JAPAN TRIP: DAY 13 & 14 Osaka Shopping Heaven - Shinsaibashi Suji & Dotonbori

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Monday, March 7, 2016

I spent the last two days of my Japan trip around Namba area, to be more specific, Shinsaibashi Shopping Street and Dotonbori. If you are a shopaholic, you would go crazy for this spot. Those lines of stores and restaurants will make you go back and forth along the road and alleys. You will also meet hundreds of neon lights and mechanized signs of restaurants those will attract your eyes.

We left Kyoto not so early in the morning by train, and within less than an hour ride, we arrived at Shinsaibashi Station - Osaka. There many train routes options to reach Osaka from Kyoto that vary in prices, from less than JPY 1000, until more than JPY 3000. Just pick the most convenience one for your budget. At our first day back at Osaka, we stayed at Villa Fontaine Hotel. Why did I stay at two different hotels in two days? Because I already booked this hotel when I got notice from the airlines that our flight schedule was changed that we had to spend another night in Osaka, and guess what? The hotel was fully booked for the next day.

Since it wasn't check-in time yet, we put our luggage at the receptionist and so we started to explore the area. A straight walk from Shinsaibashi-Suji will lead you to Dotonbori. There were so many tourists here, I saw many groups of Chinese tourists spending their time at those shops.

If you are a fan of Uniqlo, you should prepare your money and shop like crazy here since the prices are much cheaper. Cheaper and more variety! Another shop that I visited several times was ABC Mart - a Japanese footwear store that sell branded sneakers. You could find a pair of laced Converse sneakers in polkadot those you won't find elsewhere. I think there are three ABC Marts along the road.

Other than shopping, our goal that day was to try the JPY 100 sushi go round restaurant. By the help of Google Maps and quite plenty of walking, we found this restaurant called Isono Ryoutarou (map attached at the bottom of the post).

Here, we sat in front of the sushi belt, and we could also see the sushi prices in front of us. They also provide hot water tap on each seat, so you just have to put the ocha powder that was also provided to have a glass of hot ocha for free.

The sushi on the black & white plates are JPY 105 (100 + tax). There were quite plenty of sushi that were priced at that number. I think a JPY 100 sushi go round restaurant is something you should experience when you visit Japan.

Don't forget to take a mandatory photo with the Glico Man sign when you stop at Dotonbori.

My other goal that day was to try Pablo cheesecake! We found the shop that located around Dotonbori (map attached).

I tried their Fresh-baked Cheese Tart (JPY 800) and instantly fell in love with it.

The cheesecake was so soft and light, and the pastry tart was crunchy and nice. You could just finished the whole tart by yourself. A must try! Oh how I miss you cheesecake :(

You could also find Pablo's other products (biscuits etc) at the souvenir shops also at the airport.

The next day, we still wandered around this area but too bad it was raining the whole day.

Our first destination at our last day was Don Quijote! Don Quijote is a discount chain store that you could easily find all around Japan. We visited the one at Dotonbori (map attached) and shopped some snacks. You could find those common souvenir snacks here - Green Tea Kitkat, Green Tea Pocky, and others.

And since it was raining, we went to the underground shopping area and had lunch there. We decied to have lunch at Omurice-Tei.

This restaurant served you variant of Omu-rice (omelet rice).

This lunch set costed me JPY 880. It tasted pretty decent.

We spent the rest of the day hopping from one store to another. I visited Tokyu Hands, a one-stop shop that sells many unique products, from stationery to living ware. If you love Japanese products, you shoul really visit Tokyu Hands. Too bad I got so busy wandering around the building and forgot to take pictures.

But the kind of store that I visited regularly back at my trip to Japan was konbini. Here's why, they sell varieties of food and drink that you won't get bored of. And they tasted more that good also!

varieties of coffee

varieties of packed food

varieties of onigiri

varieties of dessert

As I continued wandering around on that rainy evening, I thought to myself, I'll definitely miss this country and I should prepare more money on my next trip here.

Another konbini food to close the day!

And finally brothers and sisters, I've wrapped up these Japan Trip series! If you have any question, just put one down on the comment section or send me an e-mail. Meanwhile I should do some packing right now, I'll be flying for another trip tomorrow. Follow @niyaoke at instagram to check the updates. See you!

JAPAN TRIP SERIES

Hello JAPAN!

JAPAN TRIP: Preparation and Cost (Visa, Accommodation, Transportation, etc)