Japan Trip Part 1 Day 2-4

The day started good with a good breakfast. Onigiri + coffee + orange juice. Onigiri is our favourite... Cheap and good. And it's quite filling. We spent the morning and afternoon walking around Asakusa visiting their temples and doing some short shopping before our train ride to Osaka in the late afternoon. To make the most out of the stay in Asakusa. Nothing really impressive other than the buy souvenirs for family and friends outside their temples.

We have to make our way to the Tokyo main station to take the shinkansen bullet train to Osaka. A 3 hrs train ride which cost close to $200 per trip. Luckily we have the JR pass which allowed us to take unlimited rides for 7 days at a cost of $445 per pass. It was worth it.

The streets near our hostel

Basically the highlights of Osaka were the Osaka Aquarium + Suntory Imax theatre + Dontoburi +Umeda shopping district + Utage Food festival.

The osaka aquarium was quite good in way. It was better than the one in Sentosa. Was quite amazed by the size of it. 7 storeys high of exhibits featuring giant stingrays, whale sharks, jelly fish etc. We were surrounded by their pri sch kids too... It's true that their pri sch kids wear the yellow hat like what we saw in cartoons... Drey never let go any opportunities to shop. Even at the souvenirs store in the aquarium when you know the price is jacked up to ka tourists.

Next, we went to the imax theatre to watch the 3D movie which lasted 20 mins. And everything was in jap. She fell asleep... outstanding. We paid to go in... and she slept. I struggled to keep awake though. So don't bother to go if anyone plans to catch a show inside. You can see it at our science centre.

The remaining 3 days were very focused. First 2 days on their shopping districts and the last day on the once every 4 years Utage food festival. We skipped the universal studio and the world trade centre sky view. Not really worth the money. It would have been at least 100 bucks if we go for both. We rather save the money to walk through their streets to food hunt and shop.

They even have feet massagers for visitors to use. Actually it's some sales booth. But they very willing to let anyone try it without obligation to buy.

Generally, the prices at osaka were relatively affordable as compared to Tokyo. In tokyo, even the auntie clothings can cost you S$100 plus. Crazy. So we did most of our shopping in Osaka. All the nights ended well with a coffee break at starbucks enjoying the Mocha latte.