Digs on the Forty-Second Floor
The Marriott Miyako Hotel, Osaka
January 2020 (3 min read)
The cavernous lobby of the Marriott Miyako Hotel in Osaka is exhilarating. Something wild about the soaring view and lobby makes your heart race. The rooms occupy floors 38 to 57 of Abeno Harukas, the tallest complex in the whole of Japan. We could have stayed in ours all day, sipping coffee, and taking photographs of the changing light on the city. From our digs on the 42nd floor, we can see all the way to the docks and the silver glint of the Yodo River that runs through the city. Beyond that, far out to sea at the end of a 3km-long bridge, is Kansai International Airport, marooned on its own artificial island.
It’s possibly worth flying to Osaka just to land at Kansai. The architect Renzo Piano designed the longest terminal in the world and had it built on a 30-metre bed of earth, the soil of which was hacked out of three mountains. To steady the whole structure, a million sand drains were inserted. Check out Wikipedia for the actual details, which are a testament to a miracle of engineering hubris. Four months after the airport opened, Kobe earthquake struck in January 1995. The epicentre was only 20km away, but not a single window shattered at Kansai airport.
The Marriott Miyako experience begins on the 19th floor with that grandiloquent lobby. The interior design is all about soaking up the space. Enormous lights like Catherine Wheel fireworks hang over the reception desks. Artfully-ripped white wallpaper covers one section of wall.
Affluent Japanese women, tiny and chic, come in groups for afternoon tea at the lobby cafe. Some of them graduate from there to the cocktail bar, with its coveted seats facing the glittering view. A crooner on the piano plays on weekend nights. A slick waiter delivers our martinis with a bowl of nibbles. He twists the lemon peel high above the glass to allow only the molecules to settle. It’s all admirably louche.
A stay here includes complimentary tickets to the Harukas 300 Observation Deck on floors 58 to 60 where there is a 360 panorama of Osaka. But I’m getting giddy. First up, are our rooms. Though we have requested connecting rooms, it turns out there are none. We have to upgrade in order to secure adjacent rooms on the 42nd floor, one for the two kids and one for us. Both have twin beds. Double beds are either few and far between, or sold out during our stay. But never mind, the floor to ceiling windows allow every inch of that fantastic city view to dominate the room. At night the apartments, office blocks and highways are ablaze while the single-rise houses are lit like fireflies.
The rooms are generous and everything in them is meticulously placed. We make good use of the compact Nespresso machine. The bathroom is stocked with the largest range of accessories I’ve ever seen, as well as bath salts and good quality soap. I’m still using the fold-up hairbrush. My teenage daughter declares the shower/wet room utterly divine.
There has to be a small downside and that is the cost of room service and food generally. I order a small carafe of fresh milk for tea-making and it costs a 1,000 yen (approx. Aus$12). The breakfast buffet is 3,500 yen, which makes no sense for our younger child who eats only a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast; besides which, the spread is not so sumptuous. The trick here is to make use of the Marriott Miyako’s location on top of the Kintetsu department store and Tennoji railway station. Kintetsu sells a range of take-out food, has several cafes and an excellent food court, while the station houses a range of restaurants, especially in a section called The Loop. We ate at the Spanish tapas bar, mainly for the decently priced red wine.
The Abeno Harukas building opened in 2014 and rejuvenated what was once a down-at-heel area. Not only is the station super convenient for getting you around the city, you can also walk to the intriguing Shinsekai (New World) area. This is an entertainment district, modelled on New York and Paris, which opened in 1912, fell in to disrepair and has now come back to life. (For my story on the back streets of Osaka click on the link https://www.booksandjourneys.com/osakabynight) The centrepiece of the district is a loveable, neon-lit structure called Tsutensaku, based on the Eiffel Tower, which now stands at a height of 103 metres.
The flashing neon lights of Tsutensaku are visible from the bar at the Marriott Miyako. It’s amazing to think that in 1912, Tsutensaku was the second tallest structure in Asia at 64 metres. We’ve come a long way in terms of human know how.
Extra
From Kansai Airport, catch the JR line express direct to Tennoji Station, a trip of approx 40 minutes. Follow the signs to the Kintetsu department store and Harukas Tower lifts. There is a discrete lift for the Marriot hotel alongside those for the Observation Deck. Double Rooms from Aus$300 per night.
https://www.miyakohotels.ne.jp
There is a hefty cover charge to have a seat at the bar on weekend nights
https://www.abenoharukas-300.jp/en
Make sure to use the complimentary tickets to the observation deck. There is a small cafe.
https://backstreetosakatours.com
Tours run from 5.30 to 8.30pm most nights
For book suggestions, scroll back up to the Backstreet Osaka Tour link