[Travel Log] JPN 2023 - Day 4: Retail Therapy in Osaka

Day 4: Retail Therapy in Osaka

25 February 2023, Saturday

It was the day to move back to Osaka for some well-deserved retail therapy (as quoted from le sister), but before that, breakfast at Hotel Keihan to refuel for the day. 

A mediocre selection, not differing much from the previous day, but that's fine. 

We arrived in Osaka-Umeda station via the JR line which took about half an hour from Kyoto station. Upon arriving, we just knew we were right smack in the city - crazily crowded and huge station. I mean, its not like we haven't been to this part of Osaka, but I guess it never fails to amaze me with the crowd each time (it felt a lot like Orchard road). haha. 

Massive departmental blocks (Hanshin, Hankyu, Daimaru) and they were all kind of linked via a level 2 walkway. 

We were too early for check-in when we got to our hotel so we started our retail therapy right away after dropping our luggage. 

First stop, Pokemon Center for some Scarlet & Violet goodies. 

Pokemon Center Osaka

Map: Japan, 〒530-8202 Osaka, Kita Ward, Umeda, 3 Chome−1−1 大丸梅田店 13F

Crazily crowded, probably because its a Saturday, but still... madness. I was overwhelmed by the crowd but my excitement for Pokemon SV triumphed. I was hoping to find Pawmi-related merchandise but I didn't see any. Unwilling to leave the store empty-handed, I decided to bring my Violet starter (Sprigatito) and the cute little Fuecoco home.  

After braving the crowds at the Pokemon Center (and disappointed that I couldn't enter the Nintendo store because there was a time-slot allocation to ease the queues), it was time to just sit down and take a break. 

Raffinato

Map: Japan, 〒530-0001 Osaka, Kita Ward, Umeda, 3 Chome−1−1 大丸梅田店 14F

Located just a level above the Pokemon Center, we found an Italian restaurant. Reminiscing about the pizza we had during our Hokkaido trip back in 2013, I just had to try pizza in Japan. 

Was it astounding? - no. Was it bad? - not really. 

I have no clue how to describe the experience, except to say that perhaps, pizza is just made differently to suit the locals taste buds. We decided to take the pair set which came with one choice each of pizza and pasta, with drinks and appetisers.  

We had Margherita & a Bolognese pasta, that came with salad. Salad was pretty good. Pizza base was a lot more chewy (like mochi) than what I was accustomed to, while the pasta tasted a bit off (I probably prefer cream-based pastas a lot more than tomato/bolognese-based ones. 

 

After lunch, we went back to our hotel to check-in. The process took a lot longer than we thought it would, as the staff seemed to have a lot to explain to the local guests. 😂

Hotel Monterey Le Frere Osaka

Map: 1 Chome-12-8 Sonezakishinchi, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0002, Japan

We rested for a bit and headed out again to Umeda station to grab dinner. We did contemplate to travel out to our favourite Namba, but considering we had a long day (Klook Tour day!!) ahead of us, we decided it was better to just be in the area and prepare for an early night. 

Walking around endlessly between the 3 big departmental buildings, we were walking around the basement (without much clue as to where we were exactly), and came across this store. Great time to have some yakiniku beef we thought, so, we went in and got seated. The menu had a QR code that referred patrons to the English version, and it was only then we realised, we ain't in a typical yakiniku beef place - it was a beef tongue specialty store. 😱😱😱

I think we had a good laugh during our meal as I shoved the tongue portions (slightly underdone in Miso & Shio) into my mouth. It wasn't bad, I just couldn't get the image out of my head, that we were eating the tongue rather than the meat. LOL

Sendai-Gyutan & Osake Morinoya

Map: Japan, 〒530-0012 Osaka, Kita Ward, Shibata, 1 Chome−1−3 阪急三番街 B2F

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[Travel Log] JPN 2023 - Day 3: Arashiyama & Kiyomizu Temple

Day 3: Arashiyama & Kiyomizu Temple

24 February 2023, Friday

Hotel Keihan provided breakfast, though the selection wasn't vast. 

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Saga-Arashiyama station from Kyoto station via the JR line, which took less than 30 minutes to get to. 

Armed with the rain boots that I got from Shopee, we started our trail to Arashiyama, the bamboo forest that I missed out on during the previous trip. 

A rainy, wet & cold day in Kyoto. 

The main destination was to the bamboo grove, but we passed by Tenryu-ji and decided to do a pit-stop. 

Tenryu-ji Temple

Map: Japan, 〒616-8385 Kyoto, Ukyo Ward, Sagatenryuji Susukinobabacho, ６８

After the short stop, we headed on to the Togetsu-kyo Bridge. 

Absolutely clueless as to where the bamboo grove was (because I refused to acknowledge the "Path of Bamboo" sign thinking it was going to lead me back to that fake forest path from the last trip), we headed across the bridge and ended up asking the carpark attendant. 

He looked at us, knowing we were foreigners and by using one word "Bamboo?" and with us nodding our heads away, he pointed us to go back to the other end of the bridge and walk straight down alongside the Kazura river.

And true enough, at the end of the road, we reached the start of a hiking trail. How handy the rain boots have come to be of use!!  

We decided to do a bit of a detour, trekking up to the summit observation deck first. 

Can I just say, how nice it is to hike without sweating at all? And, because its so cold, I don't really see any creepy crawlies around either. 😚

The sight, from the summit: extremely foggy... hahahah

After taking in the views from the top, we were finally at the main attraction of the area... Was I finally going to see what I was supposed to see?? The IG-worthy bamboo grove?? 

And yes... I was! 

It was too hard to take a nice picture of the place, because we were there at noon and it was just filled with tourists like myself... all trying to take nice pictures. hahahah. 

And then, here comes the discovery... that fake bamboo path I was on the previous trip was in fact connected to the real bamboo grove. 😩 what. the. hell. LOL. I could have seen it back there and then if we had went all the way. *inserts facepalm moment*

Nonetheless, I finally fulfilled what I wanted to do the previous time, and it was time for lunch. 

We went back to the riverside and spotted this pretty soba place with a bit of a queue. Being the thin-skin Asian that I was, queuing in line without an idea of how it actually works, while trying to observe how people do it, quite thankful that the customers in front of us were Taiwanese. We asked them and apparently, we had to go up to the service staff to leave a name & no. of pax so they would simply call out when they have a place. 

Arashiyama Yoshimura

Map: Japan, 〒616-8385 Kyoto, Ukyo Ward, Sagatenryuji Susukinobabacho, ３

The whole set was just amazing. 

Enroute back to the station, we saw a Miffy bakery & merchandise store. かわいい～～😍

Deciding that we still have time to visit one more iconic temple, we headed to Kiyomizu-Gojo station via the Keihan line. We followed this extremely useful guide I found (link) with picture guidance on how to walk to the temple from the station (and they provided different routes such as via buses to get there).

Before long, we reached the shopping street leading us to the admission entrance and made it before the last entry time (6 pm in February). 

Kiyomizu-dera

Map: 1 Chome-294 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0862, Japan

The temple was spectacular considering they did not have to use a single nail in the building structure and yet it withstands the terrain conditions well. So glad we decided to come here. (My sister had visited this temple before a couple of years back, and she didn't mind visiting it again 😁)

We decided to leave before the sun sets as the train station was a distance away & we needed to get dinner as well. 

Most of the stores were already closed for the day, but we passed by this store selling candied strawberries and grapes. It reminds me very much of 冰糖葫芦 and what can be more touristy then to get one of these to eat. 

Back at Kyoto station, lol, we were trying to explore the underground shops and just couldn't figure out how big the area was exactly. Eventually, we saw that there was a ramen street at the 10F of the building and went up to look for it. 

And yes, there was Hataka Ikkousha that SG also has. But the beauty about visiting food brands, that are available internationally, in their local scene is being able to see the differences between the two and what they changed to thrive overseas. 

It was a vending machine ticket, fast-food kind of concept which was very different (to me) compared to the more luxurious look the brand has in SG. Ramen was great nonetheless, I emptied the bowl and yes, even the black fungus (which I too, surprised myself). 

Hataka Ikkousha 

Map: Japan, 〒600-8216 Kyoto, Shimogyo Ward, Higashishiokojicho, 901 内 Kyoto Station Building, 京都拉麺小路 10F

Full and ready to take a walk around, there was this really long luminated walkway that led to an escalator down to the ground. 

And right at the bottom of it, while walking towards the station, there was this unblocked view of the Kyoto Tower. 😍

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