HEP FIVE — Local services in Osaka

If Kita has Amerikamura, Umeda has HEP Five -- one of the coolest, if not the coolest hangout spot in Umeda. This place is hard to miss as it may be an average height commercial building but the red giant Ferris wheel sticking out on top makes it a popular landmark.

This mall is packed with trendy shops loved by youngsters from character shops, fashion boutiques, amusement center, and restaurants, not to mention Gudetama Cafe, a beloved character shop featuring a lazy egg.

By the entrance, there's also red 3-D whales hanging conspicuously without necessarily getting in the way. It's totally weird but surprisingly works with the overall feel of the mall.

Holders of valid Osaka Amazing Pass may enjoy a 15-minute Ferris wheel ride for free (usually at 500 yen) in their spacious air-conditioned gondolas equipped with a blue tooth speaker you can connect to your mobile phones if you want some audio played throughout your Ferris wheel ride. This can both set the mood and help people relax, specially for some who are afraid of heights.

Before boarding the gondola, expect to be ushered by a staff/photographer who will take your photo. A printed copy of your commemorative photo will be available as you exit the Ferris Wheel, which you may purchase...

HEP is a major shopping mall and entertainment center in the Umeda commercial district of Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is a shopping mall consisting of a HEP Five and HEP Navio. HEP stands for "Hankyu Entertainment Park". The building is operated by Hankyu Hanshin Holdings's real estate investment trust (REIT) subsidiary Hankyu REIT and co-owned by Hankyu REIT (45%) and Hankyu Realty Co. (55%).

HEP Five receives about 17 million visitors annually (2007), making it one of the most visited fashion boutique buildings in the Osaka urban region.[2] The core customers at HEP Five are young people, mostly female, from high school age to their early twenties. The building itself houses over 100 shops (mostly fashion retail shops catering to young consumers), with restaurants, an event hall, amusement facilities (such as Joypolis and the Ferris wheel), a hanging replica of 2 whales designed by Tatsuya Ishii.

The HEP Five building is easily located as it has a large red Ferris wheel with a diameter of 75 metres protruding from its roof (the highest point of the wheel is 106m above the ground, including the height of the building), which is...

The Shibuya 109 of Osaka. Teenagers paradise with fashion, restaurants, and amusement.

Floors 1-6 - Fashion Floor 7 - Restaurants (not many, but enough) Floor 8 - Sega Joypolis - A whole floor of claw machine and games Floor 9 - Wow, Puri Kura. Girls are doing make up and getting photos taken

So many teenagers with a few tourists lost in the mix like myself. As soon as I entered, a worker approached me with a smile asking if I needed help.

Once you are out of the Umeda train station through the east, look for the red ferris wheel and head towards there. If you see a lot of teenager kids sitting outside, you are at the HEP Five building. When I went, there was even a teenager rock band playing outside with police officers standing around to make sure everything was civil. Pretty impressed with the guy's singing voice.

Felt out of place and I think there are better places for tourists to go, but it was fun to watch what the kids in Japan nowadays...