My Trip to Osaka, Japan!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the absence, but the reason I was missing was because I took a short vacation to Japan! 😀 I will be sharing some photos of what I did in this LONG post, so feel free to read on if you want to check out what I got up to!

•○ Day 1 ○•

I have been to Japan two times prior, but just as a layover so only had a few hours to spend both times that I went. As I don’t have much time left in Asia, this time I decided to go for 3 days! Because I was on a budget, I decided to go to Osaka which was the cheapest options for me from Korea.

I met up with my friend, who flew up from the Philippines, at the airport, and we took the looooong bus to Osaka Station. By the time we got there and walked to our Airbnb it was already 5:00PM, so we decided to have a light snack at a Japanese “conbini” (convenience store) before heading out to explore.

I was exhausted even though the flight was short (just 1hr20min!) so picked up the most interesting looking coffee, and a salmon onigiri (rice ball). They have these in Korea but they taste a little different. Japanese convenience stores are famous for a reason, and everything I picked up there throughout my trip was amazing!

We made our way to Dotonbori for some light shopping.

This area is famous for many things, but the giant food sculptures are one of the most interesting attractions and really fun to look at!

We stopped to take a picture of the famous “Glico Man” sign, and explored a giant Don Quijote store we found nearby. We went to at least 3 of these stores on our trip to Japan, as they’re a great way to find all kinds of fun things at a low price.

When in the Kansai region you have to have takoyaki (fried octopus balls – as in battered circular things, not that kind of balls 😂) and okonomiyaki (savoury pancake). Takoyaki is one of my favourite foods and I get it regularly in Korea, but the one we had in Dotonbori was DELICIOUS. All the ingredients tasted so fresh 😍.

Decided to try Japan’s famous flan when we got back to the room. Totally passed my expectations and I wish these were sold everywhere because they’re so good 😭.

•○ Day 2 ○•

After a nice conbini breakfast we made our way to the Pokemon Center. Being a huge Pokemon fan I always make sure to visit every Pokemon store I can!

I picked up a Koffing keychain and two Gachapon (capsule toys) from the adorable Ditto collection, along with a Ghost-type (my favourite!) Pokemon bag, some keychains, and a Mimikyu pin! The other things are accessories I picked up at the malls surrounding Osaka Station. One of the things I like about Japan is that there are a lot of cheap and pretty accessories for those of us that like alternative/unconventional fashion!

Had a simple donburi (mixed rice bowl) and noodles for lunch…

After doing some shopping we went to Osaka Castle to see the cherry blossoms and do some sightseeing.

The trees had not yet blossomed to their full potential, but they were still so pretty! If you’re able to visit Japan around this time I totally recommend it.

The castle itself was gorgeous! It looked so white and well-maintained. There were a ton of people so we didn’t go up, but it was definitely worth checking out regardless.

The weather was nice and the hike up the hill had us feeling a little warm, so we decided to grab some matcha ice cream. They sell various matcha products in the area, and they all look delicious!

For dinner we went to the Alice in Wonderland restaurant, which we reserved spots at before our trip.

Everything is themed, and the waitresses all have adorable costumes. The head waitresses were dressed as the Queen of Hearts and Madhatter, and the other waitresses as mini-Alices. Our cocktails came out with a little “Drink Me” potion that the waitress insisted would make us smaller 😂. Too cute!

We ordered the White Rabbit pizza as an appetizer, which was clock-themed and sooo good.

For our main dishes were the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum rosé crab spaghetti and Cheshire Cat risotto (it looks very little but the bowl was deep!).

The menu only had the names of the food and not descriptions so we ordered the wrong dessert by mistake, but it was still nice! A little simple, but good. I was surprised at how tasty everything actually was considering themed places don’t usually put much effort into the food itself. It was all delicious!

•○ Day 3 ○•

We woke up early and decided to head to Universal Studios! I have been to the one in Orlando a few times, but I heard the Japanese one had some anime-related attractions so I was excited to go. I had my first Americano in Japan that day, and it turns out that Japanese Starbucks puts FOUR shots in the Grande size, and not 2 or 3 like I’m used to in Korea. Me and my friend were jittery messes an hour later 😂.

The weather was great in the morning, but unfortunately it began to rain in the afternoon 😦 .

As Evangelion was one of my favourite anime when I was in middle school I had wanted to check out the ride but the wait was THREE HOURS, so we had to pass 😭.

Instead we went to the Attack on Titan 4D presentation, which was super gruesome and cool (but not for the faint of heart – lots of blood!).

Us on the right!

The giant titan was one of the things I was looking forward to the most and I love our picture with it! It looked super creepy in real life, and the workers were dressed up and very enthusiastic about the whole experience – super fun 😂.

No trip to Universal Studios is complete without a visit to Hogwarts…

…and of course, Butterbeer! Because it was so cold, rainy, and windy we ended up having to call it a day early without going on any rides 😦 . Next time I’ll be sure to buy the Express pass, but it was a little over my budget this time unfortunately…

After that we did some more shopping. We got so tired we decided to find a place to have coffee and walked into the Gudetama Cafe!

Everything was super cute, but this is what I was talking about when I mentioned themed cafes usually not having great food. It was just okay, but the coffee served its purpose and after resting a bit we moved onto round two of shopping!

Of course when in Japan you have to get purikura (sticker photos). We decided to follow the cheesy poses that the machines suggested we do 🙂 .

Our final stop was the famous Ichiran, a place where you order the ramen to your liking and sit at a little individual cubicle where they pass your order in through a small curtained window. Ramen is another one of my favourite things to eat when it’s done properly, and this one was AMAZING.

Because it was cherry blossom season I had to try the seasonal beer! Japanese beer is always really tasty to me, so over my trip I had these 3. The limited edition cans were pretty so I decided to show them off 😀 .

•○ The End ○•

Osaka airport

And like that my trip was sadly over! My friend decided to stay for a few extra days but I had to head back before I bankrupted myself 😂. I had an amazing trip and my only feelings now are that I can’t wait to go back! Since my trip was so short I didn’t get to visit the more traditional/cultural areas of Japan, so that will be my goal for next time.

This trip gave me the motivation to work hard and succeed so that I’m able to return and enjoy myself even more! I feel refreshed and ready for new adventures 😀 . I was thinking of doing a review post about the Japanese makeup I picked up from my trip, so if anyone is interested in seeing that please let me know!

I know this was probably one of the longest posts I’ve ever written but I hope it was enjoyable!! Thanks for reading, and until next time! (✿´꒳`)ﾉ°

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