Wandering Fel

Home Osaka

Showing posts with label Osaka. Show all posts

8D Osaka Kobe Foodie Trip: From airport to Shinsaibashi

Train ticket office at Kansai International Airport Osaka

If you are booking your flight from Singapore to Osaka at pretty last minute (like one month before), your best choice of flights which are non-budget are probably either provided by Cathay Airways (transit at Hong Kong) or Garuda Indonesia (transit at Jakarta). Since BF and I are kinda cheapo, we decided to book our flight with Garuda Indonesia since it’s cheaper by 100 SGD and that kind of money can be used to eat yummy food or buy a lot of gacha in Japan. After 8 hours journey, we have finally landed at Kansai International Airport (KIX).

I did not see any major changes to the airport with exception of welcome party by Super Mario and his friends. But BF said Mario has been there since last year so I suppose it’s probably nothing new if you often visits Osaka. The next thing that we need to settle after immigration is definitely our train ticket to the city. BF has booked the train ticket from KIX to Namba Airport online but you still need to make your way to the train station counter to exchange your booking confirmation to train ticket. Upon booking the train ticket, you do not have to book any particular timing since you can choose which time is the earliest train that you can take upon collecting your train ticket at the counter. Thankfully, there is still ample time to reach the train platform upon collecting our tickets, so we did not have to do mad dash there.

The train ride to Namba Station was quite fast around 30 minutes-ish. At Namba Station, we had to transfer to the subway line in order to reach Shinsaibashi subway station, where our hotel is located. In the midst of transferring, I spotted a bakery which sells cute breads shaped in animal head oh my. BF said to get the bread while we were still there. Otherwise, there may be no second chance hahaha. So yeah, I got the dog bread and it’s filled with custard. Obviously, I just gotta had to take picture of it first.

When you pick a hotel, it’s very important to check if there’s any convenience store near the hotel. There’s 7-11 right opposite our hotel, Best Western Fino Shinsaibashi Osaka so I suppose we know where to get our staple of onigiri. Yumz.

Within 4 hours, our itinerary with Avia tour on Osaka is nearly ended. We are about to make our way to the next city on the itinerary, Kyoto. I thought we were going there by bus (which journey takes 1 hour) but turns out Avia tour has booked us a shinkansen trip (with the most expensive ticket to save time) from Osaka to Kyoto. My mom was pretty surprised that the tour includes this short shinkansen trip but pleased, nonetheless. Without further ado, let’s make our way to Shin-Osaka Station to board our shinkansen.

If you have time to spend, I suggest you to spend it by checking out the stores in the shinkansen station. They are filled with many interesting goodies. The first thing that caught my attention is the pretty train bento. Don’t you think all of them looks so yummy? I am not the only one who think that because as you can see, some of these bentos are already sold out at 3PM in the afternoon on a Tuesday.

Japanese train bento at Shin Osaka Station

The souvenir (i.e. omiyage in Japanese) store is also stocked with some of the area’s specialities although you will definitely able to find Kitkat anywhere you go. Mochi, manju, cookies and biscuits are usually among the usual favorite at these stores as well. If you are looking for a limited edition type of Kitkat which is tied to specific region in Japan, you can get them at the convenience stores located in that region’s train station. This is because the international airport may not have these type of region’s Kitkat. For instance, I did not see Hojicha Kitkat (the one in brown box) at Narita International Airport when I went back to Jakarta.

Japanese omiyage store at Shin Osaka Station

Vending machine with various type of hot and cold drink is definitely also available in the station. Even Brown has difficulty choosing one for the train ride. Uhm Brown, you do know that our shinkansen ride from Shin-Osaka Station to Kyoto Station only takes 15 minutes right?

If you don’t know what to buy for your relatives and friends back home, I strongly recommend buying this green tea cookies (the Japanese named it langue-de-chat) from Malebranche. It’s basically a layer of white chocolate sandwiched between two green tea biscuits. I personally think they’ll make good pairing with bland green tea because they are leaning toward the sweet side. The best thing about them is they are available at various packaging so if you don’t want to buy a box of them, you can go for the small bag instead. There are 5 biscuits inside one small bag for JPY 680. It’s easier to give to people when you buy a box of it though because their box packaging is so nice and you don’t even need to wrap it anymore because the store will have already wrapped it for you. Smalles box costs JPY 1,360 with 8 biscuits inside.

Malebranche green tea cookies from Kyoto

Brown did not have a lot of money so he bought the small bag for Cony. Cony loves it nonetheless. Thank you dear Brown. Hehehe.

Malebrance okoicha langue de chat from Kyoto

After we have finished window-shopping (and shopping), it’s time to board the shinkansen. To be honest with you, we were nearly get left out because our tour leader has left with the other tour participants when we arrived at the meeting point. Geez, why could not he count his group before he board the shinkansen, really? Thankfully Irma picked us up while we were confused at the meeting point and hurried us to board the train within 4 minutes. Well, after living in Singapore for 10 years, 4 minutes is a lot of time to board a train.

Shinkansen platform at Shin-Osaka Station, Japan

The ticket that Avia tour bought for us does not have designated seats so we can only board certain free-seating carriages of the train. This works kinda similar to the High Speed Rail (HSR) in Taiwan. Since the train ride is considered super short at 15 minutes, I did not really have the time to look at the cart selling bento inside the train. Too bad, I kinda wanted to try eating train bento on a train ride. Next time, I guess.

For your information, the ticket with unreserved seats from Osaka to Kyoto costs JPY 1,420 while a reserved seat ticket costs twice as much. Oh boy, convenience does not come cheap in Japan I suppose.

The trickiest part about joining a tour group is the food. While it’s reassuring to know that meal is provided 3x a day, you will not be able to be so choosy about the variety of the food that the tour is providing you. But then again, it’s part and parcel of a tour group so let’s hope that Avia does not feed us Chinese food in Japan. LOL.

Our first meal in Japan came after our visit to Osaka Castle. Avia brought us to a restaurant alley in busy district of Namba. I actually kinda wonder if the tour will manage to find a restaurant big enough to cater for 27 people (25 tour participants + 2 tour leaders). Turns out big restaurants exist in Japan. I feel so noob. Hahaha.

8D Avia Japan Trip: Kushikatsu Lunch at Namba, Osaka

You can’t really blame me for having such worry though. Because from outside, the restaurant that we visited does not look big at all. Turns out, it has three storeys and hence, able to cater so many people including tour groups. It is frequented by many office worker because of its affordable lunch menu. A lot of Japanese office worker spotted inside the restaurant with the chicken karage set (550 JPY) in front of them. Good economical choice which cannot go wrong (cause fried stuff won’t go wrong).

I was kinda expecting similar stuff served to the tour group. But oh boy, I was so shocked with the amount of food that they gave us for each person. The table has been prepared for all of us and in front of each person there lies a place of Japanese fried noodle (a.k.a. Yakisoba), a plate of three fried chicken (a.k.a. Karage), a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup. The chicken karage is served with a mushroom spring roll and do you know how the Japanese love to season their fried stuff with? Yupz, a dollop of mayonaisse (which happen to be my fave too although I like to add chili sauce with it thanks to my Indonesian spicy eating culture). Yakisoba is also one of my fave food in Japan mainly because it’s...fried. I’m fried food queen indeed hahaha. Fried noodle in Japan is leaning toward the sweet side though so you probably want to add some chili powder to it if you prefer savory kind of fried noodle.

While I thought these are all that we gonna get for lunch, the lovely lady owner of the restaurant came with pans of Japanese pancakes called okonomiyaki. We thought the okonomiyaki is for sharing for each family but then she informed our tour leader that the okonomiyaki meant to be one for each person. OMG. As you can see, Japanese pancake is by no means a light dish. It’s an egg pancake filled with ingredients (mostly veggies and sometimes meat) and then it’s heavily seasoned with brown sauce (which kinda similar to takoyaki’s sauce), a heavy dose of mayonaisse, furikake and onion leaves, with a portion of ginger aside. It’s yummy but I was already half full from the yakisoba and karage earlier.

That’s not the end of the meal though because the servers came again this time with what-I-feel-was the best dish of the day, Kushikatsu (Japanese dish of deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables). You can pick from chicken to squid to onion and all of them are fried beautifully. The sauce for kushikatsu is provided on every table in a tin box which are meant for sharing. So please take note that hygiene is very important here. You are only supposed to dip your skewer to the sauce once and that’s it. You can’t possibly dip it once, lick it and dip it again to the sauce container which are meant to be for sharing purpose. Cause that’d be simply eww. LOL.

The lady owner asked us which one is our favourite dish while distributing green tea (matcha) ice cream to us. She was somewhat surprised when I pointed to her that I love the kushikatsu so much. I wonder if she expect me to answer okonomiyaki instead? Oh well, kushikatsu is the winner of my heart that day. Hehehe.

Our tour to Japan with Avia started with a long flight from Jakarta to Singapore and Singapore to Kansai International Airport in Osaka (total flight hours spent around 9 hours). I don’t know why but the older I become, the less tolerance I have toward long flights. Thankfully this flight hour to Japan is nothing compared to Europe or even, USA. I reached Kansai International Airport in the morning so without further ado, the tour started immediately after we collected our luggage.

8D Avia Japan Trip Day 1: Osaka in Half a Day

The tour leader for this trip is called Andhy and he seems to be a freelance tour leader specialised in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He collaborated with a tour operator + tour agent in Japan of course to bring us to visit some places in Japan. The local tour guide is named Irma and as you may have known from the sound of the name, she’s Indonesian. She has spent around 17 years in Japan and hence has perfect Japanese to assist us to talk with the locals for certain stuff (including shopping, if needed). The journey from Kansai International Airport to the city centre of Osaka took us around 1 hour on bus. Little Brown is getting hungry as the bus strolled on the highway.

From Kansai International Airport to Osaka Castle

When I visited Osaka Castle before by myself (not by tour), I remembered that I have to walk a pretty good distance from the nearest station to Osaka Castle. I suppose one of the plus points about taking tour is that the bus drop you off convenient location to see Osaka Castle and sakura trees which are in season.

However, the minus thing about joining a tour group is that the allocated timeframe to visit Osaka Castle is so minimum, it’s nearly a joke to be honest with you. But we had no choice other than to adher to the time of 15 - 20 minutes to take picture of the castle, the pretty white sakura flowers, my mum with sakura flowers, my bro with sakura + castle and of course, little Brown with sakura flowers. It’s kinda hectic and I barely had the time to enjoy the view. Geez.

White sakura in Osaka Castle garden Japan

Too bad the sky is not blue when we visited Osaka Castle. But then again, the sombre mood of the castle is also quite nice to enjoy. Somemore, I have been into sombre and melancholic mood lately.

Little Brown is enjoying the blooming white sakura. This is his first trip to Japan by the way and I hope he has a great time in Japan. Hehehe.

How to go to Osaka Castle (if you are not on tour):

1. Take subway to the closest station to Osaka Castle: Osakajokoen Station

2. Follow the road sign which lead you to Osaka Castle

Chances are there will be a lot of tourists making their way to the castle and you just have to follow the crowd.

I did not go inside the castle but I recall that the entrance to the castle may be waived if you purchase certain Osaka tourist pass which come with subway ticket and bus pass. According to a friend who has been there, there was nothing much inside the castle, so I don’t think I will give the castle a visit anytime soon since I’d rather use the 500 yen on ramen. LOL.

You are not an anime lover unless you have watched (or at least tried to watch or heard about) Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin). I actually knew about the anime first before I realised that the anime is actually a manga adaptation. The anime's story so far follows the storyline in the manga without any deviation so I don't think I will watch the manga for now. If you are a fan of Attack on Titan, you must go to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Attack on Titan, Universal Studios Japan

Last year, you can see the epic battle between Eren (in Titan version) and

the woman titan (which turns out to be his fellow training-mate, Annie). Oops, I hope everyone's reading this has watched the anime or read the manga before because this is the biggest surprise in the first season of Attack on Titan anime. XD

Attack on Titan at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

Frontal shot but cropping both Eren's and Annie's legs. Yeah, this is how huge they are in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. Oh well, they are titan so they must be huge right?

Epic battle of Eren vs Annie at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

If you are willing to queue (yes, queue!), you can take picture with the Corps. From one glance, I think there is Mikasa, Levi, Hange and Krista. It looks really fun. This is the only place where you can take picture with the Corps anyway.

Picture taking at Attack on Titan Universal Studios Japan Osaka

Another long queue (everything in USJ revolves around queueing, really) spotted for the chance to take picture with the...hungry titan. Well, they don't really need human flesh to fill their appetite actually. They eat because they are bored (wtf, right?). I have to say this is pretty cool and yet somewhat creepy way to take picture. #dilemma

Attack on Titan Phototaking at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

From USJ's website, it seems that they have added another installation from the famous anime and manga in Universal Studios Japan. It is the epic "Titan Wall" in life-sized. I don't think I can't help feeling a bit creeped out when I see the gaze of the Titan peering from the broken wall, but at the same time, I feel like looking at it too. LOL.

If you still have your appetite after all these "fun", you can eat a Titan as your snack. It costs 950 Japanese Yen per head.

Attack on Titan Snack at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

You can also buy the cape of the Survey Corps here. I nearly nearly nearly bought the cape until my friend reminded me that "nobody wears that on a broad daylight (and night) in Singapore". Haizz, I wish our culture can be more opened on applying some "anime fashion" into our daily fashion. =P

Official store of Attack on Titan in Universal Studios Japan

The store sells a lot of Attack on Titan merchandises which I seldom see anywhere so I guess if you want to buy some goods relating to this anime, you should buy them here.

Attack on Titan merchandises at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

The problem with coming to Universal Studios Japan on one of its peak period (i.e. school holiday, festive period, etc) is when you are tired of walking around and yet, there is nowhere to sit. All the benches are occupied, the restaurants are full and you start to wander around aimlessly just to find a place to sit for a while.

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Taking a Break at Pink Cafe, Universal Studios Japan

Saw a dragon along the way which seems to come from inside one of the popular games in Japan. I don't mind sitting on a dragon but I don't think the park guard will let me do so.

Dragon Statue at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

Sitting on a roller coaster looks fun too but the problem is, you need to stand for probably at least two hours to be able to sit there for less than 5 minutes.

Roller Coaster Ride at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

In the middle of our wandering, we saw a place which looks very girly from outside. It's apparently a cafe which is named after its theme, Pink Cafe. Miraculously, we found a place to sit in this Pink Cafe. We don't care about the thing that Pink Cafe sells as long as we can get a seat. We actually sat for a good 5 - 10 minutes before wondering what does Pink Cafe actually sell.

Pink Cafe at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

There is a Baskin Robbins, a popular ice cream chain from the US. Baskin Robbins is not that popular in Singapore but they do have a lot of stores in Jakarta, so I am quite familiar with the ice cream parlour. In fact, I used to love their chocolate chip cookies ice cream the most when I was little. Baskin Robbins in Japan though, sells a lot of flavours which I have never seen before in my life. I chose the wacky green Tutti Frutti while my friend chose mango strawberry ice cream.

Baskin Robbins at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

We perked up after happily eating our share of ice cream. Baskin Robbins does taste yummy wherever they are located. We came out from the cafe and randomly saw a stall selling cute balloons. I was tempted to get myself a Snoopy balloon, really.

Character balloons at Universal Studios Japan Osaka

And that's when Hello Kitty, the most famous cat in the world I tell you, came out to make an appearance. The fans of this famous character are mostly school girls. They really follow Hello Kitty everywhere oh my goodness. This kinda makes taking picture with Hello Kitty a bit of a challenge because despite the worldwide impression that the Japanese is the master of queuing in an orderly line, the same culture does not apply when you are taking picture with a character in Japanese theme park.

Hello Kitty Photo with Character at Universal Studios Japan

If you have kids, they may come in handy in this time of needs. The characters tend to prioritize taking pictures with kids compared to adults. #utilizeallmeans

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Wandering Fel

8D Osaka Kobe Foodie Trip: From airport to Shinsaibashi

8D Osaka Kobe Foodie Trip: The Itinerary

8D Avia Japan Tour: Shinkansen Ride from Osaka to Kyoto

8D Avia Japan Trip: Kushikatsu Lunch from Namba, Osaka

8D Avia Japan Trip: Osaka Castle

8D Avia Japan Trip: Osaka Kyoto Shirakawago Fuji Tokyo

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Minion Plaza, Universal Studios Japan

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Attack on Titan, Universal Studios Japan

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Taking a Break at Pink Cafe, Universal Studios Japan