It's a close fight, but I think this is my favorite day of the whole trip. Was it because of all the bread? Maybe. Definitely.
R Baker Osaka-jo had a great selection of breads for breakfast. The place was packed with people just finishing their morning jogs. Good thing there was plenty of seating. Most were outside and it was freezing, but still.
Osaka Castle
The trip's main feature: Osaka Castle. We got here early to avoid the crowds. We just walked around the grounds and did not get tickets for the inside of the castle itself.
This whole building behind my husband has a whole bunch of souvenir shops inside it.
Osaka Museum of History
We booked our Osaka Museum of History tickets through Klook at PHP459.8 for two tickets. This might be my favorite museum we visited. Lots of different exhibits at different floors and interactive activities (that are admittedly for children) that we enjoyed doing.
These huge dioramas had these easter eggs you can try to spot. They were usually cats and dogs, which were really cute.
Shimano Square
My husband wanted to stop by Shimano Square, a small exhibit of Shimano bicycles and fishing equipment. It had a small cafe so we had lunch there. The food was okay but a bit overpriced.
Back at R Baker We liked R Baker so much so we went back for breakfast before we had to leave for the airport. We bought a total of four of those sausage breads, two for breakfast and two for later while waiting at the airport.
This was the first tourist-y trip my husband and I went on (after being together for 15-ish years lol). I'm thankful both our jobs can allow us this break (mostly his job for the visa and funding part).
It's not a packed itinerary but we had the main spots we wanted to see, and if we were too tired to go anywhere else, we would just skip plans and head back to the hotel to rest. We were also barely out in the evenings since we always started pretty early and were asleep at 10pm.
I must recommend the New Balance 990s (we used the V5s for this trip) for footwear when walking around Japan (or walking anywhere else). Very comfortable even at over 20k steps.
I bought a few magnets where available. My favorite is the takoyaki one.
We stopped at Kyobashi station to have breakfast at Back Street Coffee, but they were closed, so we doubled back and had breakfast to Deli Cafe Kitchen Kyobashi instead. It was right at the station.
We brought the muffin with us, which was lucky because the Expo '70 park was bigger than we realized and we got hungry halfway.
Expo '70 Commemorative Park
You have to transfer to the Osaka Monorail to get to the Expo '70 Commemorative Parkand again, my first time on a monorail. We paid JPY540 in cash for tickets to the Japanese Garden inside the park, but the Expo park itself was free.
The Expo Park is nice to walk through. There are patches of what are supposed to be flower gardens in the spring.
The Japanese Garden was, for me, the best garden we visited, and the toilets there were 10/10 amazing (yes even for Japanese standards).
We headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest before heading out again for our only nighttime outing for this whole trip.
teamLab Botanical Garden
Any teamLab installation gets labelled touristy and gimmicky but as a lover of illuminations, the teamLab Botanical Garden was an amazing experience. It's a quick walk around the park but really immersive.
All the walking for this day topped us at 30k steps and our feet were basically jelly as we got back to the hotel.
For Kyoto Day 2, Nijo Castle was our first stop. Well, after a konbini breakfast of a Famichiki in some bread made especially for it, and coffee. We just walked around the grounds, which was still pretty expansive.
There were fish in the moat water of the innermost keep (idk if I'm using the right words) and there is a small vending machine for fish food. So of course I fed them fishes.
There was also a small museum and a gift shop where I, wouldn't you know it, got some more postcards.
We tried the viral 10-yen cheese pancake on our way to lunch. It does not cost JPY10, it looks like the 10-yen coin. It's great for me because I like cheese and pancakes, but to be honest it's nothing special, but still a silly little treat.
Kyoto Tonkatsu Katsuda
We had lunch at Kyoto Tonkatsu Katsuda. It was a small place and every one is facing the food prep area so I felt really self-conscious about taking a lot of photos and videos, so they're not that great. It did give me a chance to savor the experience since it was our first time with this kind of dining.
They cook the tempura fresh in front of you in courses and everything was amazing.
Sannenzaka
The famous Kyoto street, Sannenzaka was packed. We just walked through stopping for a little bit for some photos.
Shōsei-en Garden
The Shōsei-en Garden is a garden in the middle of what seems like a mainly residential area. I think we paid JPY1,000 for two tickets. There were barely other people, which was nice, added to the calmness of the place.
Just stepping off the train station, Arashiyama is immediately beautiful. It's a little walk from the train station we got off of (Arashiyama Station) to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, but you get to cross a bridge on a beautiful river.
There's a lot of people near the entrance of the nearby bamboo groves but it eventually thinned out the further we walked into it and we were able to take photos with no other people.
Jōjakkōji Temple
We saw the nearby Jōjakkōji Temple recommended in a seerasan video. It was JPY500 to enter. It had a smaller bamboo grove but we were the only people there so we were able to take all the photos we wanted.
There were also ema (also JPY500 donation per wooden tablet) we could write our prayers and wishes for the new year on.
We walked into a few other tourists but otherwise the place was very serene. It's recommended to visit in autumn for all the colorful foliage from the maple trees, but it was still really pretty even in winter.
I was able to get postcards from here, too.
Pizzeria LUGARA
Our planned lunch spot was closed so my husband found Pizzeria LUGARA and I think it was a better choice. We had the margherita, our favorite to order in brick oven pizza places, a lasagna, and a tiramisu for dessert.
It was so good that my husband forgot his backpack while we were rubbing our full stomachs out the door. But our server kindly hurried after us and joked about how heavy the bag was when he handed it to us.
Fukuda Art Museum
The Fukuda Art Museum is a small private museum. The featured exhibit when we visited was Edo Paintings A to Z — Kajuchu, Hokusai, Rosetsu and more.
The Klook app was actually helpful in finding museums and other paid attractions in Osaka. I paid PHP1,106 for two tickets with an additional PHP55.3 No Show Refund Fee (just in case).
They had a small gift shop tucked in a corner in front of the cafe, and I got more postcards.
Get the hotel's free breakfast, get a pretty okay latte from 7-11. For a budget hotel and for the price we paid, it was a nice extra that they still provided onigiris and a bottled tea for breakfast.
Take the train to Nara. The city being pretty empty for the New Year holidays, we barely saw people between train transfers.
Walked to Naha Deer Park from Kintetsu Nara station. Pet deer. Buy crackers, bow, and feed deer. Get your coat bitten by a big deer trying to get more crackers from you. And for the love of god, feed the deer with only the crackers being sold at the park.
Walk a little bit more into the park and try to find some straggler deer apart from the deer crowd if you have crackers. Being chased around by a pack of deer is not fun.
Todai-Ji Museum
We skipped going into Todai-ji Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) as it was pretty crowded (we just admired the Great Buddha from afar) and instead went into the Todai-ji Museum.
We paid JPY600 each/JPY1,200 total for the tickets. The museum also had a gift shop where I brought postcards and a magnet for our fridge.
Tonkatsu Ganko
I think we hit 10k steps just walking around the park area so I was pretty tired by lunch time. We went back to Higashimuki Shopping Street near the train station and lined up for Tonkatsu Ganko.
Most restaurants that are open during the New Year holiday add a sort of tax/surcharge for added workers' pay (at least I hope it does go to the workers).
I don't know if my tiredness and hunger added to the experience but when I tell you, this was the best tonkatsu I ever had. Crispy on the outside yet still juicy on the inside, premium cut pork.
Nakatanidou
After lunch we were pretty full but we had to drop by the famous mochi-making place Nakatanidou. They post the times when a performance will be held and we were lucky to arrive just before one.
The front immediately got crowded over and I wasn't able to see the pounding well but I was still happy to be there lol. My husband who is significantly taller than me did see better and was able to take better videos for me. We bought a 3-pack of the freshly-made mochi for later. Kinda regretted not getting more when we ate them back in the hotel.
Arrive in Osaka via Kansai International Airport. Ride train to hotel. My husband handles the train schedules and transfers, and for that, I am grateful. Google Maps was very helpful with the correct transfers, exits, and schedules.
We booked a wifi device through Klook and had it delivered to our hotel. Very affordable rates compared to the ones offered elsewhere (PHP1,631 for 7 days). It also included a mail packet already addressed, so we only had to drop it off at a postbox when we got back to Okinawa. We do have Japanese sim cards but limited data plans.
Check-in at Hotel Livemax Yodobashi. A budget hotel that was central to where we needed to be. This trip was also kind of last minute so we were lucky there were still rooms available.
Pretty standard for Japanese budget hotels. friendly staff. We did not like the bed, having grown accustomed to sleeping in separate futons at home, the bed was squeaky and would bounce at the slightest movement. The hotel highlighted the bed as a special feature but I think it was what we didn't like the most heh.
Walk from hotel to Dotonbori area, Ebisubashi Bridge. Try to take photos with Glico Man. We were over during the New Year holidays so the city was pretty empty but we were taken aback to see the bridge was full of tourists (like us heh). There was also a line to the photo spot that lines up with the Glico Man billboard so we didn't bother with that because we were pretty hungry.
Get takoyaki at Acchichi Honpo. Eat immediately and burn mouth, as it should be.
We walked through a main road on our way back to the hotel and found them lit up with illuminations. As you can see in the photo, I was very happy.
I'm not sure what our original plan for dinner was, but being a go-home type of holiday for most Japanese people, a lot of restaurants were closed. But we lucked out at this ramen spot located in a shopping street: Ramen War Senba Shinsaibashi.
The broth was light and the noodles were chewy, just how we liked it. And slurping down that broth on a cold night was just perfect.
