but as a touristy joint, it's your best bang for buck for great Ramen.

Breakfast at the hotel is always served at the hotel's restaurant 'Table36', which is aptly situated on the 36th floor, and the view was splendid! The Halloween decoration was on point! 

The sumptuous breakfast consisted of a usual Western breakfast staple, as well as Japanese fare.

Since our flight was around 4pm in the afternoon, we went to Namba Yasaka Jinja - A famous small shrine which has a lion's head exhibit. It was only a short walk from our hotel. Since our hotel is located right above the Nankai Rapid Train station, it was a breeze to roll our luggage from the hotel to the station, and the journey to Kansai International Airport takes just 35 minutes.

I have come to the last and final post of my recent Japan holiday. Thanks so much for reading up on my experiences during my Autumn/Fall Japan trip. Time really flies, as it has been almost 3 months since I returned from Japan, but I still find myself missing it very much. We will meet soon, Japan!