Your Stereotypical Kyoto Tour - Japan 2015 6/7

Don't get me wrong, Kyoto is an amazing city. With over 2,000 temples and 17 UNESCO heritage sites, there are endless places to visit. As well, because of its abundant amount of tourists, Kyoto is also extremely multilingual. There will be English pamphlets and signage, and most people you will ever need to deal with will speak English too. It is quaint and sophisticated, with elements of nature all around. Whether it's to shop in one of its huge department stores, to walk down a stone paved road behind tea houses, or sample the multitude of beautifully carved out dishes in a Kaiseki, Kyoto will capture the hearts of anyone looking to experience the Japan they see on TV.



But after waves and waves of one stereotypical Japanese looking building after another, and thousands of temples later, Kyoto remains, as beautiful as it is, a very tourist city. The geisha you see on the streets are usually tourists doing photo shoots, and almost all the ladies dressed in kimono that I saw spoke anything but Japanese. Like Kuta, like Bankok, who's culture has slowly been replaced with whatever the tourists wish to see, I wonder if Kyoto has morphed over the years, also, to uphold an image rather than real tradition.

I appreciated the opportunities to visit all the famous places, they make for impressive pictures, and would be the pictures you share to make your friends jealous of you experiencing this degree of exoticism. But I have nothing to present but those imagery. No serendipity with a new friend, no minor adversity we had to overcome, no challenges, and most important of all, no stories to tell. I had absolutely no feelings about Kyoto other than what it's packaged beauty imprinted on my eyes. There were skillful craftsmanship and a sickening amount of matcha products, but the entire time I was there, all I could hear was the voice in my head saying, "what else is there?".

Like attempting to fill a hollow void, I searched but came up empty. I so deeply wanted to feel something, but I couldn't hear a whisper. "Surely the next world renown temple must trigger something" I think to myself, only to end up lacking inspiration till the end. Perhaps it was the bus loads of tourists that made my Kyoto experience authentically non-Japanese, perhaps we simply did not allocate enough time to appreciate its history, or perhaps, I was looking for something that was never there in the first place.

Why We Love Osaka - Japan 2015 5/7

We've asked almost everyone we know who's been to Japan what they feel about Osaka, and the result was a land slide of "it's only so so" or "I didn't particularly like it", or even "I don't remember anything about it". Everyone remembered the Kyotos and the Tokyos, but Osaka, the "second largest metropolitan area" with "19 million inhabitants" didn't really make an impression on our friends.

I was determined to make the best out of our Osaka experience and surely, with it's irresistible charm and easy going culture, we ended up loving that city!

We decided to make Osaka our home base during our 17 days in Japan. From the first night we spent in the amazing City Plaza to the rest of our days in our cozy apartment, we fully immersed ourselves into the life we had there, and Osaka returned the favor by always providing us with the warm embrace when we returned at the end of the night.

Dotonbori
Dotonbori is the most popular tourist and shopping area in Osaka. Though the Osaka station and surrounding areas also has plenty of shopping, Namba (where Dotonbori is) felt a lot more like the real "downtown" of Osaka.

We caught the Golden Week when we arrived and decided to challenge ourselves by heading into Dotonbori at 8:00 pm on a Saturday night. The crowds were packed full of locals and tourists alike, and at times, it was even difficult to take steps wider than a few inches apart. The lights were bright and the atmosphere was lively, and we were on the hunt for our first dinner.


Osaka Museum of Traditional Housing & Living
This little museum is fun and interactive. Although there isn't a lot of square footage, the exhibit area is really well made, and the ¥200 kimono rental is simply too worth it to miss out.

Due to our jet lag, we woke up super early, and got to the museum 10 minutes before they opened. There were already a line of about 10 people there, and as soon as the museum opened, people rushed to line up at the kimono rental store in the exhibit hall. We actually hadn't planned to rent a kimono there that day, but seeing that so many people went, we couldn't help but check it out as well.

I was number 20 by the time we paid the fee for the kimono rental, and by the time I got the tabi socks, the line exploded and extended all the way out the store. I got dressed within the next 15 minutes, and we strolled around the museum with me wearing a kimono. Little did we know that the exhibit area was basically the museum, and the kimono totally made our day. I highly recommend renting the kimono; in fact, I would probably go just for that.

Midnight in Paris - Hokaku @ Osaka Station Underground Walk
It was our second day in Osaka, and we decided to head to the Osaka station and area after the museum. Not knowing what to expect or which direction to head towards, we ended up walking aimlessly for an hour not really hitting any cool shops or restaurants. Tired and discouraged, we wondered if we should head back to Namba, at which exact moment, we saw a long line in front of a unique looking restaurant (or bar?).

The restaurant was in the underground walkway surrounded by other mediocre looking shops. It had menu items written all over the front window glass, and a few menus hanging on the door. Looking in, you see only a large oval shaped bar with server and bar tenders in the middle, and patrons sitting all around. It was lunch time on a Sunday and these folks were drinking all sorts of wine and champagne. Yes, wine and champagne, and not the stereo typical business choice of beer or sake. Mesmerized by this sight we joined the line, feeling like we'd stepped into a different time like in Midnight in Paris.

Namba Walk, Loft & Daiso
During our time in Osaka, we visited Namba many times, and although there were tons of great food and shops, the crowds made it really hard to fully enjoy Dotonbori. Namba walk, on the other hand, was always pleasant and connects us to stores in all directions.

2 stations from our station was the Nipponbashi station. This station connects to the Namba station via Namba walk, and is the station to get off if you want to go to the Kuromon market. We usually get off at this station and walk over to Namba. There are plenty of clothing stores, shoe stores, and lots of diners and dessert places.

We looked for Daiso to purchase some household supplies and souvenirs. We also saw a video on Youtube of Loft and wanted to check that out as well. Both these stores are at the South end of the area (closer to Namba Park), which is accessible directly through Namba walk.

Egg Herb Plants

Loft was actually a lot more expensive than we thought, closer to the Muji price range. There were so many cute things though. I bought some matcha snacks from there and one the the most beautiful note pads I've ever seen. I also saw these cute "egg plants" where the soil and seeds are put in an egg, all you have to do is crack the egg and water it for the plant to grow.

Daiso was as fun as usual, but had a much stronger "dollar store" scent to it than the one in Vancouver.

BONUS: MUJI
The building where Loft resides is also home to a 4 story Muji. I've seen Muji in Taiwan before but have never seen any Muji this big. It not only has your usual hosuehold items but also a lot of food products and even a cafe.

Kuromon Market & Supermarkets (Kohyo & Life)
I thought I would be spending every afternoon in the Kuromon market trying out different foods and buying unique groceries each day. The reality was closer to the opposite of that. We went to Kuromon only 3 times during our stay; each time, by the time we got there, we had already gone through an entire exhausting day. Tired and starving, we rushed to get what we need and headed home right away.

We mainly visited this one meat store and a general grocery store, but we soon realized that the supermarkets close to our home were just as good, and for certain items, even better.

There was a Kohyo 2 blocks East from where we lived and a Life about 15 minutes North. The little Kohyo served just about everything we needed, from cooked dishes, salads, meat, fish, fresh produce to other household items and frozen foods. It was convenient and really helped us out during the few days we were too tired to venture any further.

Life was just pure bliss. It had 2 floors and is about 5-6 times the size of the Kohyo we usually went to. We were only able to make it out to Life once though, and probably because we bought as many things as we could carry, we didn't need to go back a second time. The first floor had mostly fresh produce and groceries type items, and the 2nd floor had snacks, alcohol, clothing and other household supplies.


Osaka Castle
It was during our "restful" day that we went to Osaka Castle -- a day we really want to just take it easy, but had it turn out to be one of the most tiring days ever. It was only a 15 minute walk from us and the weather was perfect. Osaka Castle was right next to the NHK building and the Osaka Castle Park was huge! There was a mote that was at least 50 metres wide and the walls were 4-5 floors tall. The park around it was filled with active folks, jogging, biking, or getting ready for baseball practice. The atmosphere was unbeatably relaxing. There are multiple buildings on the the Castle grounds, and one of them happened to be hosting a kids' Karate competition that we had the opportunity to observe for a little while.

Being the Golden Week, there were music performances in front of the castle and a super long line of people waiting to get in. We walked around a bit, sat and ate some snacks, thoroughly enjoyed our visit and headed out to Nara.

Tokyu Hands @ Shinsaibashi
Tokyu Hands is my absolute favorite place during the entire trip. It is an 8 stories stationary/craft store. Looking through rows and rows of pens and note pads, it was 5 hours of pure heaven. Tokyu Hands was just North of the Shinsaibashi stations and we had decided to walk over from our apartment.

It was a hot sunny day, and we were glad to get out of the sun. Tokyu Hands was quiet, calm, and we were happy taking our time. We started on the top floor where all the pens were. I probably spent half and hour just on the pens alone. Then we went through the note book section, then stickers, note pads, dairies, and also a huge selection of Gatcha balls where we played like kids.

Den Den Town
Much smaller than I had originally thought. We walked around for about an hour and mainly went into one store. We bought some Nano Blocks as gifts and also a Totoro miniature model for ourselves.

Family Mart & 7-Eleven
In addition to the markets, we got most of our food from convenient stores. If you've ever been to Japan, Taiwan, or Korea, you'll know that the convenient stores there are amazing and contains almost everything you need on a day-to-day basis.

Left to Right: Oyako Don, Rice Balls, Baumkuchen Cake, Pudding, Coffee, Veggie Juice, and Milk

There was a Family Mart right across the street from us, which became our favorite store even though 7-11 was a lot more "famous". Our favorite was the Mapo Tofu and Shiumai that we got almost everyday. Other favorites are drinks, 7-11 waffles, ice cream, and boxed lunches.

Keith was super stoked about rice balls at first but soon got sick of them and stopped eating them all together. Unfortunately, rice balls (or triangles) were still the most convenient foods we could get on the road, so Keith suffered from a rice overdose until we found stores that sold salads and other types of dishes.

Our stay in Osaka was comfortable and easy. Despite the massive population, the street in front of our apartment would always be clear and quiet. No matter how far we traveled during the day, I'd always know that I'm almost there as soon as I step out of Sakaisuji Hommachi station and breathe the crisp clean air, all too surreal for a city as large as this one; and I'd pick up my pace, as I know that home is waiting, and I can finally rest my tired feet.