MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East Review
Last Updated on December 5, 2024 by Kay
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I had the pleasure of staying for two nights at MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East with my family so I thought I would share the experience to help others. This article is for those who are wondering where to stay in the city with their kids or when traveling as a group.
Table of Contents
Overview
MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East (MIMARU大阪 心斎橋EAST) is located in Shinsaibashi, a popular shopping district in the center of Osaka. The hotel is in a very convenient location, only an 8-minute walk from Shinsaibashi Station and a 3-minute walk from Nagahoribashi Station.
Best of all, MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East is an apartment hotel, so if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live in a Japanese apartment, you’ll want to stay here. I’ll share more about what this entails later on in this article.
Check-In Experience
Check-in was super quick and smooth.
The staff are really friendly and speak multiple languages, including English. They happily answered any questions my husband and I had, switching flawlessly from English for me to Japanese for my husband.
When we checked in, we got special coins as well to use for Japanese snacks and drinks at the hotel. We received one coin per person, so three in total.
My husband and I used our coins to enjoy a cup of sake via the drink dispenser (get Dassai if it’s available, it’s a high-quality sake that’s very smooth and delicious). For those who don’t drink alcohol, the drink dispenser also has Japanese apple juice. If you want more coins, you can purchase one for 100 yen from the front desk.
My daughter used her coin to fill a bag with Japanese snacks and sweets such as Umaibo and marshmallow daifuku chocolate.
There are games you can rent for free as well, so you can enjoy some low-key and cozy family time in the comfort of your room if you feel like taking a break from traveling for a bit. (My daughter is always excited to stay at a hotel but she can sometimes be a bit of a homebody so she loved this!)
You can get free rental items from this area, too, such as extension cords, nail clippers, irons, and even a rice cooker, shaved ice maker, toaster oven, and Apple TV!
From the front desk, you can get slippers, toothbrushes, towels, pajamas, etc.
They also offer lots of free rental items for kids and amenities such as a crib, bed guard, baby bathtub, step stool, diaper pail, slippers, and eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes. However, I was a bit surprised that they don’t offer children’s pajamas. I hope this changes in the future, especially since I saw many children staying here.
Kay’s Tip: Play the Chatter Box game with the staff at the front desk to try to get candy! My 5-year-old daughter liked this and didn’t mind that she didn’t win any candy. (It’s not a hard game, she was just unlucky, haha.) There’s also a Bingo Challenge but we didn’t have time to do this.
You can use your coins towards coffee as well, which is located just around the corner from the rental items in the lobby.
If you need some skincare or tea, the hotel offers free packages, too.
The lobby also has nice guides that share restaurants in the area that are recommended by staff, which makes choosing somewhere to eat very easy!
And if you need to wash your clothes, there’s a huge laundry room with plenty of washers and dryers, including some combo machines that do both.
The Room and Stay
This is truly an awesome place for long-term stays in the city. The rooms are larger than what you’d typically get at other hotels in Japan, especially for the price.
We stayed in a Family Apartment, which is a whopping 38m² in size and comes with two single beds and one bunk bed. This room fits four people, which was perfect for our family of three. My daughter was really excited about the bunk bed, too (even though she has one…? I guess it’s like toys — when it’s new, it’s interesting!). I liked how each bed had two pillows, one firm and one soft, so I could choose which one I preferred.
Although the website states that the Family Apartment room can fit four adults and two kids (ages six and under), I think this requires cosleeping and there’s no way I would be able to share one of those beds with my five-year-old. It’s very spacious for four people, though, especially for the price! You have lots of space for luggage and still be able to move around easily (which can be challenging with most hotels in Japan since they’re quite small).
Every room at the hotel comes with a kitchenette that is stocked with pots, pans, dishes, and kitchen utensils.
There’s also a fridge with a freezer, so you have everything you need to store food and cook, which is great if you feel like making a meal for a change (or, in the worst-case scenario, someone gets sick and can’t go out).
There’s an AEON Supermarket less than a 5-minute walk away from the hotel as well as some convenience stores where you can buy food. Even if you aren’t going to be cooking at the hotel, I think Japanese grocery stores are a great place to get souvenirs.
If you have kids, you may want to read my articles on grocery store food for kids and Japanese convenience store food for kids.
And if you need to heat up food, there’s a microwave, too.
The dining table is wide, perfect for enjoying breakfasts as a group while watching some Japanese television (which we usually do when we travel).
We also used the dining table to play some games that we rented from the front desk.
I absolutely loved the bath and shower area, which is exactly what you’d find in a typical Japanese home (including my own!). It’s spacious for showering and the bath is perfect for soaking in after a long day of sightseeing.
Right outside the shower room is a sink with plenty of space to put your things such as cosmetics.
I also appreciated that the toilet was not only in its room but also had a privacy button on the control panel. When you push this button, it will make a flushing sound that will cover any bodily sounds, which I like to use because I’d rather not have my family hear me do my business. I haven’t seen this kind of button in hotels before, only in toilets in public places, so it was a pleasant surprise.
However, I do wish the toilet room had its own sink with soap. We had to go back to the shower room area to wash our hands.
The room also has plenty of places to hang your bags or jackets, as pictured below.
I also found it interesting that they use a small tablet (or phone?) to provide information for guests. It comes in multiple languages, which is very convenient.
When it came time for us to sleep, we were able to doze off comfortably in the beds, although we could hear the guests in the other room because they were quite noisy. If you stay with kids, try to make sure they stop running around late at night when other people are sleeping, because it’s likely they will hear it. I don’t fault MIMARU because I’ve stayed at many Japanese hotels and lived in apartments in Japan over the years, and they just aren’t very soundproof.
When checking out, all we had to do was hand back the room card key and we were done! Easy peasy.
What’s Near the Hotel
As mentioned earlier, MIMARU Shinsaibashi East is located in Shinsaibashi, and there is plenty to do here! For instance, this hotel is quite close to Round 1 Spocha, which is a blast for people of all ages, and mere minutes on foot away from the incredibly famous Dotonbori.
If you have kids (or even if you don’t), you might be interested in reading the following articles that share fun things you can do in the area and nearby, as well as restaurants that I recommend.
Overall Impressions of MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East
Overall, I had a great time staying at MIMARU Osaka Shinsaibashi East and I would recommend it to anyone coming to Japan in a small group and looking for a spacious place to stay that feels like home in a convenient location. This hotel is especially great for families.
For 5% off your stay, visit their official website and use the code OYADOO4. This applies to any of MIMARU’s five locations in Osaka, and the Osaka Namba North location has a Pokemon room! You can also book through Booking.com, which price matches other sites.