Category: Travel

Its been many days in Japan and its time to say good bye. We packed our stuff and left the hotel early. Took a direct nankai train to the airport and we will be home in the evening.

We wanted to have Okonomiyaki in Osaka as we did not manage to try it yesterday. We are in Osaka, so Okonomiyaki is a must. Found a restaurant in the airport serving it, so we both went in and made that our lunch.

Soon enough, we were off the ground and Japan was distancing itself from us as our plane brought us to higher altitudes.

The airport started to show its unique shape as it was fully reclaimed in land scarce Japan. It was 3.5km away from the mainland and slowly its full shape could be seen clearly from the sky.

Overall, this trip to Japan was great. We totally enjoyed ourselves especially since we have not had a real holiday as a couple ever since our honeymoon. We spent our hard earned money, we spent quality time together, we spent time doing stuff we enjoyed.

Now we come home to our kids we missed, our jobs we care about and OMG the dreaded credit card bills. *gulp*, lets see what surprises is in store for us at the end of the month.

Morning Osaka. Time pasts so fast when you are having fun. Its already day 8 and we are returning home tomorrow. We did not really know what to do for lunch, what is the Japanese version of the morning food? In Singapore its the soft boiled eggs with kaya toast, Prata, Chwee kueh, etc? we’ve got no clue what a typical Japanese breakfast is, so Starbucks sounds good. lol…

My Japaneses wife looks so gorgeous this morning, she is actually Singaporean, but in Japan, she is my Japanese wife.

Free and easy means explore, so off we went in separate directions, she went towards Daimaru while it was Den Den Town for me.

Den Den Town is like the Osaka version of Akihabara Electric Townin Tokyo. Filled with electronic goods, manga, toys, etc. As compared with Daimaru… totally no comparison.

I went into a huge Gundam store and it was quite amazing. With models all well painted, books, comics, videos, toys, clothes, etc… it was really a boys wonderland.

Also walked past a few Maid Cafés which is kinda Otaku thing which i still don’t quite understand.

Time ran out quite fast as i walked quite far knowing that i still needed to walk back to meet Pearl. I spent most of my time walking around and soaking up the Japanese environment rather then going into shops to shop, cause in out internet age i kinda feel that there is nothing we can’t buy off the net or by ordering. However, walking around is an experience that can’t be bought. Ok, there is Google Street View, but still it can’t replicate the experience.

Met Pearl up for lunch cum tea, but after making her order, she had to visit her Diamaru again as she felt that there are a few more things to get before we say bye bye to Shinsaibashi shopping. So I ended up eating all by myself.

She came back, had to gulp down the food and we had to head back to the hotel as we are meeting our Japanese friend Aki there. Without a 3G phone it did not help that we were a few minutes late + he knew me as Nick Pan, but the hotel had my name like in my passport name which is slightly different, hence the reception told him there was no Nick Pan registered in the hotel.

My friend Aki works at SAN-EI and we went to his office to pay a visit and also to see the Showroom.

The TOH faucets designed by Yasumichi Morita and manufactured by SAN-EI are definitely the most exquisite range of faucet in the world. Each piece has a hand crafted porcelain layer which makes it truly one of a kind.

You can find it selling in Singapore too.

After a short tour in SAN-EI’s office, Aki, together with Sasaki brought us back to Shinsaibashi where we met Ikawa San for dinner. I knew all of them when i was working in my parent’s bathroom business.

Ikawa San and my dad goes a long way back. If i’m not wrong for at least 30 years now. Ikawa San have since retired and the joyful man is still enjoying life. Don’t he look like an actor.

Aki and Sasaki both manage export markets, hence their english is really good and we all had a nice time catching up and chatting.

They all read my blog a few days before meeting up with us and knew that this trip was because it was our 10th Anniversary, hence Ikawa San suggested we take a picture while making a 10 with our fingers. What a good idea. So i think we will be back in Osaka again 10 years from now to take another picture with all our good Japanese friends too if possible.

Aki ordered an excellent meal for us and apparently its a Korean cum Japanese styled dinner. The food was really yummy and we even tried Chiken Sashimi… yes you heard right, Chicken Sashimi and it tastes kinda like frogs legs back in Singapore.

We went for alfresco coffee after that while watching Japanese girls walk by.

Sasaki and Ikawa went back after coffee and we said our goodbyes and thanked them for their hospitality. Aki then walked with us.

For the past few days when we passed by this clown, we did not understand why is everyone taking pictures with it, so we asked our Japanese friend.

Aki told us its Kuidaore Taro. According to Wikipedia, Kuidaore means roughly “to ruin oneself by extravagance in food”. The clown which was installed in 1950 symbolises that “eat till you faint” spirit and because Osaka is like the food capital of Japan, this clown can also be said to be a very apt symbol for Osaka.

So now, we had to take a picture with Kuidaore Taro.

So whats to do after dinner and coffee in Osaka? you will never guess it. RAMEN!

Aki brought us to the best Ramen restaurant in Osaka. The restaurant was quite narrow and it even had a one way sign inside as there was just no space for customers to walk around. One door in, one door out. There was also a hanger for us to hang our coats.

All across the walls there were autographed tiles and apparently all of them are some sort of celebrities or famous people who have eaten here. Very cool indeed.

The cooks had coloured scarfs and they were all moving very swiftly in a Japanese Ramen flow which was beautiful to look at.

Pearl and I could only share one bowl, but Aki the Osaka Local had no problems with one full bowl of ramen himself.

I asked Aki how could Japanese eat Ramen after dinner and some even Ramen with Rice. I mean its like carbo + carbo right. He laughed and gave me the puzzled look. “I don’t understand why are you asking me this question” he said and we all burst out laughing. Ok this is like the way of the Samurai thing… Its the way of the locals… this is just the way it is.

So what should we do after Dinner, Coffee and Ramen? you will never guess it. Okonomiyaki! OMG! we could not eat anymore! Kuidaore! Kuidaore!

Aki told us Okonomiyaki is Osaka’s contribution to Japanese cuisine so being in Osaka we should try it, more so when we were standing at the door of the BEST Okonomiyaki outlet in the whole of Osaka. Cannot cannot… We surrendered and thanked our kind host for his wonderful recommendation.

He sent us back to our hotel and we said our goodbyes. Aki is such a wonderful friend and his warm character will always have a place in our hearts.

If anyone out there is looking for a handsome, honest and wonderful Japanese husband who speaks excellent english, drop me a note, i believe i’ve got a great candidate.

The last night of the tour itinerary we stayed at the Hotel Nikko at Kansai Airport. So with our 2 day extension, we had to make our way back into Osaka city. We were suppose to take the Nankai Main Line, but when we tried to buy tickets, we were told that there was an accident, hence the line was suspended till further notice. We had no choice but to take the JR instead which ended us up at Tennoji Station.

We walked around to explore the place and it was quite an amazing underground network of shops. We came across Japanese rice at a supermarket and were really tempted to buy a bag home as we came to learn the best Japanese rice were usually not exported. But then again, thinking about our baggage weight limit, we dropped the idea.

The station was a mega junction of sorts and it had so many platforms that it makes Singapore’s MRT look like child’s play.

We ended up at Mc’s for lunch and we both had Shrimp burgers. Being Singaporean, the pork burger definately caught our eyes.

We finally reached our hotel in Nipponbashi, dropped our stuff and headed out to explore Osaka. Pearl headed for Shinsaibashi while i walked south to explore Namba and Doguyasuji area.

Apparently i managed to walk pass a place for comedy and later found out that Osaka is the capital for comedy in Japan and that this place that i passed by was the main place for Japanese humor.

I spent sometime at Muji only to later meetup with Pearl and come back to this Muji where were expressed our love for well designed functional items.

It started to get late, hence we headed back to Dotonbori for dinner. There were just too many restaurants and with out the local lore, there was no way we could decide. So we looked at places that were not extremely extravagant and yet had substantial locals waiting to get in. We ended up at a place where they served burger patties as a dish with rice.

Although half the day was kinda wasted as we had to make a long detour due to the train accident, we were glad we still had a full day tomorrow to do what ever we wanted.

We are starting to love Osaka.