Our family vacation last week was very restful. That's because we were on holiday for a week with no agenda except to eat, shop and sleep. It's very much comparable to when we go to Baguio for a weekend to eat and sleep since the weather in Osaka when we were there was pretty much the same. We stayed at an
apartment near Namba Station, and on most days, we would just walk around and eat and shop in that busy area.
Our first day was almost cut and paste of what we did on my first day there in December. It was about eating somewhere fast and familiar, while acquainting ourselves with the lay of the land.
Guess where we had our first meal?
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Yoshinoya across Namba Station (Swissotel side). |
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We tried something different by ordering the beef bowl with curry and cheese.
It was good, but there was just too little meat to rice ratio for my taste. |
We walked along the covered shopping street all the way to Shinsaibashi.
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The trick to get Sofia walking is to stop at every store
she fancies to distract her from being tired.
at the Disney Store Shinsaibashi |
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We didn't buy anything because we are already overflowing with Disney soft toys,
but Sofia enjoyed taking pics while making faces in the store. |
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Sofia and Mickey. |
To recover from our jetlag
(we caught at 655am flight so we woke up at 3am!), we stopped at a coffee shop every time we were tired so we could all sit down.
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There's a line to enter Krispy Kreme. |
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Fi's favorite is original glaze. |
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Lolo also snacked when Fif snacked. He needs sugar to keep up with her. |
We walked all the way until we got to the
Uniqlo flagship store.
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Trying on stoles. |
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Sorry makalat kami.
This was the stole display after we were done. |
We walked all the way back to Dotonbori after we got our Uniqlo fix.
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My dad's favorite thing to do is take self portrait pictures. |
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Hello Glico man, nice to see you again. |
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We also walked along the river. |
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Halloween is very big in Japan. |
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Yay, it's time for a takoyaki snack. |
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Yummy takoyaki. |
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We ate it by the river so we could get another rest break. |
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Walking along Dotonbori,
Sofia wanted a Sushi Pic like Ninang Jem's.
Ooops. Medyo fail. |
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Ninang Jem, December 2011
my daughter needs to grow taller. or get a better photographer. |
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We stopped by the candy store to get our Kit-o Kat-o. |
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Dinner on Day 1 was ramen at
Kinryu (Golden Dragon) Ramen in Dotonbori. |
They really is no sign that says Kinryu. You can easily spot it because it's a bright orange 3D open-air food place with a gigantic Dragon. It's open 24 hours and they have a really good basic tonkotsu ramen with unlimited Kimchi and garlic for topping. This is where Tim and I had ramen the last time.
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Ady and I had a double pork order to share (JPY900 around Php450).
The Ramen with single pork order is JPY600. |
Day 1 (which started after lunch) was quite productive.
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Their food mock-ups looked really yummy. |
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All dishes are served in frying pans.
By the drawings on the wall, we figured out that it was a pork steak place. |
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She bought a big bag of our favorite bubble gum! |
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Yummy! This used to cost Php2.50 at the canteen when I was in school. |
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It's a good thing I hoarded all the toys I wanted for Fif in December.
(my pile is on the right) I just wanted to see if they had new stuff.
It's a good thing I bought all the cities in a box for all the landmark cities then. |
Because we were low on energy again, we snacked on cream puffs.
There's a newly opened Daiso along the covered shopping walkway leading to Shinsaibashi so it was one of our favorite stops to look for junk.
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Sofia trying out the Halloween witch hats. |
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We had to buy toothbrush for Fif because we forgot to bring one.
She couldn't decide what color she wanted, so she bought both. |
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Headband perfect for the night owl. |
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Right beside the Daiso entrance was this Torikara food stall
that quite a lot of people lined up.
So it made us want to try it too. |
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Fif and her grandparents with the mascot. |
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There selling point was the number of sauces they had
for the fried breaded chicken pieces. |
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We ordered the medium size because it was to share.
I think it was around JPY500 or Php250. |
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Everything was in Japanese, so we were copying people,
and guessing what sauces we were using. |
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This one is the chocolate sauce. |
On our way back, we stayed behind to get mama a cupcake for her birthday.
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Sugar Berries is near Daiso (across Starbucks).
They sell new york style cupcakes that are yummy
because they are more cream than cake. |
Because we were really super duper tired again, we had to stop again for a coffee break. Starbucks was so full, we tried ChocoCro, a local coffee place, because they had seats available.
On our third day, I was already beginning to feel sorry for myself because Sofia was buying more stuff than me. All the things I bought for myself were only the small things, like a few stoles from Uniqlo, food or Daiso buys. So, in other words they did not count.
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So, I finally gave in and bought myself a pair of Onitusuka Tigers.
The selling point is it still looks good with a mini-skirt. |
I am not really a sneaker type of girl, so even if I have always wanted a pair, I have always waited for the specific designs I want to go on sale and it never happened. Since I was feeling sorry for myself, I justified the purchase by telling myself I'll get to wear it for the rest of our days in Japan, and also when we go to the US next year for the Alaska Cruise.
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This was how I wore my sneakers.
I made sure it still reflected my sense of style. |
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On our way to the Osaka Aquarium.
(i will blog about that separately) |
One new place we went to was the Tsūtenkaku (Tower Reaching Heaven) or Osaka Tower because of landlord told us that there was a lot of good kushikatsu (deep fried breaded meat kebabs) in that area.
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The street leading to the tower and the Billiken
(the god of Happiness, or things as they ought to be). |
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This time with me in the picture. |
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Billiken Fi, Sumo Me, and Tower Ma |
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Billiken photo-op. |
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We thought it was a touristy place to go to at night,
but the souvenir stores close quite early. |
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This was the biggest Kushikatsu place closest to the tower,
it looked busy enough so we were willing to try it. |
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Each place here has their own Billiken because the real one is housed in the tower. |
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We ordered a variety of kebabs.
They range in price from JPY100-250.
We didn't expect it to come out surprisingly small. |
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There is a pot of sauce on the table.
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In the menu, they ask you not to double dip.
Reminds me of a fish ball stall in the Philippines where there is no such rule. |
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We also tried the Tompei-yaki. |
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It's like an omelet version of takoyaki or okonomiyaki
with thin slices of meet inside. |
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Needless to say, I don't think we go full.
So we stopped for Takoyaki on the way home. |
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This is clearly not a tourist area because the price is less than half
of our favorite riverside takoyaki stall. |
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This is my mom getting her mouth burned because she ate everything in one bite.
It's Hot!Hot!Hot! so eat it slowly and blow! |
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We also passed by McDonald's to bring home some snacks. |
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I ordered a Shaka Shaka Chicken from the JPY100 menu.
It was really good, but Sofia ate mine. |
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I had to go back the next day so
I could properly try it with the red pepper flavoring. |
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We also tried the burger with the egg and bacon from McDonald's,
and it was ok, it would just have been better if they doubled the burger patty. |
The interesting thing is the neon colors at the top of the
Tsūtenkaku Tower shows the weather forecast for the next day. When we were there, the colors were red and blue symbolizing a rainy day. I wasn't really sure if it was true since the weather has been nice and dry since we've arrived, but sure enough, when we woke up, it was raining.
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We got to use the umbrellas at the apartment,
and Sofia got to use her new uniqlo jacket. |
Instead of going to Kyoto, we decided to shop around the area some more.
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This is at the toy section of Labi 1 Namba. |
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The pricing was the same as Bic Camera,
but the assortment was not as wide.
We still managed to find something to buy though. |
Our other good meals include:
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Another place we really enjoyed was
Gyu-kaku in Dotonbori. |
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We were actually walking to have sushi when we stumbled
on there sign that says lunch time special. |
We already know how much I am a sucker for a sale, so needless to say, this is where we ended up eating lunch even though we arrived there at 2:30pm already. Hahaha.
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Loft in Lucua Mall, Umeda. |
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Sofia loves trying out the Frixion (erasable) pens. |
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She draws and writes her name in the guise of trying them out. |
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Trying out the musical cards... |
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and the stamp rollers.
Ady and I didn't give in and buy this, because it was quite pricey. |
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We loved the Deco Rush testing sheet
at Tokyu Hands, in Daimaru, Umeda. |
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It convinced me to buy. |
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Sofia even brought home the trial sheet. |
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But she labelled them first from the marker display. |
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Starting her young.
You never outgrow your love for pens. Believe me. |
Our absolute favorite store for this trip (Daiso not included since we have that in Singapore and Manila) is
Tokyu Hands. They call themselves
a creative life store, whatever that means, but they have the coolest stuff in the world. They have a big store in Shinsaibashi, on the other side of the street across from the uniqlo flagship store.
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They had a halloween activity for kids,
you just need to pay JPY300 to participate. |
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Then you get your ticket stamped paid. |
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This nice man helped Sofia make her Halloween ornament
with flashing light. |
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It's quite good value because the ornament is now decorating our door,
and the light is still flashing. Hahaha. |
On our last full day in Japan, we finally found a proper supermarket. They have toys displayed in the confectionery aisle because toy makers put in a small pack of candy or a piece of bubble gum with every toy. I think it's very smart because we left the supermarket with a little brown dog soft toy.
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Choosing which dog to buy at the grocery. |
On our last day, our trip ended at the store where it started.
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We stopped in Daiso to spend the deposit
we got back from returning the flat keys. |
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Papa watched our luggage while we were shopping. |
I love vacations where nothing is planned. Everything you do, and everything you buy, just becomes a bonus. In this case, we did visit 1 castle (in Osaka), 1 temple (in Kyoto) and I brought Sofia to the aquarium. But those are stories for another day.
just saying.
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