Hans and I embarked on my birthday trip to Osaka last week and it was amazing!
Japan has always been my favourite country, hence I was super looking forward to this trip, you can only imagine my excitedness ~
After checking in our Airbnb on day one, we explored a little on Dotonburi and chanced upon the famous Glico Man.
Having said, we couldn't miss a photo with this iconic man.
Osaka Aquarium was next, this place housed so many beautiful creatures we spent the second half of our day there.
Day 2 we took a speed train to Nara.
The deers were so tame and adorable!
It's strange how they don't approach the counters that sell their deer cookies, but once a person buys these cookies, they will move towards them.
Those that Hans bought was KO-ed within 3 mins.
The streets of Nara was so captivating, I'm a sucker for old street houses so my camera now is filled with all the street shots.
Wakayama was up for Day 3, this little quiet city has so much to offer.
Upon reaching we headed straight for lunch at Ido Shoten - where this is named one of the best ramen in Japan, you can see the queue before business commences and all of them were locals, I guess we found the right one.
Then we hopped onto their local bus and rode with the locals to Kuroshio Market, where we witness the tuna auction we didn't get to in Tokyo.
Beside this market nest Porte Europa, a small park with vibes of Europe.
Wakayama Castle was the last POI (at least I visited one castle cos I didn't get to visit Osaka Castle!), a pity I couldn't find the titled bridge.
The following day was Kyoto Day.
I had so many items on my checklist for this place but the weather and walking distance didn't allow us to do all.
Love how the people here were all decked in Kimonos, they blended in the cultural city so well!
We took a Sagano Romantic train to Torrokko where the surroundings were so breathtaking.
The drizzle didn't stop and we had to walk in the rain to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.
Majestic as it seems, it was worth finding to this place.
Last item was Kichi Kichi, the famous man and his omurice.
We spent the fifth day in Kobe, where Kobe Beef was a to-do.
Lunch was settle at Steakland, and it was one of the best meals throughout the trip.
Thankfully for the lunch set, we did not spend as much as we speculated prior reaching.
Due to time, we have Nunobiki Herb Garden and Falls a missed and headed for Mount Rokko.
It was 11 degrees up in the mountains and the freshness in the air was amazing!
Absolutely love the weather up there, I really did not want to leave if not for the nightfall.
USJ was booked in for Day 6.
It was surprising easy to get here as compared to Tokyo DisneySea, and I don't want to imagine the crowd on weekends given the ones on a Tuesday.
World of Hogwarts was first - Hans loved Harry Potter!
We spent at least half of our day (in total) at this space and the well-known Butterbeer was amazing!
Caught a quiet space where we were able to shoot this pretty castle away from the crowd.
Rides were amazing, but I hate Halloween and the zombies who were roaming around in the evening.
The 2 last days in Osaka were shopping days - Dotonburi-all-day-err-day.
Shopped a lot, ate a lot, A LOT.
Any food stalls in Japan are good, irregardless.
I have not had anything which was bad, that explains my love for this country.
Their culture, mannerism, people, everything.
& I told Hans when we were strolling down the streets one day -
"Let's migrate here when we grow old, leave our kids to strive for themselves and we retire here."
Hahaha I'm probably a selfish parent but I would love to move to Japan with Hans when its just the 2 of us left.
Okay, its just #thoughts.
Back to the hustle and bustle of Singapore and so much has happened in these 8 days.
Jetting off to my problems now, but Osaka - you've left me with so much wonderful memories I wished you could hear my thoughts.
