Japan - Osaka

We continued on our trip from Busan to Osaka – our base before the Kumano Kodo trek.

Transport

We flew in to Japan with EasterJet; a Korean low-cost airline that I never heard of. It was a pretty good flight, just as expected out of budget airline. No frills, just seats. The only downside was we were only allowed 15 kg checked in luggage! We managed fine, the flight was on time and we were set to kuidaore; eat until we drop.

We arrived at Kansai International Airport where we took the Nankai Airport Express (¥920) to our accommodation.

Accommodation

We stayed in Best Western Hotel Fino Osaka, a centrally located hotel; walking distance to one of the main areas. The room felt a bit tight, but maybe because it was built for the petite Japanese – not for a tall person like Fabs!

Attractions

Dōtombori and Shinsaibashi

Around 4.00 p.m. we went out for a stroll to embark on my mission to find an okonomiyaki restaurant. O-konomi-yaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients, mainly cabbage and either meat or seafood, (sometimes) egg, topped with bonito flakes.

Unfortunately, because I didn’t have an internet connection at the time and some Japanese restaurants tucked in a building – we couldn’t find the restaurant “Omoni”. I was devastated. We settled with a restaurant nearby (that I could see was a bit busy, but definitely NOT an okonomiyaki restaurant) because we were starving. Nonetheless, they have okonomiyaki in the menu and it was delicious! But I will still try to find Omoni (again! To Fabs’ despair) when we got back to Osaka!

Dearest okonomiyaki

After the okonomiyaki mishap, we continued on to find a ramen place. We found it this time, but it was full and I could hear mandarin was spoken out loud, so we moved on. I thought the good one must be full of Japanese people, right?!

So, we walked to Ebisubashi, the bridge over Dōtombori-gawa canal, via the covered Shinsaibashisuji Shopping Street and amazed by how crazy crowded it was. 

It was Monday night! What were all these people doing?! 

The good old Lonely Planet recommended Kinryu Ramen where we got our ticket from the vending machine in front of the restaurant and queued for seats.  I don’t think I saw ANY Japanese in this restaurant other than the workers. 

Pretty good ramen still

Abeno Harukas

We woke up hungry. On our way to the subway station, we passed the 24 hours’ eatery. There was no English, so we just picked the most expensive one (¥880) – just to be safe.

Turned out to be squid ink beef (?) curry. It was delish

As mention, Fabs fascinated with buildings – so we went to check out Japan’s tallest building which houses Japan’s largest department store (that killed my legs), a hotel, offices, restaurants and the cherry on top: Harukas 300 observation deck.

Janjan Yokocho Alley

It was now lunch time, so we strolled to Janjan Yokocho. We saw many Kushikatsu (deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables dipped in sauce. Strictly no double dipping) restaurants, many of them with long queues. So, guess what we had for lunch? Not before a good round of takoyaki (octopus ball) – mind the pun.

One of the alley

Fresh from the pan straight into my mouth! 

Kushikatsu boards everywhere

How they're actually looked like

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

I was in awe with most of the displays here. I’ve been to Auckland’s aquarium (very small) and Sydney’s Aquarium (ok small), but this aquarium takes the gong. It was impressive, especially its central tank; with whale sharks, manta, sting rays and thousands of other fishes. Though, when we passed the dolphins’ tanks, I was really disturbed – because it reminded me of The Cove.

We popped back to Shinsaibashi, did some shopping and headed to Gram. It’s a pancake place – I was after their premium pancakes which only available three times per day at 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m., and limited to 20 orders during each time slot. Seems like everything fine takes time, so we queued once again.

Oh-ma-gad. It was so fluffy!! Sort of a perfect marriage between pancake and marshmallow without being overly sweet

We wanted to have some yakitori (焼き鳥 - grilled chicken skewers made from bite sized pieces of meat from all different parts of the chicken) as well. So, after a tummy rest, we walked to Torikizoku Yakitori Shinsaibashi. A very popular Japanese chain yakitori restaurant due to its uniform low price of ¥280 + tax for all its food AND beer.  It is located at the basement of a five-stories building. YAY for 4G, we were able to find it easy!

Yummmm! 

I think we ate 'til we dropped. Mission accomplished.

Tips and trick

• Get JR Pass from your country before arriving to Japan if you are planning to go to different cities around Japan. JR Pass can only be obtained outside of Japan. However, this pass is only valid for JR branded transports, which include shinkansen (bullet train). Subway and other rail companies (such as Nankai) are not covered by the JR pass.
• If you have the JR Pass, just flashed it when entering or exiting the JR stations.
• I found, it is way easier to get around if I have internet. In Japan, it is a bit complicated to get a sim card. I went to Bic Camera in Namba, Osaka on day 1 – and got the traveler sim card. It cost me AU$45 for 5 GB data valid for 21 days. Follow the instruction to ‘activate’ the sim card – wifi connection is needed to do this.
• Getting Subway tickets: all of the machines have English button on them. The tricky part is, it expects you to know how much the journey will cost. Once you press: ticket → number of person → it will ask which fare you're after (who knows?!?!). I used Google maps to tell me how much the journey would cost. If the incorrect fare is chosen, you might not be able to pass the exit gate and need to adjust your fare (there’s a special machine for it). There are transport cards as well, but since they are all different in different cities and not all modes of transportation have them - I gave it a miss.

Subway ticket machine

• Bus: entrance is on the back, exit is at the front. Upon entering, take the ticket from the paper machine. The fare is then displayed next to your number on a tv screen at the front of the bus. When exiting, pay by putting the correct change (you can change your notes to coins in the machine) on the clear box next to the driver. This is the same case with trams.

Showed which "stop number" I entered the bus from

If I was to stop at the next stop, the fare would be ¥160

• I found staying near Shinsaibashi area was so handy, I definitely recommended it!
• For our week long trek, we left the main bulk of our luggage in Shin-Osaka station. Since coin lockers expire every 24 hours and will open automatically if no extra money put in, we used the `Luggage Storage` facility. Follow this instruction to find where it is. I didn’t and we ended up going around the station for an hour looking for it! Needless to say, Fabs was furious. Whoops. 

Full details of the Kumano Kodo trek next! It was such an amazing journey it deserves an entry all by itself!