Abeno Harukas located in the Tennoji area of Osaka is the tallest building in Japan – only the Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Tower are taller. It is a 300 metre high skyscraper containing a hotel, the largest department store in Japan, an art museum as well as the Harukas 300 Observatory located on the 58th, 59th and 60th floors. From the observation deck, you can get an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city of Osaka and further afield towards Kyoto, Nara and Kobe.

When we visited Osaka in October last year, it was high on our list of places to visit. As we were not sure what the weather would be like during our trip, we did not plan what day we would visit but thankfully we were lucky enough to experience beautiful weather during every day of our stay so we visited Harukas 300 on our first full day in Osaka. After a morning exploring Osaka Castle and Shinsekai, we made our way to Abeno Harukas by train. Access to Abeno Harukas is incredibly easy and convenient and there are many different lines you can take:

JR West Railways – Osaka Loop Line, Yamatoji Line, Hanwa Line, Kuroshio Line or Haruka Line to Tennoji Station (You can use your Japan Rail Pass on these lines)

Osaka Metro – Midosuji Line or the Tanimachi Line to Tennoji Station

Kintetsu Railway – Minami Osaka Line to Osaka-Abenobashi Station

Once at Tennoji Station, we simply crossed the road and followed the signs for Harukas 300. We took our first elevator to the sixteenth floor where the ticket counters are located – there is also a small outside observation deck and garden area on this level which is free of charge to visit but I found the view very limited.

Despite visiting on a beautiful and clear Sunday afternoon and expecting it to be very busy, we thankfully did not have to wait very long to purchase tickets. Tickets for Harukas 300 cost ¥1500 (£10.30 / US$13.40) for adults and there are cheaper tickets available for children. You can also purchase “1-Day Tickets” which allow unlimited re-entries for a day for ¥1950 (£13.40 / US$17.45) for adults.

You can also purchase open-date tickets in advance from Klook for the same price (sometimes cheaper) which allow you to present your printed or mobile voucher to access the observatory and skip the lines at the ticket counter.

The above is an affiliate link through Klook. Any tickets purchased from this link earns myself a small commission at no additional cost to you.

We then took the elevator from the 16th floor to the 60th floor which takes only forty five seconds and there is a really cool little light and sound show whilst on the journey to the top.

Once at the 60th floor, there are floor to ceiling windows looking out all across Osaka below you – there are even glass panels in some parts of the floor so you can look straight down if you want to! I could make out Dotonbori (and the ferris wheel at Don Quijote), Osaka Castle, Tennoji Park, the Tsutenkaku Tower, Itami Airport, Kansai Airport, Universal Studios Japan, our hotel in Umeda as well as the city of Kobe in the distance to name a few.

The open roof Sky Garden is located on the 58th floor which is a great place to sit down and enjoy the views around you – there is also a cafe on this floor where you can get food and drink. Whilst we were sitting here, we noticed some people on the roof of Harukas 300 enjoying an open air view of Osaka with no glass in the way and we were immediately interested to see if we could go and get the same view. On the leaflet we had been handed when we purchased the tickets, I saw a section at the bottom of one of the pages mentioning about tours of the heliport and it said to ask on the day to see if any were available.

We visited the information desk back on the 60th floor to ask about the Heliport Tour and we were told there was space on the next tour leaving twenty five minutes later at 3:00pm. Each tour can accommodate thirty people and lasts for thirty minutes in total – you spend about twenty minutes on the helipad itself. We put our names on the list and paid an extra ¥500 each. We were given wristbands and asked to read a list of rules and instructions (don’t worry – they have these available in English) before signing a consent form to say that we understood everything. All your belongings have to be placed into a free of charge locker but you are allowed to take anything that can fit into your pockets with you. I asked about my DSLR camera and was told it was okay to take with me as it had a neck strap.

At 3:00pm we were taken to the heliport via a staircase – this is the only way to the heliport so you will not be able to visit if you cannot climb the stairs. Once there a member of staff repeated the rules once again – this time they were all in Japanese but it was easy enough to follow along and understand what they were talking about. There is an orange line painted on the floor about a metre away from the edge of the railings around the heliport and you are not allowed to take any item including your camera over that line. It is very easy to get all your photos of the views unobstructed without stepping over the line though. We each walked right to the edge separately whilst the other held the cameras. It was great to be able to see the view all around us without glass in the way and as it was a beautiful warm sunny day in Osaka, the breeze in the air felt great.

Whilst we were on the helipad, we could also see a group of people taking part in “Edge the Harukas” where you can walk right out and lean over the edge of the building and look straight down to the the streets of Osaka 300 metres below you. The experience costs ¥1000 extra and can only be booked on the day.

After visiting the heliport, we also got to meet Abenobea who is the Harukas 300 mascot who was all dressed up for Halloween. There is a gift shop on the 59th floor (where you take the elevators back down to the 16th floor) where you can buy all the Harukas 300 and Abenobea merchandise you could possibly want.

Also make sure to visit the toilets on the 59th floor before leaving – the windows are also from floor to ceiling and I’ve never seen views like that from a toilet in my life!

Before visiting Harukas 300, I honestly thought it would be a very quick visit but we spent just over two hours there and I could have easily stayed for longer. I would love to go back for another visit on a future trip to Osaka just to see the view at night as I can only begin to imagine how beautiful the views would be!

Since this blog post was written back in 2019, some of the information may no longer be accurate or up to date. Be sure to do your own research and check official websites for the latest details before making any of your own travel plans.

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