So we were in Osaka from the 11th to 19th September. I had trouble remembering the order that we did things there because we had a rest day and there was a fair bit of just shopping, so my pictures didn’t quite make sense.
Actually getting to Osaka was a lot more confusing than I thought it would be, considering it is a short distance. Well, we just had to do an extra transfer and then we lined up in the wrong queue for Mingaling to get her JR West rail pass. Also, suddenly we were standing on the wrong side of the escalators.
Mingaling had told me about an expat who had lived in Japan for 25 years who loved Osaka the most because it was different from the rest of Japan… But unfortunately this first translated as ‘confusing’.
We stayed in a area called Namba and it took us a few days to get used to the layout of the area and the fact that the JR and Subway stations are separate areas, but we figured it out in the end and would be pretty good at navigating around if we went back I think. My two tips for traveling by train in Japan would be:
1) Get a rail pass. Totally worth it!
2) When you get to the station, head straight to the tourist info centre and get your English maps of the area and also of the train station. It can be pretty confusing otherwise, and they are a great help for figuring your way around and info on tourist attractions and how to get there. Also, you should do this at the airport, as I got given an pretty useful guide there too.
We got a serviced apartment with it’s own washer/dryer. It was combined in 1 machine, which I thought was pretty cool. Also very spacious.
That night we didn’t do much as we were tired from our day in Kyoto, but we got given a discount voucher for Don Quixotes so we figured we would go take a look.
Walking around Namba was awesome with it’s giant advertising and crab and puffer fish signs. Even though a lot of shops were closed we knew it would be dangerous for our wallets!
We had actually been to a Don Quixote in Akihabara, I think, and this one was pretty similar. Lots of interesting stuff, jammed packed, and not too much room to move. Unfortunately, this was the place were I had my one bad experience in my travels of someone harassing me, it was an old drunk guy, and I was so tried that I just told him to get away from me and walked down another aisle. We should have left the area as he came back again, before Ming was smart enough to suggest we go to another area of the store to avoid him. So not the best start to Osaka.
We cheered ourselves up by buying a giant jar of caramel corn among other snacks, and taking it back to the appartment to watch My Little Ponies: Friendship Is Magic using the free WiFi.