3 Days in Osaka!
I spent 3 days in Osaka before coming to Kyoto. We took a cheap JR night bus from Shinjuku and got to Osaka early in the morning. Our first stop was the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. It was free (unless you want to make a special instant ramen or something) and didn’t take us too long to get through but it was interactive and quite interesting.
Ando Momofuku - the guy who invented instant noodles!
First packaging of instant noodles
After we dropped our stuff off at our hotel (in a shady part of Osaka but the hotel itself was nice), we went to the Osaka Human Rights Museum. It was educational and quite detailed but there wasn’t much English. The audio guides didn’t really help but the videos they had scattered around had English subtitles which was good!
After that we wandered around and ate at Namba. We also bought the famous Rikuro Cheesecake and it was delicious!
On the second day, we went to Universal Studios! It was so much fun :D the Spiderman ride was awesome! I was however disappointed at the ET attraction D: I was looking forward to the whole ET ride but it wasn’t a ride but just watching clips from the movie and looking at ET displays.
Mini ETs <3
ET made evil by the lighting
We spent pretty much the whole day at Universal Studios. By the time we got near the aquarium it was pretty much dark but we weren’t planning to go into the aquarium so it was okay. We were there to eat at the mall like place near the aquarium! There was also an illumination at the aquarium and a very entertaining street performer which was a bonus!
The aquarium
Okonomiyaki dinner (with yakisoba!) - it was amazing!
On the third day we headed out to the Sumiyoshi Taisha which is one of Japan’s oldest shrines.
Taiko bridge at the Sumiyoshi Taisha - so steep!
Then we went to Shitennoji Temple - it was quite big and very beautiful. There was also a flea market going on.
Carefully raked rocks!
After that we went back to the Namba area and wandered over to Dotonbori because we didn’t go there the first time. There were lots of shops and the shopping streets didn’t seem to end! Also lots of interesting shop fronts and signs.
Glico man!
After that we headed to the Osaka Castle. It was really nice but there were so many crows flying around it! Because of that I thought it was like those evil castles on a cliff in those cartoons haha xD
There was also a plum garden in the castle park with lots of beautiful plum blossoms! :D
And before heading out to Kyoto, we found Billiken! We scratched its foot for good luck - the sign said that it would bring us good luck because he can’t scratch it himself :D
Will be back to blog about Kyoto!
