Land of the Rising Sun: Osaka (Day 2)

For our second day in Osaka, we visited the Instant Ramen Museum and Minoo Park. Both areas can be reached by Hankyu Line (not part of the Osaka subway) and we purchased the Hankyu Tourist Pass and the Osaka Enjoy! Eco Card to cover the trips for the day.

The main highlight of the museum is that you get to create your own instant ramen! First you purchase a cup, then choose your seasoning followed by the toppings and they will sealed it up for you. You also get to decorate the cups with your own design. The end product is really delicious, especially since the staff there are very generous with the toppings.After the ramen museum, we stopped by Ippudo Ramen for a quick lunch before we headed to Minoo Park, famous for the autumn foliage at that time of the year. It was unfortunate that we were there on a holiday because it was jam packed with locals! We didn’t manage to try any of the fried autumn leaves because the queue was way too long.The waterfall is a bit of a walk from the station but you get to enjoy the view as you go. There are small shops along the way if you get hungry.
After Minoo Park we headed back to Dotonburi for dinner at Botejyu, famous for their Okonomiyaki! We strolled around a little more and did some grocery shopping before heading back to the apartment.

Land of the Rising Sun: Osaka (Day 1)

We landed, exhausted from the lack of sleep, in Osaka at noon. Unfortunately, three flights landed concurrently and we took about an hour to get through the customs.

We wanted to get to Namba from Kansai International Airport and the fastest way is via the Nankai Limited Express which takes you about 35 minutes. We purchased this Yokoso! Osaka ticket online and exchanged for the pass and tickets at the counter. This ‘ticket’ covers the price of the limited express ticket, the seat reservation and also gives you a 1-day pass for travelling on the subway. It is extremely worth it since the limited express train ride from the airport would have cost you ¥1430 and single trips on the Osaka subway costs ¥180. Furthermore, you can choose to use the 1-day pass on the same day or the next day! However in Japan, you can almost always find a cheaper but more time consuming alternative to get to the same place. This ‘ticket’ may not be the most suitable if you are heading to Shin-Osaka or Umeda.
After meeting our Airbnb hosts and dropping off our luggage we wasted no time at all and made our way to Dotonbori. There were several mouth watering food options and each restaurant comes with their version of eye-popping signboards to catch our attention. It was definitely a feast for the senses!  The many signs of dotonburi and the famous Glico man! The place was jam packed with locals from 5pm. It was there that we realize that Japanese love queuing as much as Singaporeans. We spent most of the night wandering around the canal area and taking in the sights and sounds. We managed to find Hozenji Yokocho Alley but we didn’t head into any of the restaurants and unfortunately the Doguyasuji Kitchen Market and Kuromon Ichiba were almost closing when we got there so we didn’t really get to explore the area.

Osaka Airbnb Review: Tom and Meli’s Apartment

We chose to stay at Tom and Meli’s because of the good location, close to subway and it was quite affordable as well! It is a medium size one bedroom apartment although for us (four adults and one infant), it was quite tight. Tom met us at the apartment and went through on how to use the amenities, the safety evacuation route, the nearest hospital and the checkout procedure. They also provided a 3G wifi device what makes navigating around Osaka much easier. There are several eateries around the place and also a large supermarket just a few minutes walk.

Strong wifi is available in the apartment. The kitchen is well equipped with pots and utensils. The bathroom comes with an automatic bathtub filler and a washer AND dryer! It is a miracle how the Japanese makes clever use of space in their apartments. My wife and I slept on the sofa bed in the living room while my sister-in-law’s family were in the bedroom.

Sky Report: CX714/CX594 Singapore to Osaka via Hong Kong

With the yen dropping to all time low in 2014, we decided to make a trip to Japan in November. Planning a F&E trip in Japan is not easy due to language barrier. Fortunately, with the help of google translate and google maps, the missus was able to piece together a nine-day trip in Osaka,Kyoto and Tokyo. The first step will be to land in Osaka airport. Due to limited premium cabin redemption options, I convinced the wife to fly on Cathay instead and experience their new first class cabin as well as their much lauded lounges in Hong Kong International Airport(HKIA).

We first flew a red-eye flight on CX714 from Singapore to HKIA. Flying Cathay business class out from Changi Airport Terminal 1 gave us the chance to experience the newly refurbished Qantas Lounge. It was a really nice lounge with ample seating. There was a separate dining area where we could order food off the menu and also a small buffet spread. The plane was a regional type with non-flat 2-3-2 seating which was not too comfortable(still better than economy though). We arrived at HKIA at 5.30am with my wife feeling pretty exhausted(sorry dear!). Our outgoing flight to Osaka was in Cathay first class. That gave us the opportunity to visit the cabana at the Pier. After a invigorating shower, we had breakfast at the restaurant, tried the noodles at the noodle bar and bread from the bakery before boarding the plane that will take us to Osaka.

The plane features Cathay new herringbone seats with 1-2-1 arrangement in business class and 1-1-1 arrangement in first class. It was refreshing trying out a product other than SQ(not that I am complaining). We had lunch together in the cabin sitting opposite each other. Before long we were approaching Osaka airport(KIX) and I found the landing gear camera extremely fascinating. Overall, it was a good lounge and flight on Cathay airlines although the red eye experience is not favored by the missus.

Japan – I can never get enough of it!

Japan has to be one of my favourite countries to visit, it holds a different place in my heart as compared to Australia. I can never get enough of Japan, I always yearn to return to Japan almost immediately after I leave and I get so jealous of my friends who are there! Amazing sights, mouth-watering food and wonderfully polite and helpful people – there isn’t a better way to travel to unwind.

Another reason for my love for this place is because it is home to my favourite animation director, Hayao Miyazaki and one of the most talented composer, Joe Hisashi. I am a big fan of his animation and evidently, Totoro is one of his most popular characters. Probably because this is one of his less solemn films, my favourite is still Spirited Away and I absolutely adore Sootballs!

One of my absolute favorite places in Japan is Hokkaido, my sister planned a family trip back in Summer 2010 and we had such an amazing time there. Our posts will cover our trip in Autumn 2014 where we visited the Kansai area i.e. Osaka, Nara and Kyoto and we visited Hakone and Tokyo.

As usual, I use Google Maps for planning and locating landmarks that we would be interested in visiting.

As some of the famous landmarks are pretty close together, I planned some walking directions on our itinerary too; always help to find ways to unknowingly burn calories as you travel. I managed to find comprehensive guides at the Japan National Tourism Official Website. The following links will allow you to download the guides.

• Osaka Guide
• Nara Walks
• Hakone Guide
• Kyoto Walks
• Tokyo Walks

We visited Japan from 22nd November to 30th November in 2014, specifically for the viewing of autumn bloom i.e. koyo. Japan guide with its awesome Autumn Color Reports will guide you to where you can see the best leaves!

One thing to take note, planning your own itinerary in Japan takes a little time, especially if you are trying your best to travel on a budget. Mainly because there are usually different railway companies in each city and each of them have their own passes. After lots of research (and website translation), we found the optimum way to move around each city based on our itinerary and will cover them in the following posts. So stick around!