Good Location, Lots of stores, the big red Ferris Wheel
Disadvantages:
Busy (very busy)
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Hep 5 is located in central Osaka, and competes with quite a few other stores and shopping centres for your attention. Immediately nearby you will find Yodabashi Camera building with a wide variety of stores and also Hep Navio, the Hankyu shopping centre and scores of shotengai (shopping streets).
A must do for Hep 5 is the ferris wheel on the top. A fun ride and a great view over town, not too many shopping centres decide to put Ferris Wheels on the top! Its on the 7th floor and costs about 800 yen for a ride.
The Shopping Centre itself is very big, with the obligatory games arcade - which does have a few fun rides (try the virtual hanglider). There is also a food court, with a few restaurants.
There are escalators inside, or you can wait (its a popular choice) and get one of the elevators, which have a glass front.
There are a few shops aimed at Westerners, Sony Plaza is fantastic for foods you miss from home, and a few weird ones from other places. Its packed with kitsch toys, calendars, cards, things...
There is also a HMV where you can listen for hours to their headphones with not a word said to you, it has lots of western and Japanese music.
There is a Disney store, which gets rather busy around the holiday season and near to that is a Gap. As with most Gap stores this one has a lot of sales and racks of discounted clothes.
If you have young children head for Snoopy Town. A store dedicated to Snoopy and Snoopy products. Its rather large and I had never imagined there would be so much Snoopy paraphernalia in the world.
Another familiar store is Kookai, though i found the clothing style different to what i am used to from Kookai. Red Earth has a small stand upstairs near the jewellery displays.
There are a few clothing stores, shoe stores and even a bridal store.
Hep 5 is located right next to JR Umeda and all the subway lines, right next to Hep and the shopping centres associated with the JR station - like GARE (check this out for its fake forest). Just come out of JR Umeda or the subway and follow signs to the Hankyu station, Hep 5 is on the other side of Hankyu, across a rather busy crossing. Look out for the red ferris wheel. You can also enter it through the underground walkways, very hard to negotiate, Osaka is much easier above ground!
Out the front are scores of teenagers, out to be seen looking cool and its a popular meeting spot. Recruiters for the hostess bars also wait out the front of here out to get more staff, so if that's the kind of work you are after - dress up and head here!
If you wanted to shop it is worth visiting, but in the end its just a shopping centre and the streets of Shinsaibashi have more of a Japanese atmosphere than a this.
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