Osaka Throwback
In the final instalment of my Japan 2018 series (I find it really funny that I’m writing this post in 2020 but it’s been great reminiscing so far! Really 😂😂), let’s explore the second most famous city in Japan for all tourists - OSAKA. The mother and I travelled to Osaka from Kyoto via JR train and surprisingly it took us only about 35-45 minutes to reach Osaka Station. Took a taxi to our hotel for 2 nights Candeo Hotels Osaka Namba which is located near to the shopping strip of Dotonbori.
I actually selected this hotel solely for its close proximity to Dotonbori and the open air SkySpa inside the hotel. However, I would not recommend this hotel despite its good location because the hotel was extremely crowded and really noisy all the time. We had to wait for the lifts several times because it was always full.
The hotel also does not offer any luggage storage but there is a small area with racks and lockers for guests to store their luggage at their own risk. I was quite shocked on the day we checked out and realised that they would not store our luggage as our flight back home was in the late evening so we wanted to leave our luggage at the hotel and explore Dotonbori further. Therefore, I had to try and lift a 20+ kg luggage all by myself (yes, no staff helped me FML 😩😩) and scramble to find an empty spot among all the racks to secure our items. So yeah, I wouldn’t want to go through it again so definitely not gonna stay there if I can! Oh and btw I didn’t manage to try out the SkySpa but reviews mentioned that it was perpetually crowded as well so… #dontsayneverwarnyouliao
First order of business after checking-in to the hotel was to find dinner because we were famished by then. I wanted to try the famous Osaka delicacy known as kushikatsu which is basically a mixture of fried meat and vegetables which you can dip it in this special soy concoction before eating it and there is a famous restaurant at Dotonbori specialising in kushikatsu called Kushikatsu Daruma.
KUSHIKATSU DARUMA (DOTONBORI)
📍1-6-4 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka
I loved having kushikatsu that night because c’mon who doesn’t love fried food 😝😝 Daruma offers a few sets of kushikatsu and you can pick one which you like the best. Everything is fried freshly upon ordering and once you start digging in your first piece of kushikatsu, you just cannot stop eating!
One of the kushikatsu sets we ordered
One thing to note is that you cannot double dip your skewer into the sauce and they are quite strict about it because the staff kept repeating it to us when he served us the food lol. You can put the fresh skewer into the sauce and after taking a bite or two if you’d like more sauce on your food item, you can pick up one of those loose cabbage pieces on the table to scoop out the sauce from the pot and drizzle it onto your food. Of course you can eat that piece of cabbage after using it as a scoop 😂 #donotwastefoodpls
Anyway after dinner, we went around Dotonbori to explore further and let’s just say that street really never sleeps 😆😆 Walked around to find the famous Glico man and also went to Don Quixote for some shopping. There were several branches along Dotonbori so no need to worry about missing out on shopping at Don Quixote! 💸💸💸
universal studios japan
The mother and I went to USJ the next day and I was so eggcited because it was my first time visiting this theme park! Basically the reason why we did a leg in Osaka on this trip was just to go USJ 😅😅 The weather was so terrible in the morning when we arrived as it looked like it was gonna pour and I felt so bummed about it. Thankfully I had purchased tickets ahead of time via KKday and we were able to just scan the e-tickets from our phone and enter effortlessly because the crowds were crazyyyyyyy 😱😱 Now I knew the crowds at USJ tend to get a little crazy most of the time so I opted to purchase the Express Pass as well even though it was pretty expensive 😪 and I would gladly do so again as the pass really helped us save a ton of time from queuing plus we were guaranteed to be able to try whichever attraction we opted for.
One of the things I was dying to try in USJ was the cute character buns and the moment we walked in onto the main street, I zeroed in on this booth selling Halloween themed character buns and tadah…. breakfast! 😁 The buns tasted really yummy and the skin was not too thick which I absolutely appreciated because it would just taste more of dough instead of a balanced combination of dough and filling.
Anyway I didn’t queue to take any pictures with the mascots because of the humongous crowds that appear on cue every time a new character is walking out 😩😩 I swear Halloween is a terrible time to be at USJ because of the crowds yet at the same time I’m loving all the themed character items #firstworldpains
I chose to take a more relaxed approach for USJ knowing that we were at the tail end of our holiday and my mother was exhausted as hell with all the activities that I have planned on this trip. We did a lot of walking around the entire park as it was our first time there and shopped as we strolled throughout the various parts of the park. Even though it was extremely crowded on the day of visit, I enjoyed the leisurely pace we took to just take in the sights and photo opportunities. We tried some attractions along the way and here’s a list of attractions I really liked
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - The Ride 4K3D
Jaws
Of course it was very sad that I missed out on Jurassic Park The Flying Dinosaur and Hollywood Dream The Ride Backdrop but no way was I gonna spend 120 minutes each (in the single rider queue too wtf 😡) queuing for these rides. Well I guess there will always be a next visit to USJ in future!
“Yer a wizard Harry!”
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
School robes
I’m a huge huge huge Potterhead so The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in USJ was definitely on my bucket list and boy did it not disappoint! The moment you step into the village of Hogsmeade, you’re greeted by the wonder of Harry Potter and a replica of the Hogwarts Express.
A ton of people actually bought the school robes to wear and played the interactive wand activity that is available if you purchase one of the wands at USJ so it really felt like you were transported to Hogsmeade but with a ton of Asian people heh 😅😅😅
My mother and I headed straight towards the castle for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey as part of our Express Pass and let’s just say that this was the best ride out of all those we tried at USJ - my mum actually tells all her friends how much she really likes this ride even though it was all in Japanese LOL⚡️
Butterbeer is amazing 😍😍😍
If you ever have the chance to visit USJ, you have to try the Butterbeer over at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter beacuse it tastes much better than the one I had the London tour 😂😂 It is not alcoholic so don’t worry about feeding underaged children it because it makes for a very refreshing drink after all the thrill you experience in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Oh and the toilets within this part of USJ actually play Moaning Myrtle over the sound system because in the books she haunts the girls toilet - I was sooooo impressed with the attention to detail when I realised it whilst in the toilet 🚽💦.
Last day in osaka
See you soon Japan 👋🏼
It was our last day in Osaka the next morning after USJ. I had booked a night flight back to Singapore in order to maximise the time in Japan so after checking out of the hotel, my mother and I decided to head to Gram Cafe & Pancakes for brunch! But first, we had to make a pit stop at Lawson because I wanted to try their famous fried chicken 😋 It was very yummy!
Gram Cafe & Pancakes (Shinsaibashi)
📍1-5-24, shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu
We both ordered a main each and the pancakes were really soft and fluffy! I especially enjoyed trying to ‘jiggle’ the pancakes for the ‘gram 😝😝 So after eating, it was more walking and exploring Dotonbori in the day. We also visited a shiba inu cafe afterwards because my mum loves dogs so I figured it would be a fun activity for her to enjoy!
Mameshiba Café Osaka
📍2F-3F-4F, Hina Bldg., 1-6-13 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka
By the way, each person is only allowed to stay for a maximum of 30 minutes in the cafe. Each ticket also comes with a free drink which you can get once you enter the cafe. The cafe also has a limited number of tickets available for each timing so do head over to the cafe first to obtain a ticket for any time just in case they run out of slots for the day, especially on weekends!
One of my pet peeves about animal cafes are the welfare of the animals as I’ve seen how bad some can be. Thankfully, the puppies were very well taken care of by the staff at the cafe as they kept running to them for more treats. I honestly wanted to get a shiba inu puppy after visiting this cafe but my mum disapproved 😩😩
After having a ball of time playing with the shiba inu puppies at the cafe, I wanted to have a final snack before we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. Walked down a couple of stores and found a takoyaki place and yup, finally ticked off everything that I wanted to eat in Osaka 😋😋 Now we were all ready to come back to sunny Singapore after enjoying Japan for almost 2 weeks.
Le sigh writing all these entries Japan have really made me wish I was able to go for my trip this month but oh well, let’s hope the world heals itself faster and we can all travel once again ✈️ Stay safe everyone!
