Hotel Raizan Kita

We stayed at Hotel Raizan South (which is right next door) and it offers exactly the same things as North. Only we didn't have any of those problems. The south branch has no curfew. There is only one shower for the whole hotel, but the public baths are open in the day, you just have to check the times. In general each sex has about four hours of public bath time. (We just showered about eleven p.m. at night and there was never a line). Had Japanese rooms, which were standard but good for the price -- tatami, futon, towels, slippers, Japanese night gown thing, tv, air conditionner, free video rentals. Fast internet twenty-four hours in the lounge. Great location on the JR Osaka Loop line, which is good for using the JR rail pass. Lots of cheap diners around, I didn't feel that this area was dodgey at all. Booked it for two nights originally, with the thought of finding somewhere cheaper. But we liked it so much we extended our stay another two nights.

We stayed at this hotel in October 2005 and were really disappointed with the atmosphere or should I say lack of it. The hotel is cheap and to some extent value for money, but the neighbourhood and the hotel itself lack any form of character. It was hard to find decent restaurants in the neighbourhood and it all felt kind of dodgy -- for the first time on our wonderful trip. We named the hotel the "porn hotel" for future references as there were quite a few "lonely" men watching videos and the room was only equipped with a toilet roll and tv/video machine -- you do the math. The shower were also a weird experience. Women had to shower between seven and eight (I think) and after that the men were allowed to shower from eight to nine, which meant you had to be up at a certain time to shower at all. If you have any doubts about booking this hotel -- don't.

There's an 11:30 p.m. curfew that is not mentioned on the Web site. They don't open the doors again until 5 a.m. This effectively rules out enjoying the massive bar and club scene in Osaka.