Places near Osaka Station (Umeda) to Enjoy the Christmas Mood

Christmas is approaching real soon, and you're probably looking for some ways to get into the festive mood this year. Luckily, it seems like Osaka Station (or Umeda Station, depending on what station you're at) is in a rather extra special Christmas-y mood this year, as the decorations are quite unique!

1) Ultimate Princess Celebration

If you're coming out of JR Osaka Station, head over to Osaka Grand Front first! The North Building always has a special tree up that is creatively theme.

This year, they have the Ultimate Princess Celebration featuring Disney Princesses.

Check out the website link above to see other Photo Spots if you or your child are really into princesses. Scattered around the North, South and even the stairs out to the pond area are individual features of each princess that might be worth checking out!

2. Herbis Plaza - Herbis Christmas

Head South and you'll find yourself around Nishi-Umeda and the Four Seasons Theatre.

I don't usually go in here as the vibe is almost too elegant and upscale. And sort of like you have no reason to be here unless you were filthy rich or going to watch a Musical/Broadway. But they also have a few artistic displays here - more catered to the older & artsy crowd, I think.

BUT... if you're around at night time, they do have a chain a Christmas lights spanning a couple of hotels that line the corridor outside there. Might make for a more romantic walk with your date! Definitely worth checking out.

3. Diamor Osaka - Holy Fantasy

Let's go back underground and hit eastward. There's a underground shopping strip just between the south of JR Osaka and the Dai 1 - Dai 4 Building called Diamor. There's a couple of traditional decorations with wreaths, trees, etc here that are pretty nice for the 'gram!

This year their theme is Holy Fantasy (whatever that means):

If you're hungry, I always recommend finding some cheap eats in the Dai 1, Dai 2, Dai 3 and Dai 4 buildings. Lots of great options, often pretty cheap & hearty too.

4. Whity Sylvanian Families Christmas

In the same vein, let's head northeast a bit over to Whity Shopping Area!

Just like during Halloween, Whity has Christmas displays up in the same areas as before (out of the Hankyu Department Store and outside of HEP5). They call it the Forest Flower Christmas, so if you're in the area and your kids like cute animals - Sylvanian Families might be their jam!

(just make sure they don't get too obsessed though because their collectable toys are expensive)

5. Hankyu Department Store Displays

This is one of my absolute favourites any time of the year.

If you head to the first floor of the Hankyu Department Store (main entrance), there's about 5 or 6 huge window displays that depict a story, a theme or something along the lines of that. You can check out their website for the Wonderful Holiday Story (this year's theme) for more details.

As you can see, the reflective glass doesn't always make for great phone photos, but I always find little kids really enjoying these displays as they almost always involve some type of animatronics to it.

These displays also change quite often so if you're around during the year and you enjoy these kinds of things, I highly recommend coming back to check on what they have in store.

...Other Night Time Displays

There are plenty of other displays littered around Umeda beyond this. For example, outside the main entrance of HEP5 there's also a display, which is really pretty at night when it's lit up.

Going further north past Chayamachi, there are often some displays by the Umeda Arts Theatre Drama City. The whole area around Chayamachi is quite moody as well, and I'm sure tons of young couples like to hang out there (Christmas or no).

And of course, the Midosuji Illuminations is always up and running. Walk down to Nakanoshima and you're find yourselves more illuminations down there!

Making Art Out of Snack Boxes

Twitter user @02ESyRaez4VhR2l (or 空箱職人 はるきる) is an artist who posts his creations made from empty Japanese snack boxes. His creations are what Japanese call "kirigami", a method of cutting paper to make sometimes very elaborate designs. Sort of like when we used to cut paper snowflakes back in grade.

Recently, along with the LEGO Exhibit in PARCO Shinsaibashi, the artists had put some of his creations on display.

I was able to get a discount through my LEGO Exhibit ticket to see some of his pieces in person.

The amount of details that goes into some of his work is absolutely breathtaking. I don't often enjoy the traditional art forms, but I do enjoy stuff like this (and of course, digital art).

You can see most if not all of his creations on his twitter account, but here are my photos of them for maybe a different angle?

It's really cool how the artist really strategically uses very specific parts of the box to get a certain colour or feature to match what's needed for the build.

Like this one above, the cookie was used for the moon that's hanging.

This was one of my favourites. Not only is it my favourite snack, but the elaborate details on this one with the mast is really cool in my opinion.

Here's a couple more of my favourites:

The cup noodles and the pringles one got the most attention since they are sort of the artist's signature creations.

My BF and I really liked this robot:

Here are a couple of other ones:

The Worst Part About Japanese Public Schools...

There are many things that will come as a shock to you when you come to Japan and teach in a classroom. You'll find so many things that's different from your OWN school experience. For example, my elementary school had coat/bag hangers in the hallway and a place for your shoes underneath.

I was surprised that this did not exist at the elementary school I taught at, and all students were to hang their bags next to their desk, and their coats go in the back in a little cubby hole.

Of course, schools differ in how they deal with this just like how schools in Canada differ in the setup and what's available for students to utilize. But there is one thing... just ONE THING that doesn't change in all Japanese schools, and it is one of my biggest pet peeves.

There is no central cooling/heating.

Yes. No central cooling or heating. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled in Canada? But I went to a public high school in Toronto that is more than 80 years old now, and they have central heating and cooling in the hallways.

In Japan, there is no such thing.

Almost all schools will have an air conditioning system in the staff room, and the library. But consider yourself lady luck if you have aircon in the CLASSROOMS. That's definitely still considered a luxury in some parts of Japan.

I have very vivid memories of teaching in Junior High Schools in the middle of Osaka Prefecture where students are only given two gas/kerosene heaters for their classroom.

Not exactly this model, but very close enough.

Students are not allow to turn them on (and sometimes off) themselves. Only teachers are allowed to turn them on. I mean, I've never met a teacher saying no to a student about this ever, so it's a non-issue... but imagine having to study in an environment where you can't REALLY control the temperature in your study space. Yeah.

Turning them on was always a chore in itself. If you push to ignite and you didn't push it down long enough, it doesn't start. Press it too long, it's on too high and now you're burning the student closest to the heater (but of course the other students are still crying in the cold classroom).

Also note that students are generally not allowed to bring coats to wear. Even wearing a scarf can be a huge taboo.

They are allowed one small blanket to use in the classroom.

(if you're wondering why Japan sells all these blankets as goods, this is why)

There are also rules surrounding how students can use the blankets too. Students are mostly only allowed to use it around their legs, like how this girl in picture in this blog has it. Other rules vary, but at one difficult school, students were 100% forbidden to wrap the blanket around their heads or their bodies. And definitely cannot use it as a scarf! (ask your school's Head of Discipline Teacher if you're curious about how strict your school is about this)

Now, the teachers are never held at the same standard. You can wear a coat during lesson.

You can wear a scarf, but some students will point it out and make you feel bad about it when they can't wear one. But you can wear one.

So the issue really isn't that.

The worst thing? In essence, if you're traversing between classrooms in the hallways during the winter - good luck, because Satan clearly took all the heat out of the atmosphere around you to supply hell with fire. It is FREEZING. There are days when it's possible that the hallways are COLDER than the outside.

I really miss central air conditioning......