(Day 9) Osaka Lover

Good Morning, people of Kyoto! We have arrived. Although we weren’t staying long since we were on the train to Osaka by 10:00 AM. My last time visiting Osaka, I left quite a bit less than thrilled. (You can read about it here.) Being the persistent bugger that I am, I want to give it another shot. This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that my celeb crush-o’-the-moment hails from Osaka (I’m talking about you, Ryo-chan.) Shall we go?




Mmm, Meiji candy…chocolate…


”Ohh, ohh, Oh saka…”

One of the top things I was looking forward to in coming to Osaka was a little restaurant introduced to me by my oldest pal, Jen, on my last trip to Japan, Baqet. She told me there was one in Osaka’s Yodobashi Camera on the restaurant floor. Hot off the train, I made a beeline to find said Baquet. Since I have the same skill set as a Bloodhound (not to mention that Yodobashi Camera is kind of hard to miss), it was found immediately.



Since it was still a bit early to eat, we wandered around the 10 floors of Yodobashi Camera and I bought some postcards to send to people. I also observed a rather poignant sign (the first of many to come).


Yes, please do.

And then, it was time for lunch. You see, Baqet is a lovely bread buffet restaurant where lots of ladies go. Ladies love carbs, around the world people! The breads are small, delicate, and hot from the oven.


I really do wish I was there right now.

After we had stuffed (and I do mean, stuffed) ourselves on delicious bread delights (I think I had 9 or 10…yikes), we got on the Loop line that scooted us to the Osakajokoen station – Osaka Castle Park. Sounds like an amusement park! But no, we are here to see the real deal, Osaka Castle.


The moat.


Can you spot me in this picture? Hee hee! Just me, chillin’ with Osaka-jo.



So beauteous, yet foreboding. We admired it for a while until the children screeching from the observatory became too much to listen to. It was also incredibly warm and humid, so we were stopping frequently to cool off. Bah. We did end up coughing up the dough to go inside and soon it was me screeching from the observatory. Joking!


This is Osaka-jo Hall, where one of my favourite Japanese bands, Kanjani 8, performs sometimes. But not today. Boo hoo.


Here is a part of the Osaka cityscape; can you spot the Hankyu HEP Five ferris wheel on the top of the department store or half of the Sky Garden Observatory? I blogged about those back in 2007…but I’m sure you don’t remember. I do!

We ran into an extremely friendly Osakan man who welcomed us to Osaka and chatted with us for a while – probably wanting to practice his English. Everyone I meet who wants to practice their English likes to brag about how they’ve visited all 10 provinces of Canada. Good for them. He insisted on taking our picture with my camera – ok.






I like shiny things.

When it comes to using a public washroom, I must admit I prefer using the handicapped washrooms because they are giant, separate and usually extraordinarily clean. Since I am not handicapped (that I will admit to myself), it is generally frowned upon to use it if you aren’t. Occasionally though, I’d sneak in anyways. The handicapped washroom at Osaka Castle had an interesting feature that I’d like to share with my North American friends – an SOS button. I wonder what situation would warrant this? I guess if you fall into the toilet or your arm gets twisted in the toilet paper dispenser or something even more fatal comes up, this would prove an endless worth.




Let’s play the game again! Can you spot me in this picture? Yay, I’m tiny!

As I mentioned previously, my celeb-boyfriend is from Osaka and he recommended that tourists visit the area of Osaka called Shinsekai – so we checked that out next. Interesting how they spelled the sign incorrectly to the place it’s leading to…but maybe it doesn’t make a difference to them because they don’t know the difference.






Tsutenkaku Tower



Only after visiting Shinsekai and now in preparation for blogging about it did I discover that it is Japan’s seediest neighbourhood…thanks Ryo-chan. To be honest though, I didn’t feel the least bit worried when we were there – like most of Japan, the feeling of safety is usually implicit no matter where you travel; perhaps artificially so. I thought it interesting although we didn’t stay long. Our next stop awaited: Namba Parks.



I want to feel nature! This was easily done as Namba Parks is an outdoor shopping mall. The usual, overpriced stores were present so we wandered a bit before heading to the restaurant floor.



We almost ate at ‘To the Herbs’ simply because this is where Jen and Chris ate when they were in Osaka so long ago, but I opted instead for a hearty tonkatsu dinner. Itadakimasu!


Welcome to my dinner for October 6th. Here we have a lovely piece of breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu) with a dollop of daikon radish on top. There is a salad of cabbage immediately beside the pork. We also have miso, rice, and otakuan and shibazuki (Japanese pickles).

It turned dark quickly so we headed toward the brightly-lit streets of Dotombori in Osaka’s downtown.






This is a beautiful – the lights reflect on the canal immediately below – if you ever in Osaka, please do see it.



We strolled down the endless alley of shops of Shinsaibashi-suji until they closed at 8:00.



I found one shop a few minutes too late…they had just closed.


Nooo! Oh cruel fate! This is Vivienne Westwood.

We dragged our now-tired bodies back to the Loop line and settled in for the ride to Osaka station to catch the train back to Kyoto. I replayed over and over on my iPod the song Osaka Lover by Dreams Come True – I was determined to make it my theme for the day.

We arrived back in Kyoto with enough time for snacks from Lawsons (of course we did).



Tomorrow we travel nowhere on the train and instead explore the lush surroundings of Kyoto.

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(Day 8) Densha Onnatachi

A week has already sailed by us and today we will leave Tokyo and head west to the Kansai region of Japan. There is still many more things to see before I send Mother on her merry way back to Canada, so we’d best get started. Unfortunately, today is pretty much going to be spent riding the train, but not after we head off to Urawa in Saitama (northern Tokyo) to drop our excess bags off at Maya’s house. We packed up and said a not-quite-tearful goodbye to our hotel (aka closet) in Ikebukuro.



Carrying two giant bangs (one filled with gifts not yet given) proved to be an strenuous effort, yet not entirely unmanageable. When we arrived in Urawa, Maya, her Mother and their adorable dog Chobi were there to greet us in their…car. Yippee! I tossed those bags into the trunk with vigor.



A home! Maya’s family was extremely kind and generous to allow us into their home and store our bags there. Her Mother fed us large amounts of delicious food before loading us up again and delivered us back to the station. From there we made it to Tokyo station and boarded our bullet train, the Hikari super-express, bound for Kyoto.











Zipping through the countryside, I looked out the window and with some surprise, a strange object loomed through the clouds…could it be...?



After two and a half hours on the train, we arrived in Kyoto without incident. Yay! Now to trudge the 8 minute walk with our bags to find our ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn).





Thankfully I recognized the kanji for the inn and we found it with no problems at all – except for the fact that I got sweaty carrying my bags and thus was cranky. We checked into the ryokan which was owned by a cute little Japanese family. The son went through every possible detail about the hotel and Kyoto and came with us up to our room to show us the light switches, the aircon, and the whole nine. After he left, we were hungry and headed to the nearby UCC Coffeehouse for dinner. As long as you don’t order a beverage, it was cheap.





Though our day didn’t involve much sightseeing, it was still a memorable day to me – I didn’t spend much money! Hooray! We turned in for the night after a stop at Lawsons for some late-night snacking foods. Tomorrow we get crackin’ on Kansai – Osaka, here we come.

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(Day 7) On Top Of The World

“Yosh! Let’s do our best today, okay? Yes!” I feel like I’m turning Japanese using positive, self-affirming phrases such as the aforementioned. This is good…maybe I’ll emerge from this trip taking all the best qualities of the Japanese with me. It can’t hurt to try.

Since the day appeared sunny and rain-free, I took Mother to a place I’d never been and having been wanting to go to all week, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is Tokyo’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, but in bright orange. It is actually taller than the Eiffel Tower, but, quite obviously, less notorious. Tokyo Tower is currently the worlds tallest self-supporting structure.

Getting off at Kamiyacho station, we stopped at the local ‘7-and-i Holdings’ (or 7-Eleven as it is known in North America) for lunch.



We sat on a bench(!!) and ate our lunch in the hot sun. I put (!!) as benches are extremely difficult to find in Japan and when Mother and I found one, we’d sit on it simply because the occasion rarely presented itself. After a brief hike in the heat, the tower loomed above us.





Buying tickets was similar to the Eiffel Tower – you purchase a ticket to the main observatory and then purchase another ticket to the special observatory. I think this method is called a money grab.

I was itching to see Mount Fuji, which had been evading me at every chance all week, so this was hopefully my day. Up we went all the way to the top.



The view from the top was spectacular to say the least – city, in every direction.




I recognize the tall building on the right! It’s Roppongi Hills…we are going there later today.








Odaiba! You remember, we went there on Day 3.

So I definitely should be singing the ‘Smoggies’ theme song for this particular batch of pictures. That pollution cloud is unrelenting. Due to said pollution cloud, Mount Fuji escaped my view once again. Boo hiss boo.

Since we were feeling the crisp, smog-filled breeze, we decided to walk down and give our legs a bit of a workout, albeit an easier one than going up.




I thought this temple-like building looked cool…like a hat.



The Tokyo Tower has these really kawaii conehead mascots…why? Here they are; say hello to the Noppon Brothers:



A few tidbits about our conehead friends are that they are 10 years old and twins. Their birthday is December 23 and they are 2m and 23 cm tall. Their hobbies are meeting people and sunbathing. The older brother (wearing blue overalls) is shy, cool and silent. The younger brother (wearing red overalls) is cheerful and lively, but often feels lonely and misses people. Their special ability is posing for photos, parrying questions and shaking hands. (Impressed yet?) They wish to be liked by children and receive lots of chocolate bars from kids on Valentine’s Day. Their goal is to become top stars (what does that mean?) Their mottos are: Older brother – “Look at thing with a hot heart with the cool touch”; Younger brother – “Start with small things and keep going on steady”. Yeah. I didn’t make a word of that up.

We made our way next to the building I pointed out earlier in the nearby district of Roppongi. I had only been to Roppongi once, previously for a night out clubbing on my last trip to Japan (which can be read about here.) Back onto the train we went.






Mori Tower, at the heart of Roppongi.



Completely un-thrilled at anything Roppongi had to offer, we were gone in relatively short order. The stores were too warm to spend any amount of time in and they were quite sparse in proximity to one another. It’s more of a nightlife area anyways. Off to Harajuku for another crepe, we decided.

It being a Saturday, Takeshita Dori was jammed with wall-to-wall people. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining.




Mmm, pumpkin pie pudding crepe (:-p)..

Since we skipped all of Omotesando on our last Harajuku outing and the day was turning quite lovely, we strolled down the busy, treed lane at a relaxing pace. Mother was interested in buying some souvenirs, so we went to the Oriental Bazaar before I wanted to shop at Omotesando Hills.






What a lovely mall, ne? I was feeling daring, so I took this picture right in front of the “NO PICTURES” sign. I should be lucky I wasn’t arrested.

We made it to the end of Omotesando Dori where it intersects with Aoyama Dori, so we decided on dinner and chose the teenage cheap food haunt, Sweets Paradise. 75 minutes of all you can eat! (Down from 90 minutes last time I visited. Boo.)






The food was mediocre…


…but the desserts were plentiful! It IS called ‘Sweets Paradise’ after all. They sat us at a tiny little table meant for tiny Japanese bodies and we picked at their offerings. At least it was cheap…and pink!



Leaving the restaurant and heading back to Ikebukuro, the sky was a lovely blue.



Ah, goodbye Tokyo night! See you in a week. Tomorrow we leave on the bullet train bound for Kyoto for a week of Kansai exploration into the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kobe.

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