Osaka, Japan (March 2016)

15 March 2016 (Tuesday)

Long-awaited graduation trip after i Light is launched! Booked the trip in around November because Singapore Airline's having a promotion hahaha. We didn't even really planned for the trip but just on which city to visit and the train timings. I guess that's my travelling style, just depending on whether there's enough time then we will visit the extra places and making impromptu plans! Even during the Hong Kong trip, we were kind of excited and wanted to plan where to go and etc but we failed and ended up just landing in the country thinking where to go as the days goes. Just have a few must-go places in mind.

So yeah, it's just Shimin and I this time round visiting Japan!! Cannot believe I have arrived in Japan again after 6 years! Been wondering when I'll ever step onto this land again and if I'll still love it as much as I had before. Conclusion is that although many things have changed, I still love it and it's undoubtedly my favourite country visited! Love the traditions as well as all the modern architecture. The fusion between the old and the new is just great. It's Shimin's first time in Japan, so I ended up revisiting pretty much a lot of places. That feeling is weird though, it's so nostalgic and it made me think of how we always leave a place not knowing whether we will be back there or not, especially when it's so far away.

First Sunrise

Caught our first sunrise in the plane.

So we took the midnight flight and arrived at Tokyo at about 7am. Rushed to exchange our Railway passes and get tickets for the train to Osaka because if we missed that one, we would have to wait for another hour. Thank God everything went well and we made it in time! I think we took all the way to Shin-Osaka before booking tickets for the rest of the train rides for the next few days.

I went to Shin-Osaka to check my old Suica card that I haven't used for 6 years and it's still valid?? There's even 600 yen inside. Definitely more chio than the latest one so I continued using it hehehe.

Our AirBnB is located at quite a rural area. Like we have to go to Osaka Station and take another train from the subway station called Hankyu-Umeda or something before arriving at Mikuni! Well, we chose that area 'cause we don't want to be in a very crowded area and we wanted to experience life and explore some other vicinity rather than the Osaka or Shin-Osaka districts.

Upon arriving at our apartment at around 2pm, we went out to look for food and there's this bakery nearby which we just decided to get some bread to fill us a little.

Bread Lab

I totally fell in love with the Melon Bun that I bought :'( Didn't get to go there again because we headed out too early every morning and by the time we got back, the shop has already closed.

Namba / Dotonbori

Upon arriving we wanted to have Ichiran Ramen. Had a hard time finding for it but we managed to after awhile. So we ate our so called lunch at almost 4pm. The ramen was so so so so so good oh my gawd. I'm going to have to eat it again some day before I die.

Pablo was normal, just like the pastry. I hate cheese anyway hahahaha. Don't understand the hype, I prefer egg tart!

Anyway we got lost at the end because we took 1 wrong train. Didn't even know where we wanted to go hahaha. But okay all is well in the end.

Yodobashi-Umeda

Went to shop at this place that we found nearby the subway station and it turned out to be a paradise because I found Sylvannian Family there and it's selling for such a cheap price!!!! Everything in Japan that's made in Japan is literally half price! Especially Nano Block!!!! Just that we had the worst ever ramen here.

Back at our room!

16 March 2016 (Wednesday) / Kinosakionsen

Mikuni

So we started our day early and the weather was like 1 degree celsius? Walking pass Kanzaki river was such a chore because it was freezing cold!! Look at my horrendous just woke up face. Spent our morning walking around Mikuni before leaving.

Osaka Station

So after our day at Kinosakionsen, we kind of arrived back in Osaka early. Upon arriving at Osaka Station, we decided to go visit the Pokemon Center, Tokyu Hands and also exploring the area. There's so much going on around the Osaka Station man. Previously I only stayed in Shin-Osaka so I didn't know about this place.

Changmin spotted hehehehe.

I wish I have the money to buy them all...

This Sakura Latte didn't taste that nice, just chio packaging hahahaha.


Finally my long-awaited beef bowl after so many years. This is one of my favourite food and probably my favourite rice dish on earth!! It tastes nice everywhere in Japan! Had this at a store nearby the place we were staying. Stupid me ordered raw egg wtf.

So we also found a hidden area around Mikuni that led us to walking a super scary route back. So that area seem to have more stuff to shop and etc but it was already closed! Then I decided that there seem to be a route that can lead us back too and I was too lazy to walk 1 round back! So we started on this journey...

Every day when going to our apartment we have to cross a bridge that's by Kanzaki River. Soe decided to walk another route (look at the picture I taken this morning and there's this train track, so we walked at that opposite route back home) and it turn out to scare the hell out of us till I broke out in cold sweat. It was so dark and imagine walking past a river with the train passing by. It's just like a scene out of an anime. Occasionally with a few cyclists cycling past. After crossing the river we even had to walk through the alley and thankfully we arrived safely at our apartment.

17 March 2016 (Thursday) / Kyoto

Didn't spend any time in Osaka today except going back to our accommodation.

18 March 2016 (Friday) / Kobe

Plan for today was actually to just stay in Osaka. So we woke up early as usual and by the time we arrived at the Osaka Castle area it was only almost 8am? There were almost nobody in sight! I still remember how to walk to the castle from the station so we just casually walked there without a map or GPS. Our AirBnB for the 4 days provided us with a Portable WiFi device. The signal died only in Kinosakionsen and up at the herb farm in Kobe, other than that it was kind of good. The battery drains out really fast though so thankfully I brought my portable chargers (I brought 3 and they were always not enough). But during our stay in Tokyo, we didn't have any WiFi at all since we didn't want to waste money on it and none was provided.

Anyway I bought that chocolate biscuit above at Shin-Osaka station and it tastes so so so so damn good.

Osaka Castle

So we explored the area and walked around the castle and sat down at a bench facing the castle just stoning for quite sometime before there are tourists buses arriving and it got quite noisy so we decided to leave at 9am. Like wow we didn't have any idea what to do next so we decided to go to Kobe. So I went to search for a train to go to Kobe. Shimin wanted to go there and I didn't mind going back to Kobe 'cause it was my favourite city of Japan the previous time I went there. So the next stop's Kobe and I'll blog about it in another post!

So we came back kind of late and it was the last night in Osaka already, headed to the Supermarket before going back. We really loved staying in this side of Japan and even during my previous visit to Japan, I didn't like Tokyo much so I wasn't really looking forward to it this time either. So I was really sad leaving. But the pace of living was really slow and the entire 4 days seemed so long because we really took our time doing things but are still left with extra time to explore and etc. Probably because we woke up really early and started our day at like 6-7am everyday.

This time at least I visited the shopping and food district and explored more in the more unknown area of Osaka such as the Mikuni area. Also the Osaka Station area that I haven't explored previously! This post is everything about Osaka for the 4 days and 4 nights I spent here. Though I travelled out to Kinosakionsen, Kyoto and Kobe during my 4 days here and I'll write about it in another 3 posts so that it doesn't get too long and confusing!