The Japanese city offers a winning combination of rich culture and top facilities, says Chris Pritchard.
Don’t get on that train!” a man yells as I lift my luggage on to the 50-minute express from Kansai International airport (KIX) to Osaka. I’m puzzled – I know it’s the right one and, after a long flight, I’m looking forward to reaching downtown and getting to my hotel. What’s his problem?
“Must clean first,” he says. “Very dirty.” I notice short queues waiting patiently at each carriage. On board, a team of cleaners work furiously. They have only a few minutes – in Japan, the trains run on time.
A ticket inspector and food vendor bow to each boarding passenger, then to the carriage as a whole. I feel guilty that I hadn’t listened to the bilingual announcements advising passengers to wait until cleaning was completed. Everyone else did so because this is an exceptionally polite and thoughtful society – not least here in Osaka.
Osaka’s top three attractions are location, location, location. It’s Japan’s third-largest city, after Tokyo and its neighbouring port of Yokohama. A glance at a map shows its pivotal position on Honshu island. Close to three rivers’ confluence, it has been a trading and cultural hub since ancient times.
The Japanese describe Osaka as far more laid-back than Tokyo, though to a visiting gaijin (foreigner), it seems frenetic – a place of skyscrapers (often adventurously designed), giant malls (sometimes underground) and unabashed modernity. Throngs of determined-looking but orderly pedestrians brush by.
Getting here for conferences or incentives is easy. British Airways flies to KIX via Tokyo, codesharing with Japan Airlines on the one-hour leg (a 155-minute bullet train also operates between the two cities). Many European, Middle Eastern and Asian airlines serve Osaka direct. Visitors land into a sprawling, ultra-modern airport on its own artificial island, with plentiful English signage. From there, choose between express trains (the best option), buses or taxis for the 55km journey downtown. In the city, the subway system proves easy and cheaper than taxis.
Osaka’s appeal is highlighted by Jenifer Dwyer-Slee, Accor’s business events director for Asia-Pacific. “We receive unusually high numbers of conference requests for Osaka, reflecting the city’s ease of access and attractiveness,” she says. “It ticks the box for many groups. It has an excellent combination of new and old, rich culture and fabulous food. There’s a surprising amount of heritage, such as Osaka Castle and eye-popping culture such as Bunraku [traditional puppet theatre]. It is also well located for World Heritage sites in Kyoto and Nara.” These two ancient cities are only 43km and 28km away respectively and make good options for a day trip (see panel overleaf).
Dwyer-Slee adds: “A great advantage is Osaka’s easy-to-use train system, making the whole city accessible. Good English is spoken in the more obvious locations and at hotels such as the Novotel [Accor’s only hotel in the city].”
A strong pull factor for MICE business is “first-class facilities”, says Jim Watanabe, general manager and chief of MICE promotion at the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau (OCTB). “We have more than 40,000 rooms suitable for delegates,” he says. These are of three-and-a-half to five-star standard, with the lower end akin to four-star rooms. Space is at a premium so rooms are generally smaller than elsewhere in Asia.
Watanabe adds that the city’s convention organisations “endeavour to make events unforgettable – experiences you’ll remember for years”. The Osaka International Convention Centre and the OCTB help organisers to arrange activities for before and after meetings.
Shigeo Otsuji, general manager of the convention centre, says the city’s venues can accommodate between 100 and 3,000 delegates. He adds that, aside from attending conferences, “participants and spouses can enjoy cultural experiences, shopping and day trips within and outside Osaka”.
Located downtown and also known as the Grand Cube Osaka, the convention centre has an opulent theatre holding 500 people and a main hall accommodating 2,754. The centre’s 25 conference rooms hold between 50 and 1,000 people. Officials say Osaka doesn’t chase, and isn’t equipped for, super-large gatherings but for some very big events, the Kyocera Dome, a baseball stadium seating 36,477, has been used. Its field once hosted a dinner for 6,000-plus Junior Chamber International delegates.
Much of Osaka’s thriving convention business is domestic, with most four- and five-star hotels boasting well-equipped meeting facilities. A Japanese oddity is the prevalence of school groups – students from across the country hold conferences as part of excursions, and it’s not unusual to see them traipsing through lobbies.
Global hotel brands in the city include the Hyatt Regency on Osaka Bay, which has 480 rooms and 19 meeting rooms, the biggest of which holds 2,000 delegates theatre-style, and the Hilton, a 525-room property in the business district with nine meeting rooms, one for 1,000 people theatre-style.
The 200-room Novotel Koshien Osaka West has eight meeting rooms, seating 728 theatre-style in the largest, while the Georgian-style Ritz-Carlton has 292 guestrooms and 21 meeting spaces, including a 1,400-capacity grand ballroom.
There’s also the Swissotel Nanka, a 548-roomer amid the shopping, dining and entertainment of Namba, with 19 meeting rooms holding from ten to 1,400 people. Starwood options include the Sheraton Miyako, a 495-room hotel with 12 meeting rooms, accommodating 800 theatre-style in the biggest, and the Westin, with 304 guestrooms and seven meeting venues, the largest hosting 1,200 delegates theatre-style.
Homegrown independent and chain hotels are often as well-appointed as internationals. Among Osaka’s best are New Otani (newotani.co.jp), with 525 rooms and 22 meeting rooms, the biggest for 3,000 people theatre-style, and two Nikko properties (jalhotels.com) – Nikko Osaka, a 643-roomer on leafy Mido-Suji Avenue with 13 meeting rooms, and Nikko Kansai Airport, a three-minute walk from the arrivals hall with 576 guestrooms. These two properties have a maximum theatre-style capacity of 970 and 400 respectively. Unusual, historical or quirky venues aren’t part of the picture in Osaka, where organisers go for dedicated convention centres or hotels.
So what to do after the meeting? Japan is accurately judged an expensive destination, particularly compared with its Asian neighbours, but that doesn’t stop foreign visitors from hitting the glitzy malls and tiny shops along narrow lanes. The two main shopping districts are Minami and Kita. In Minami, Dotonbori is a busy precinct with gigantic neon signs that attract crowds for after-dark strolling. Close to some major hotels, it’s much lauded for dining, particularly for crab and other seafood. Nearby Shinsaibashi is a 580-metre covered walkway stuffed with upscale shops and good restaurants. Also in these parts, Amerikamura is cheaper, less genteel and often filled with teenagers in outlandish gear.
Close to Minami and meriting exploration is Shinsekai, which, until a clean-up more than a decade ago, was regarded by many Japanese as sleazy and dangerous. The main danger is pickpockets and there are homeless people here, but I didn’t feel threatened. Bargain-basement shops abound and the area is renowned for Osaka’s best kushi-katsu eateries, serving deep-fried beef, pork or seafood on skewers. Also worth visiting is Osaka Bay, where artificial islands are home to theme parks, restaurants, museums and shops.
The city’s best-known landmark is Osaka Castle, a complex of historic parkland structures. Construction began in 1583, with stones for 30-metre walls brought from 100km away. It’s a prime spot for admiring the cherry blossom that blooms in April. Umeda Sky Building offers a dramatic contrast, providing views of Osaka from a 170-metre-high platform called the Floating Garden Observatory. There’s one way to finish your event on a high.
Visit osaka-info.jp/en/
Incentive ideas
Cruises on Osaka Bay and free time for shopping are staples of an itinerary in Osaka, but planners are increasingly including options such as tea ceremonies, kimono painting-and-dyeing courses, calligraphy lessons, Japanese cooking classes, cycling tours, market visits and stops at museums and galleries. Companies sometimes have museums of their own, one of the best-known being Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, with noodle-making lessons and tastings. Also often offered is a visit to the enormous Universal Studios Japan.
Partly because of the country’s efficient network of shinkansen (bullet trains), travellers can be in a nearby city in under two hours – sometimes considerably less. For instance, the pretty city of Kobe is close by, home to onsen (hot spring baths), a brewery and some of Japan’s best shopping.
Another common day trip is to Hiroshima. Its Peace Memorial Park is a sombre attraction encompassing a museum and the A-Bomb Dome, a former industrial display hall that was one of the few buildings to have survived the 1945 atomic bomb. It’s a 15-minute ferry trip from here to the nearby island of Miyajima, where tame deer roam free among tourists. Temples include Itsukushima, a revered Shinto shrine built partly over water, one of Japan’s most photographed sites.
The former ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto are also easily reachable. The first is famed for ruins, shrines, temples and a National Museum filled with priceless Buddhist art, while the latter is home to the Golden Pavilion, a temple covered in gold leaf and set on a lake that is one of Asia’s great sights, and the Gion area, the narrow streets and old houses of which provide a glimpse into a bygone Japan, with geishas often spotted scurrying to meet clients.
