We spent three nights in Osaka, and truthfully I’d say it was too long. The best thing we did in Osaka was actually get a train to a different town! It was a 20 minute train ride to nearby Ikoma, for a day trip that was one of the highlights of our three weeks in Japan. In fact, it was possibly the most fun I’d ever had!

Ikoma is home to a small, family-friendly theme park which you can reach by taking two novelty cable cars. There are four different ones, but there were two that I particularly wanted to ride: the dog train…

…and the cake train!

It was truly everything I’d hoped for!

And the theme park at the top was wonderful! It was all bright colours, animals, and exciting games. Unlike at Fuji-Q Highland, this time there was no need for the signs telling me which rides were dog-friendly – everything here was gentle and colourful, and suitable for a scaredy cat like me! I’m not sure how much Dr HH enjoyed going on all the baby rides, but I was in my element! So if you do intend to stay in Osaka, make sure you get out of Osaka to visit this place!

The other great thing about Osaka was the food. We really loved Cafe Aina, which we visited when we returned from Ikoma. It’s a vegetarian place with plenty of vegan options – although there were plenty, Dr HH and I both ordered the same thing. Dumplings!

We were not expecting the portion to be quite so generous. There were a lot of these tasty little dumplings – the filling was great, and they were nicely steamed. There were some more surprises in the side dishes too. The little dish of noodles was really good, and in amongst the salad was one piece of tempura veg and a couple of chunks of karaage (my beloved fried chicken). Delicious! It was all very reasonably priced too, given the massive size. This was also a really friendly place to visit, and we’d recommend it to anyone visiting Osaka.

Is there ever such a thing as too many dumplings? Would you like to ride the dog/cake train?