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So we explored the Umeda area, going into some departmental stores. We thought that the departmental stores were something like Singapore's ones, affordable but with more funky stuff perhaps. But no, the prices were exorbitant! So we decided to get out to explore the streets.
We walked out and saw a very prominent ferris wheel on top on a shopping centre. We decided to enter. It was pretty empty, which is a nice change from the crowded Osaka station. There was a GAP store as well as a Disney store there! The Disney store sold lots of stuff that Singapore (obviously) wouldn't have! I should have bought something from these 2 stores, especially since GAP is cheap when it is on discount there! (In Japan, when they mean a discount, they really give a discount!) After walking around the shopping, we went out and saw a shopping arcade. The arcade was very Japanese-like, with restaurants, fast food outlets, pachinko etc. We explored around for a while and decided to have lunch back at the area near Osaka Station. A picture of the arcade:  Below Osaka Station was an entire lane of restaurants. We had no idea what to have, especially since our magazines did not cover any recommended restaurants in this place. After walking back and forth again, we decided on a Japanese restaurant. The person serving us obviously knew we were foreigners. When we decided to order, she brought me out first to look at the figurines of the food. Actually I pretty much knew what I wanted, and in Japanese too. But since she did that... A pic of my Oyako-don! (I wanted the Katsu-don but it was more expensive. In Singapore, both are of the same price... And I forgot what Li Ting ate. Li Ting, what did you have?)  So after lunch, we decided to continue on our journey. Our first stop would be Osaka-Jo or Osaka Castle (大阪城) . There are actually a few stations that lead to Osaka-Jo. We just got off at any one which turned out to be Morimiya (森宮). When we got out of the station, there was almost no one at all. Just a few people walking here and there, that's all. We didn't think much of it at first and walked towards the direction of the exit that lead to Osaka-Jo. It was a long walk, a freaking long one. And we figured that is probably the reason there are so little people around. When we thought we had reached the exit, in front of us stood the longest staircase I have ever seen at a station. After the ordeal, we looked around us and wondered where was Osaka-Jo. We walked till a place that resembled a garden and tried to figure our where were we. And that was only the beginning... We woke up in the morning and it was a pretty good sleep actually. We had the privacy of having the room to ourselves and the bed wasn't as small as we thought it would be. Sure, it was a double-decker bed but it was still considered comfortable. They gave us two sheets for covering the bed with and a case for the pillow. I took the lower deck because 1. I wasn't too fond of the upper one 2. I was afraid I would fall when I was sleeping 3. My friend was used to sleeping on the top deck. In the beginning, she thought that I would want the upper deck because I have not slept on one before.
Since we did not bathe the night before (it would be almost 1 am if we did and if we had to dry our hair, someone might come out of their rooms and whack us.), we took one in the morning. It was my first time taking a bath in a shared bathroom! You had to press a button for the water to flow and had to press again when it stops. It's just like the taps you see in some toilets. I didn't really like that but it was ok. I went into an empty bathroom but realised I had left my soap outside. Therefore I went to retrieve it, and saw a woman in her bra with a towel wrapped around her waist who wanted to enter the bathroom, thinking that I was finished! I was pretty shocked, but still spoke to her normally... After I was done, I waited for my friend outside the bathrooms. I met a guy who was waiting for an empty one. He was a British and had been in Japan for some time. He and his friends were medical students. We spoke a bit and then my friend came out of the bathroom after some time. So began our adventures in Osaka! We talked a bit to the reception people and they gave us a map of the surrounding area and some tips on sightseeing in Osaka. We were planning a trip to Shitenouji but Ken-san told us it would be better to go the next day for they had a flea market! Somehow or other, we planned our itinerary and left, wondering what Osaka would be like. First and foremost, we had to get some breakfast. I was pretty hungry, for I did not really have much for dinner. We passed by a Mister Donut when we first came and therefore decided to try one. One thing about the donuts, there is such a large variety of them! I was pretty stunned to see the amount they had. In Singapore, the variety of donuts we get are the different coloured sugar coating they use and the different toppings they put on them. They pretty much taste the same, the only difference being the type of toppings they use, eg fruits, Koko Krunch etc. However, Mister Donut in Japan has a large array of donuts, and some of them even use a different kind of dough. (Now Singapore confectioneries, you know why you can never ever beat your Japanese counterparts! Even though there is some kind of a donut craze in Singapore now with stores selling donuts popping up everywhere, they are just... I would rather ask my relatives to buy back Krispy Kremes for me.) My friend chose a traditional one with icing sugar while I opted for a special one that had chocolate added into the dough! We chose the cheapest ones however, for we are backpackers. Backpacker Rule #1: Do not spend unnecessary money. We skimped a bit on breakfast so that we can have better stuff for lunch. Here's a pic of our breakfast!  We sat in the store for that was how it was served to us. It was only 2 donuts anyway and we could finish it in no time. We finished our donuts and started on our journey. We were told to follow the JR Train line which was above ground to get to Osaka (大阪) station. Backpacker Rule #2: Always walk if you can save money. Because we were not using the JR line for our journey, we did not want to spend the money buying a ticket to get to Osaka station because it was only a stop away from Fukushima station. So we walked, trying our best to follow the tracks. We weren't sure at first and stopped many times to check our surroundings. Then we walked into a sheltered walkway that had many restaurants and it was pretty cheap too! I thought maybe we could eat in one of them some time. And then we found ourselves just opposite Osaka station! Yayy! The sign was GARE Osaka, which was some shopping place near Osaka Station I think. Osaka Station is huge, and there is an Umeda (梅田) Station near it. Umeda Station is on the Midosuji (御堂筋) line, the main line if you want to visit the shopping areas in Osaka. It is coloured RED on the city subway and tram lines. We decided to walk around the Osaka-Umeda area first because it is also a famous shopping district with many departmental stores. But first, there was something we needed to do: Buy a pass! There is a pass in Osaka that allows you unlimited use of the city subways, tram lines and buses. However, it is only valid for the Osaka city area and only for a day. It is very useful for travelling to far places, visiting many places in a day or when you are lost! It even provides discounts for tourist attractions! It is called the 一日乗車券 and costs 850 yen. On Fridays, it is called the No-My-Car-Day Pass and costs 600 yen. (Who cares about the bad English, the pass is useful!) However, referring to Backpacker Rule #1, if amount you would be spending on transport would be less than the amount you have to pay for the pass, do not get the pass. We calculated the amount we had to spend on transport on another day and we did not get the pass, for we only spent about 440 yen. But if the discounts on the attractions offset the amount you would have saved on transport if you did not get the pass, get it! Backpacker Rule #3: Always calculate and plan on how much you spend. Every single cent counts for a backpacker and planning and calculating carefully can lead to sizable savings and these savings would come in handy for your omiyage! Labels: backpacker rule, osaka Next on our list was finding our way to the youth hostel. I wanted to reach there as fast as possible as I was worried about 2 girls carrying bulky luggages roaming the streets late at night. We went to the ticketing machines to try and buy tickets. However, we could not make sense of it even though we had some command of Japanese. It was our first time buying tickets from ticketing machines in Japan too and also with the limited amount of money backpackers have, we were afraid of buying a wrong ticket. Therefore we decided to go to the office to ask.
The staff who attended to us was a junior staff with limited command of English. We got our tickets and we made sure the prices were the same after confirming it was bound for our station. So we thanked the staff and left and as we were walking out he bowed and said "Arigatou Gozaimashita!". We were a tad slow in our reactions and thought for a while if we should turn back and acknowledge his thanks. We decided against it and walked away since we were already halfway out of the door. We felt pretty bad about it though. We got into the train station and the next problem surfaced. Which platform was it? We were eager to get on the fastest train because we didn't want to be too late. We had already wasted about an hour getting our tickets and it was already 10+ at night. Somehow we got on one, and it was pretty fast. (I realised at the end of our trip that we might have been on the limited express Haruka although we were not supposed to.) However, we had to change trains within Osaka city to get to Fukushima station. We decided to get off at Tennouji (天王寺) station because it was a major interchange so we probably could quickly rectify our mistake if we were on the wrong train. Big mistake. Tennouji station is truly a major interchange. All or almost all of the city subway lines stop at Tennouji station! It has 30 or 40 over platforms? We were left with our jaws hanging as we tried to make our way to the right one. We lugged our luggage up a flight of steps, with no escalator or elevator to the platform we thought was the correct one, only to find that it was wrong. In the end, I approached a station staff who looked as if he was preparing to go home. He told us which platform was it and waited patiently for us to drag our luggage down the stairs again before directing us in the correct direction again. We were really thankful, really. If anyone wants to go to J-hoppers from KIX, change at Nishi-kujo (西九条) or Benten-cho (弁天町) station instead. If you don't want to be confused, don't ever change at the MONSTER interchange, Tennouji station! Somehow or other we made it to Fukushima (福島) station. We were pretty happy that there was a lift as well as elevated grounds to lug your luggage up to the ticket slots. Probably because they knew that J-hoppers was operating in the vicinity or that there was a hotel nearby too? We exited the station and to my surprise there were quite a few people around (not the strange ones, pretty decent people) on a Friday morning, 12+am! We tried to follow the instructions given on the website, turning left when you see a Mister Donuts and I wasn't sure about the rest. We turned into another street and kept walking, hopefully seeing some sign of our hostel. We were also informed that if we saw 7/11, we had gone too far. After walking worriedly for some time, we spotted our youth hostel! Yayy! We were so relieved! We had informed the staff beforehand that we would be arriving late, after the time reception closes. Ken-san was there (I think he stays there) and he gave us our key, telling us we had to check in tomorrow morning. Ken-san gave us our key, telling us that our room, a double room, was on the 5th floor. After a whole day on the plane, lugging our heavy luggage around Osaka, we had to lug it up 5 storeys! *claps He gave us our sheets and I told him we would come down for it later. He told me to take the sheets and then he lifted my big luggage up on his shoulders with ease and brought it up for me! I decided to follow him up and put down the sheets before going down to help me friend who was pitifully lugging it up. When she reached the 3rd floor, she put down her luggage and complained that she was too tired. I told her I would come down for her soon, but Ken-san had already put my luggage on the 5th floor and went down to help her! It became a running gag soon after, for she complained that I abandoned her for a half-naked man... She said that when she was so tired, help came in the form of a half-naked man. Lol! We scanned our surroundings for a while, unpacked and washed up. Then we talked for some time and by the time we slept, it was already 2+am in the morning. It was going to be a long day tomorrow... A picture taken of our hostel in the morning:  I got on the skytrain bound for the main arrival hall. I got a view of KIX from above. It was surrounded by the sea, very different from Singapore Changi Airport. I took my time in many areas because I had to wait for a friend in the airport who arrives on a later flight, 5 hours later...
So I got to the immigration checkpoint. There weren't many people, so the counters were empty. I got directed to an empty one that was handling Japanese passports. Ok, I made a great mistake. I should have just wrote that I was on holiday. I ticked 'study' on the form and the man asked a lot of questions. He asked me where I was staying. I replied I was staying at a youth hostel but he obviously did not understand. In the end, I gave up and said I was going on the Shinkansen bound for my host university. Then it came to baggage check. The person requested for me to open up my luggage and checked the stuff inside... Gosh... He even took a pack of pantyliners in his hands! I was like "eh?". I asked my friend later if she had to go through such stuff. The answer was no, because there was too many people on her flight... I passed the baggage check obviously and I thought since I would be hanging around for 5 hours, I might as well go to the transit area and shop around a little as well as wait inside till my friend's flight arrives. However, there was no way of going there and I realised I had only 1 way to walk: out! I figured I would probably go read something somewhere... I went out of the gates and explored a bit. Then I went to the 2nd floor that was the arrivals for domestic flights. And I was glad. There were more stuff there. However, the shopping areas were on the 3rd and 4th floor and you could not wheel a trolley up the escalators. My luggage was pretty big and so I was stuck. (I realised later that I could have taken the elevator but then I wouldn't have bought anything anyway so it was of no point.). Therefore, I stayed at the more comfortable domestic arrivals floor and revised my Japanese, played some games or wrote something on my laptop. I went to buy something at a convenience store nearby for dinner: a bottle of Kirin Afternoon Tea and bread, and paid for it with a 10,000 yen bill... For those with a large luggage and you don't have anyone with you and you can't check in your luggage, take my advice. Go to the toilets on the 2nd floor. They are the only toilets large enough to accomodate you and your luggage. My luggage couldn't fit for the one on the first floor. However, this may be restricted to the ladies only, for the larger space was to be used for nursing your baby... So I managed to rot for 5 hours and when the time came I went to wait for my friend at the international arrivals hall. I took some pictures on that floor. My friend finally arrived and now we have our next problem: finding our way to the youth hostel, at night...... On the morning of 19th June, for the first time, I went to Singapore Changi Airport alone to catch my flight on Singapore Airlines to Kansai International Airport. I checked in alone, went past the immigration alone, did everything alone! It was an experience though. It was in the new Terminal 3 too. However, I didn't have much time. I did not go in so early because I had already checked in through the internet. So I went past the immigration gates, walked around a bit, went to the toilet (isn't a must to visit the toilets of new airports and terminals? Lol!) and then went to the departure gates. I remember my backpack being stopped at the metal detector. They took out my pencil case and poured everything out, and the metal in it was my metal rulers... -_-; And then I had to put everything they poured out back into my pencil case...
So I boarded my flight, and it was pretty empty as expected. I took an aisle seat at the side and the other 2 seats were empty! I was pretty glad for I had a place to put my backpack! I was actually sleeping while I was sitting on the seat. However when I saw that the rest of the passengers, mostly Japanese had put up the arm rests and were sleeping on 3 seats as they were on a bed! Therefore, I decided that there was no use upkeeping any images anymore and I did what they did! The flight was pretty smooth and everything, but the only thing I was pretty unhappy about was the meals. We were offered a choice of Japanese and International selections. It was a pretty empty flight and I was sitting in front, so I thought I could have the meal of my choice. However, they came to me and said that they had no more Japanese meals! I wasn't really happy as an SIA flight is not very cheap (although I didn't pay for it). So I got through that and reached KIX around 4pm Japan time. As the plane was preparing for descent, I peered out of the window and saw that KIX was really built on a man-made island! I got off the plane and went to the toilet (again! Lol!). I realised that we had to take a skytrain to the main arrival hall! I was sort of impressed. However, things have only just started... First I am going to introduce my blog and the purpose behind it.
This summer, from late June to mid-July, I went to Japan for a summer programme, the HUSA programme hosted by Hiroshima University. I stopped by in Osaka and where I was a backpacker and did what a backpacker did. I went to only Osaka and Hiroshima in Japan for this trip and I had so much fun! Japan is so fun to visit, especially when you are there on a "free and easy" trip without being bound by tour groups and schedules. Because I had so much fun, I have decided to share this with everyone and also to create my own memory. This blog would be my record for all my travels and everything Japanese from this moment onwards! The title of this blog is meccha sukiyanen! or めっちゃ好きやねん！which means "I like it a lot!" in Kansai-ben. The picture is a night view of Dotombori. I would not be able to record everything down day by day but I will be recording all my memories, in my own view! So to everyone reading this blog, どうぞよろしくお願いします！ Labels: introduction |
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