Rambling in Osaka-Shi (Japan)

The first stop of our 17 day trip is Osaka. We planned a 4 day stay in the 3^rd largest city (by population) in Japan and it was an amazing four days. From Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, we took another Air Asia flight to Kansai International Airport (KIX). It was a cold and wet Friday morning when we got there; our decision to only exchange what we needed for the train card (IC OCA) and look for a money changer when we get to the place was, unbeknownst to us, the worst decision we’ve ever had during the trip. In our previous trips, exchanging money is always better in the country destination than in Sydney but it was a dismay to find out that it wasn’t the case in Japan. One Australian dollar was 95 Yen (Japan currency) in Sydney and it was only 86.42 at the airport that time. We thought the rate was just low because it is normal to have a lower rate (and expensive purchases) at the airport but we were apoplectic that rates were even lower outside. I wouldn’t go into so much detail on how we spent half day looking for a money changer after we got to our hotel in Tenmabashi/ Temmabashi (I didn’t want to ruin your blog reading with my complaint but I promise this is the only not so good part of our Japan trip!). Our long walk along the main road of Tenmabashi led us to only one bank (MUFG) but they don’t do foreign exchange hence we were directed to Osaka. Osaka Station City is a 12 minute ride from Tenmabashi station, which is just 2 minutes away from our hotel.

            

         Our ramble began as soon as were cashed up. Osaka Station City is a newly renovated station with a large glass roof spanning over the railway tracks so it gives the station a massive looking open space. There are several buildings that surround the station; the north side has Isetan Mitsukoshi Department Store and Lucua which is home to around 200 stores scattered on eleven floors of the shopping complex. There's also an entertainment section and strips of restaurants, support plaza and offices.

Osaka Station City, Osaka Prefecture

The south gate offers the same sort of attraction on a different layout - there's Daimaru Department Store and Taiyo no Hiroba – a 3 floor terrace that has a perfect spot for sunlight during the day. It has benches and offers a good view of the Umeda skyline. Umeda Sky Building is another attraction in the area, just 900 metres away from the Osaka Station City, the spectacular high rise offers a magnificent view of the Osaka city. The building is 173m tall and is consists of two towers connected to each other by a Floating Garden Observatory. You can have a great view of the city for 700 yen (AUD$7.3; PHP300). We only spent a day in this area; we weren't too keen on shopping because we were saving that for Tokyo, our last stop. We didn't want to be carrying all the shopping bags while moving to places via Shinkansen (Japan's bullet train). For other things that you can do around this area (northern district of Osaka or "Kita"), you may check  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4020.html and http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4009.html

Our second day was spent appreciating the architectural splendour and riveting history of the Osaka Castle and wandering around the southern downtown of Osaka. The Castle can be seen from where we were staying. Hotel Keihan is 1.5km away from the Castle and took us about 18 minutes to get there by foot (if you're not staying in the area, the nearest train station to the Castle is the Tenmabashi station, 180m away from Hotel Keihan and 1.7km away from the Castle). Outside the Castle grounds on a Saturday morning, there were several health enthusiasts jogging and riding a bike along the path. The Castle is so massive the whole ground covers 15 acres. Sloped stone walls make up the foundation of the castle and it is overlooking a moat. It's a classic architectural piece with a park that covers 2 square km of green space and a garden (Nishinomaru Garden) home to about 600 cherry trees. It was unfortunate that we were a little too late for the Cherry Blossoms season though we still caught a glimpse of some cherry trees still in bloom.

Osaka Castle: Moat and Stone walls in the background

Some of the cherry trees left for us to see!

Osaka Castle

               

Some more cherry blossoms for us to experience!

On the grounds of the Central Tower there's a number of stalls that sell snacks and drinks. It's definitely exhausting to go around the massive park and having a 300-400 yen hotdog or chicken tenders after the tour isn't too bad. 

After spending half of the day at the Castle, we took the train from Tenmabashi to Shinsaibashi via the Keihan main line, we got off at Yodobashi station and changed platform to get to Shinsaibashi station. This journey cost us 330 yen. Most of the reviews we've read prior to this trip said it would be better to get a JR unlimited pass for a week for AUD$300 but trips like this are not within the JR line and they'd end up to be more expensive if you get the JR pass then pay extra for trips within the non JR line, later on I'll explain why we opted not to get the JR pass.

Shinsaibashi is Osaka's premier shopping centre. It's approximately 600m long, this shopping arcade has a hundred of retail stores with a mix of mid to high end fashion ranging from local to international brands like Samantha Thavasa (Japanese fashion company), Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Fendi, amongst others.

Some of the international brands at Shinsaibashi

Whilst we spent an enormous amount of time looking and going around the shops, we didn't buy anything sartorial. All of our purchases were for our palate's satiation like snacks from a cheap snack and lollies shop and Japan's best cheese tart PABLO. Two reasons why we weren't too keen to engage in a major shopping spree in Osaka's primary shopping area: The first reason I already mentioned earlier; Osaka was our first stop and we didn't want extra kilos on our shoulders travelling to Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. Second is I was a bit disappointed with the prices. A friend, who went to Japan months before me, said shopping in Osaka was the best, way better than Hong Kong (which I found really cheap because of Forever 21 at Causeway Bay, she knew I liked the shopping in Hong Kong the best) and Manila (because of the weekend/night market and bazaars called "tiangge") but it wasn't as cheap as I expected it to be. Shirts and blouses from a non branded shop would still cost around AUD$30-50 and the very plain ones were still AUD$15-20. You'll also won't be able to haggle because of the language barrier and, moreover, most of them have fixed price already. 

Shinsaibashi Shoppers on a Spring Saturday Arvo

Meiji Almonds and Macadamia cost 88 yen in this shop while they cost 214 yen at Family Mart

There's also heaps of eateries and restaurants around Shinsaibashi and they were all good - well at least the ones that we went to. I wouldn't talk about the food in Japan and how great it was because I feel it deserves its own blog but all I can say is once you've tried the authentic Japanese cuisine it would be very hard to eat Japanese elsewhere again.

Our third day was spent in Universal Studio . The second most popular theme park in the country (next to Tokyo's DisneyLand/Sea of course) is located at Osaka Bay Area (a collection of city districts on a man-made waterfront islands) in Sakurajima Island and is 18 minutes away from the Osaka City Station by train (station is Universal City Station). We knew we would have needed one whole day if we wanted to experience all the rides but we were too exhausted from the previous days' activities hence we couldn't be bothered getting up early. We got to the theme park around 1130 am, there was no line at the ticketing as we expected; we knew lines would be at the rides already by that time. It was a pretty busy Sunday at Universal - it was a mistake to go on a weekend but it was the only full day we had. The park is massive, occupying an area of 39 hectares with several souvenir and food shops and a lot of room for photo op. Going around the park we saw several characters doing a meet and greet with the tourists - Shrek and Fiona, Snoopy and Friends, Sesame Street gang and Hello Kitty and Daniel - if you wanted a photo with them you'd have to wait for approximately one hour in line and again, we couldn't be bothered.

We enjoyed all the ride attractions like The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, 
Jurassic Park (with a 26m drop to escape the dinosaur!!), Back to the Future and the Jaws. But our favourite ride is the Space Fantasy - which we rode 5 times (the ride is in an enclosed area so you'd have no idea if it was a roller coaster with a loop or what). The lines were ridiculously long with an average wait time of 60 minutes all afternoon, we only started enjoying it after 5 or 6pm when wait time was down to 15-20 minutes. We weren't able to experience the main ride attraction - The Hollywood Dream: BACKDROP - as it was the busiest ride with 80-120 minute wait time. We got it compensated though by repeating Jurassic Park and Space Fantasy rides several times.  

Harry Potter coming to Universal Studio Osaka on 15th July

White Cherry Blossom at Universal

While we enjoyed the rides, we couldn't say the same for the the show attractions. There are several interesting shows like Backdraft, Shrek, Terminator and Water World but they don't cater to foreign tourists. I've seen the Water World in Universal Studio in Singapore and I really enjoyed it but watching it again in Japanese (Nihongo) made it quite uninteresting. It would have been better if they have at least some shows in English, but then again 80% of the theme park's visitors is Japanese so I guess it works out well for the majority.

At Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue

Hello Kitty Bun at Hello Kitty's Corner Cafe for 450 yen

The park closes at 9PM however they put everything at stop around 730 for the Magical Starlight Parade - it's a full hour of bright lights, dancing and characters like Cinderella smiling and waving at you - such a pompous show! The end of parade is a sign that the park is about to close and so we got our stuff off the locker, dropped by Hard Rock Cafe to get my dad a shirt (he collects them so whenever I go to a country that has HRC, I make sure I get him one), went to TGI Friday's to have a break from the Japanese cuisine (not that we're sick of it, I just love my Jack Daniel's steak so much!) and caught the next train back to Hotel Keihan.

Our fourth and final day was spent on the other parts of southern downtown. When we went there on our second day, we only got to explore the Shinsaibashi area. One full day would have been enough to see Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Amerikamura and Den Den Town but because we went to Osaka Castle first, we didn't have a full day for a complete southern downtown experience. Dotonbori is one of Osaka's popular place for shopping and entertainment but it's the most famous for its food. I reckon the best takoyaki in Japan is here in Dotonbori. Takoyaki, for those who don't know it, is a Japanese snack that's ball shaped and is made of a wheat flour based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It's usually filled with a minced octopus, tempura scraps and onions. The place that I'm talking about has prawns and other flavours and it's just amazing! 

It's impressing how quick their hands are in using a chopsticks-like utensil to "seal" the Takoyaki ball

Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka -that explains why the best Takoyaki is in Osaka!

We didn't spend much time at Amerikamura and Den Den Town. At the most we only spent an hour to have a look around. Amerikamura, as the name suggests ("Amerika"), is a shopping area, also at the Minami area where Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori are, that has retail outlets for Western fashion. The place also caters to teenage fashion just like Harijuku in Tokyo. We only noticed the area because of the big clown face statue with a red and white stripes and stars hat, similar to a US flag and the small replica of the Statue of Liberty. There's also a small crepe place that was very busy at that time. I wish we tried it but we were so full from all the good food places at Dotonburi.Den Den Town is known as the electronics district and you can either walk 2 kilometers from Shinsaibashi or catch the train and get off at Nipponbashi station. Since we all know that majority of the popular brands of electronics that we enjoy today are Japanese, you can expect that electronics here are cheaper compared to anywhere else (although if like us, Osaka is your first stop, you can probably wait until you get to Akihabara in Tokyo before you purchase your gadget).

courtesy of www.japan-guide.com

After exploring Namba and its shopping hub, we went back to our hotel in Tenmabashi to get our stuff then head back to Osaka Station City for the train to our next destination - KYOTO.

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FOR THINGS THAT (I THINK) A TOURIST MUST KNOW WHEN VISITING JAPAN: PLEASE CHECK MY BLOG AGAIN COS IT'S COMING SOON!

Osaka Expenses (per person)

¥6000 – Train Card(IC OCA) - 500 is the deposit so the load was only 5500, you can refund the 500 after your trip if you're also flying out of Osaka or just use the 500 at Family Mart and other convenience stores and even some stores at Haneda Airport (e.g. Hello Kitty Store). One way trip is about ¥120-240 | Tenmabashi to Osaka City is ¥120, Osaka City to Shinsaibashi is ¥240, Osaka City to Universal City is ¥180 and the Osaka to Kyoto is ¥560. We got a deal at Kansai Airport to have the IC OCA for 3000 (2500 load and 500 deposit) and an express train to Osaka City.

Hello Kitty ICOCA

 ¥700 - Umeda Sky Building - Floating Garden Observatory

 

 ¥600 - Osaka Castle entrance fee (we didn't pay this cos we didn't go inside, most of the reviews said it was so much better outside the Castle Park)

 ¥200 - Nishinomaru Garden at Osaka Castle Park (we also didn't go here cos we were a bit late for the Cherry Blossoms)

¥9790 - 4 day meal (lunch/dinner) if you go to an average Japanese place, a set meal (e.g Ramen and rice toppings, Tonkatsu with rice and miso soup) would cost between 700-800, and an appetizer or side like Gyoza is 200-400. Most of our days our meal cost this much but our day in Universal Studio cost us 1580 for a bacon cheeseburger meal and 2235 for a TGI Friday's meal. A very nice Ebi tempura meal with miso soup at Dotonbori cost 735 and the Takoyaki is 650.  

¥6980 - Universal Studio Osaka entrance (adult)

¥1500 - snacks; I was addicted to Meiji almonds and Macadamia and I was buying them for 214 at Family Mart (and later on 88 at the snack shop in Shinsaibashi). This also included some potato chips, Japanese lollies and bottled water - gotta stay hydrated while walking in the heat!

¥800 - PABLO CHEESE TART, it's worth it! divided 2 because both of us ate =) so only ¥400 

¥842 - Starbucks drinks | When we're so tired from all the walking, the nearest Starbucks would come to aid. It's where we rest our sore feet while enjoying the free wifi and our Vanilla frappe and Fresh Banana and Chocolate frappe 

TOTAL: ¥26,212 or PHP11305 or AUD275/ 304 for the crappy exchange rate that we got (could be lower for you if you omit the snack and Starbucks part and if you eat first before going to Universal Studio)  

Some guides to help you around Osaka:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Tourism-g298566-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki-Vacations.html 

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/common/studiomap.pdf

Hotel Keihan (booked through Expedia)

Address: 1-2-10 TanimachiChuo-ku Osaka Osaka-fu 540-0012 Japan 13 38 10

180m away from the Tenmabashi Station