Hi again,

I am here to finish my Japan trip with part 2 about my days in Osaka. Referring back to my previous post, we left Kyoto in the afternoon and took about an hour or so by train to Osaka. We lived in Hotel Monterey Grasmere and it was a very convenient location as it’s located just above Namba station. With level 24-31 as the guest rooms, the other levels consists of offices as well as a shopping complex. Having department stores and supermarkets underneath our hotel means that no matter how late we got back to our rooms, we could still buy midnight snacks and breakfast for the next morning. So good right? Also needing to mention that there’s a 7-11 outside as well! 7-11 are convenient stores located pretty much everywhere in Japan (and in some asian countries). It’s just like it’s name: for convenience and a shop full of really awesome stuff like weird flavoured instant noodles, fresh fruit jellies, limited edition cosmetics and so on. Definitely visit at least one of the convenient stores and check out all the cool things they have in there!

Day 1: Cup Noodle Museum

Our Osaka adventure began the next day, first visiting the Cup Noodle Museum in Ikeda city. We also tried Ippudo Ramen as it’s on the way to the Museum. We have Ippudo in Australia, but obviously everything tastes better when you are travelling! After the yummy warm noodles, we made our way to the museum. If you have ever tried cup noodles then you’ll probably know Nissin. It’s a very popular instant noodle brand from Japan – pretty sure even woolies sell them in Australia? It was a pretty hectic day though because it took us more than 5 hours in there but it was definitely a worth while experience. First we went through the museum that took us through stories that talk about Nissin’s history and also seeing a wall featuring all of Nissin’s previous and current cup noodles. It’s actually pretty wow knowing how much instant noodles we consume and how many flavours there actually are. The main thing reason to visit this museum, however, was to experience making our own cup noodle.

It was a Sunday when we visited, so not only tourists were there but also local Japanese people. Parents and children filled the entire place. We had to line up for almost 2 hours to complete our cup noodle. First, we needed to buy the noodle cup from the vending machine and sanitise our hands. It comes with a lid and they ask you not to touch the inside of the cup. You know, because you are going to eat this so you wouldn’t want nasty things in there. Then they allocate us to a table to draw and personalise our cup. After we decorated the cup, we lined up to fill the ingredients and finally package the cup noodle. This line up took us a little less than 2 hours – no joke. But it was defintely worth it! I actually felt like I accomplished something great at the end. We got to choose a flavour (mine was curry) and 4 ingredients to put in there. Then they seal the lid on and it rolls through a machine that wraps the cup in a plastic film. If you have kids and a whole day to spend, there’s also a kitchen up stairs that you could book. They will teach your kids how to make noodles and dress you up in their cute yellow aprons. As it was already late in the afternoon when we finished, we went back to our hotel and shopped around the Namba area instead.

Day 2: Nara Park Deers & Todaiji Temple & Osaka Castle & Cherry Blossoms

The following day, we made our way to Nara Park, to see Nara deers and visit Todaiji Temple. Just beware though that if you have any food on you, the deers might come and chase you for food. We got a packet of deer biscuits and as soon as we got them, the deers ran to us and tried to bite them off our hands. They head butt you too so be very careful – they are seriously not as cute as you would expect them to be. So if you ever want to feed them, buy the biscuits further along the way as there’s less crowds and cookie stalls. Most deers crowd around people and if they know you have food, they’ll target you. We failed at the first go, so we got another packet of biscuit and hid it in our backpacks for further along the way to the temple. We managed to find smaller deers that were alone so we could feed them and take some decent photos.

As we slowly walk towards the Todaiji Temple, people and deers start to crowd the area. As we had a baby stroller, we were able to access the temple through the disability lane. One of the good moments when taking children travelling is that we got to take the express VIP access. It took us behind the temple, so we didn’t need to line up with the crowds and got a good view of the architecture from the other side. Todaiji Temple is a Buddhism temple with a wooden structure housing Japan’s largest statues of Buddha. All of the statues contained in the temple were crafted and kept so beautifully. It’s so impressive seeing the formation of religion and its combination with traditional architecture. After our tour in the temple, we said good bye to the deers and the temple, and made our way back to the station.

In Nara station there is also a must try dessert. It’s called the Daibutsu Pudding or I called it the ‘Buddha Pudding’. It’s made by Mahoroba-Daibutsu-Purin Honpo and it’s a custard like dessert that’s creamy and sweet. Perfect for an afternoon tea snack. As it was around 3pm in the afternoon, we rushed to Osaka Castle before their closing at 5pm. It was so rushed though because we needed to walk over 1km from the station to the castle. Also, when we arrived at the entrance there was a huge line up to get into the castle by elevator. I remember it was already 4:15pm so if we waited for the elevator to get up, we wouldn’t make it and would’ve wasted our tickets. We took the stairs and I think we walked over 8 stories to get to the top where you could get a view of Osaka city. We then walked back downwards through each floor that exhibits stories and histories of the castle and Osaka. Please, take at least 2 hours in there if you are planning on visiting, because it was simply too rushed that we didn’t even manage to take a nice photo of the view. Most importantly, we didn’t have the time to understand the history and background of the castle. My moral of the story: ‘plan your trip, but nothing really ever goes with the plan’.

It’s okay though, even if the castle was closed, we still managed to get some nice photos of the Osaka Castle from outside. We walked around the park and followed the trail that could take us to the sakura (cherry blossom) festival that they had going around Osaka Mint Bureau (government agency responsible for suppling coins and medals). Each year the cherry blossom garden around the premises would open its gates for public viewing for around a week and we were lucky to be apart of it as it was on its very last day. It was quite a walk from Osaka Castle so we were a little bit tired when we got there. However, the beautiful cherry blossoms were worth the walk. Some cherry blossoms were brighter in colour, some were white, bringing so much warmth, vibrancy and colour to the area.

By the time we got to the end of the garden, it was already dark. Surrounding the premises there were night markets with food stalls. We grabbed some snacks while making our way to Temmabashi station. As it was a packed day, we took the sub back Namba and got some midnight snacks to eat back at our hotel. The supermarket underneath our hotel sells a variety of sushi, snacks and bento boxes in their super markets and it is heaven!! Don’t worry if you don’t have a microwave or kitchen in the hotel, because they have microwave areas in the supermarket. So convenient! Most for the fresh foods go on sale after 5pm so it was a great time to pick some cheap and yummy options. We fed our empty stomachs and we felt like we immersed ourselves into the life of ordinary Japanese people.

Day 3: Kuromon Ichiba Market & Shinsaibashi & Dotonbori

The following day we went to Kuromon Ichiba Market (Nipponbashi). As it’s a supermarket that’s not enclosed, it makes everything look a lot fresher. We made sure we only had a light breakfast as we were going to be feasting in the market. They have so many fresh seafood, sashimi and authentic Japanese food and fruits. I had grilled eel, scallops and freshly salt boiled crab legs. We also tried Oden – traditional Japanese winter food with a variety of ingredients like reddish, skewers, fish balls and tofu cooked in hot steamy stock. It feels warm in the stomach and very soothing to have especially during winter. We also tried freshly grilled Kobe and Wagyu beef. If you are wanting high quality of both meats which we wanted to try, it was very expensive but very delicious. They grill the fresh beef in front of you and they melt in your mouth! Didn’t really need any salt because it’s so fresh, tender and juicy – all the words you use to describe nice meat. My brother in law tried fresh uni, also known as sea urchin. What they do is they crack open the uni right in front of you, clean and prepare the uni nicely on its shell to be eaten right away. How fresh is that? Oishi!

To end my food coma with a drink, I tried their traditional soy milk that was really creamy and thick. Love it! Before we left, we bought some traditional snacks from the shops and freshly boxed strawberries as they were my nephew’s favourites. They had normal red strawberries, pink strawberries and white strawberries! How amazing is that? We ended up trying them in our hotel and they were pretty damn sweet. Kuromon Ichiba Market is a great place to wander around and enjoy Japanese culture in an edible way! It’s a friendly environment and definitely a place for fresh, A grade quality and delicious food –  but be aware of the high prices!

As we spent a good amount of time eating and shopping in the markets, we left around 4 in the afternoon and made our way the heart of Osaka – Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori!

Shinsaibashi is an undercover shopping avenue with countless shops including department stores, high end retailers, small independent boutiques, pharmacists and restaurants. The neighbouring area, Dotonbori has an overwhelming number of gigantic signages/billboards, flashing neon lights and a variety of restaurants and Japanese bars. It’s also where the famous Glico Billboard is located. Glico is an Osaka owned sweet manufacturer and the advertising billboard features a running athlete in victory pose. It’s probably the most famous landmark in Osaka so be sure to take a photo posed with running man! Fun fact – if you didn’t know already, the background of the Glico man actually changes! I got a glimpse of two different backgrounds at about an hour apart. Most of the shops hang large signages of their product and food such as the popular crab, octopus, sushi and so on.

We spent the night walking along the street of Shinsaibashi and tried takoyaki. It was dripping rain so it was nice to eat some hot food. I think Japanese people don’t prefer eating while walking, so if you do get food, just stand on the side of the food stall and finish on the spot. We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people in there – tourists and locals – so we didn’t really spend much time going through the stores. In the evening though, we realised there were people, particular males, dressed in suits and holding an umbrella while standing on the sides of the streets. I am pretty sure they were employed to attract and grab attention of people walking by for ‘special services’ – hope you get what I mean there. Anyways, because the day after was going to be our main shopping day and it was going to be in Shinsaibashi as well so we went back to the hotel early for some rest.

Day 4: Shopping in Shinsaibashi & Dotonbori

The following day was a full day spent around Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori. We needed to buy some Japanese cosmetics and beauty products so we did a good search through the pharmacists. They have so many pharmacists and if you compare them, some stores can be cheaper than the other. Be sure you leave some time for shopping because they’ve got so many nice products!

For lunch we had the famous Kani Doraku, a Japanese iconic crab restaurant. We were lucky as it was close to lunch time and we still managed to get a spot without reservation. When we entered the restaurant up stairs, they asked us to remove our shoes and they’ll keep them safe in the locker for us. We got to sit at a table that was lifted from the floor with spaces underneath the table for our legs. As part of our dish, I got a creamy crab carbonara and it was so delicious. I had to order another one because it was so good. We had crab hot pot set and it was so fresh and yummy as well. Food is definitely worth the price but we didn’t really enjoy our time there as the lady who served us didn’t feel welcoming at all. One of the reason could be because we didn’t order enough as we had 6 people. When she finished taking our order, she didn’t look too happy. Another reason could also be because my nephew was making some noises and the restaurant was peace quiet. There were times where she was really impolite and didn’t smile all the way through. Not how I expected to be served in a high class traditional Japanese restaurant. Also we’ve realised that most of the Japanese restaurants (that we went to) were not kid friendly. They don’t provide high chairs or facilities for children which is very different to Australia.

After food, we took the Tonbori River Cruise that goes along Dotonbori River for 20 minutes. You pass a number of bridges and the friendly guide talks about the history and stories associated with the area. Fun fact – apparently the famous Ebisu bridge located next to the Glico man billboard was inspired by Osaka’s popular dish – Teppanyaki. If you look closely you could see that on top of the bridge there are cut out shapes of several flat teppanyaki spatulas lined up to form the top rail of the bridge. Our guide pointed it out to us holding a spatula for comparison! Don’t know if that’s true though! The guide talks in both Japanese and English but her accent was so strong that most things she said was barely understandable. Nice ride if you’d like to kill time after a long walk.

We continue to shop around the area and got some souvenirs to take home. The time went by quickly and until we realised, it was already time for another meal. For dinner, I had the famous Ichiran Ramen. I think it’s originally from Tokyo and they’ve got a number of franchises all over the world. We got divided into individual cubicles so I got to enjoy my bowl of ramen with no disturbance. There were no sign of staffs running around because I only see their arms that peak through the closed curtain in front of me to deliver food. I had almond matcha custard for dessert so they asked me to place the dessert card in an allocated area when I think I’m done with my main meal. Then they’ll pass me my dessert. How advanced and efficient is that?

Day 5: Goodbye Japan

The day ended quickly and it was time for us to pack our bags and leave the hotel the next morning. Our flight was in the afternoon so we left the hotel early to the airport. There’s plenty of shops and food in Kansai Airport so we made sure we left some time for last minute shopping before our flight.

Comparing to Kyoto which is a more relaxed and a place for simple and comfortable living, Osaka on the other hand portrays a very busy and vibrant life. It’s also home to many of their comedians making it a very entertaining city. To be honest, apart from the efficiency that a city life can offer like Osaka, I still would prefer the simplicity and friendliness of Kyoto. That’s just my opinion though. Well, that pretty much sums up my trip to Japan in April and hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoy my time there. Where will my next destination be? I am not sure! But I’ll be sharing some of my old travel stories on my blog soon – so stay tuned!

Thanks and I’ll see you next time!

KC