Osaka, Japan

On the morning of December 28th we made the short 30 minute train trip from Kyoto to Osaka. We dropped our bags at our hotel which was a short walk from the train station, then spent a while exploring a local park.

 

That afternoon one of Will's colleagues met him and took him off to Osaka Prefecture University where he gave a talk.

We were staying at Hotel Casablanca which is an R18 love hotel! I booked it because it looked awesome, was close to the train station, and was also ridiculously cheap! It didn't let us down... It was by far the biggest room we've stayed in during our time in Japan.

In the foyer there is a screen showing all the rooms which are still available, and they can be booked by the hour. They serve a purpose in the community as it is customary for children to stay at home until they are married, so they are a place for young couples to get some 'alone time'. We felt sorry for a young Japanese couple who came in late on one of the evenings looking for a room, only to be told they were all booked out! 

Where else can you take selfies, in bed, using the mirrored ceiling!!!

The bathroom was also awesome with a huge spa bath complete with mood lighting! On arrival we were also given a couple of cans of beer and snacks, plus we could choose our breakfast time in the morning and it was delivered to the door. This is my kind of hotel!

While Will was working, I set about exploring the city. I walked along the canal to the city centre and came across a J-Pop girl band that was putting on a free show. I can't remember their name, but I looked it up at the time and they were quite a big deal in Japan.

Middle-aged men seemed to be their biggest fans. Afterwards, the girls from the band formed a line and had their hands sanitized. People then paid money to walk down the line, high-fiving the girls.

I had a wander around the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade which is a covered arcade over 600m long.

There was an amazing huge Uniqlo store spread over 5 floors. In a central atrium, mannequins on pulleys travelled up and down, advertising their wares.

One store was solely dedicated to Onitsuka tigers. I've long been a fan of these shoes, and Japan seemed a very appropriate place to finally purchase a pair. The range on display was awesome.

 I settled for the pink and grey pair below. I could buy them tax-free as well which was a bonus.

The next day I set off exploring again, this time with Will in tow. We liked the cute little Hozenji Temple with its moss-covered deity. Apparently the statue was the only thing in the area to survive the bombings of WWII.

We also returned to the bustling Shinsaibashi area where I had spent time the previous day.

In Tokyo we had spent time exploring a couple of Don Quijote stores, which are huge discount stores over several floors that sell absolutely everything and are often open 24 hours. We had a browse around the Osaka store and came across an unbelievably good price for Bose QC25 noise-cancelling headphones. Both Will and I own a pair of these and we swear by them. They have been indispensable during our travels. I know my parents have been keen to get some, so we bought them a set as a gift. Sure enough, when we got to the till they rang up as being over twice the advertised price (which is what they should have been at normal RRP), but when we showed the shop assistant the signage they honoured it for us. A part of me regrets not buying the second set that was there as well... As people know, I do like my bargains!

We found a cool area filled with restaurants so celebrated our last night in Osaka with delicious Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki, the Japanese pancake and octopus dumplings that originated in Osaka, washed down with ice-cold beer.

The next morning we took a shinkansen all the way back to Tokyo. We covered the distance (over 500 km) in less than three hours, and that wasn't even on the fastest class of Shinkansen as they are excluded from our JR pass. Train travel was a breeze using the JR pass. I've never known such a punctual and efficient train network, although Germany comes close! I'd thoroughly recommend the JR pass for anybody doing some extensive travelling around Japan, although you do need to be organised and purchase the passes outside of Japan. We ended up saving loads with our 14-day passes as high-speed trains don't come cheap!

Kyoto, Japan

On Saturday 24th December we travelled the 4 and a half hours to Kyoto, arriving mid afternoon. I had booked us into an Airbnb for 4 nights that was a short walk from the train station. 

After settling into our accommodation, that afternoon we went for a walk to Maruyama Park with its numerous temples and shrines.

There were lots of stalls in the area selling street food and we took a liking to the takoyaki (octopus dumplings).

We then went for a walk around the nearby Gion area, keeping an eye out for geisha amongst the atmospheric small streets and alleyways as it is meant to be the best place in Japan to spot them.

I don't know who the woman below is, but there was a crowd of people taking photos of her at the entrance to an alleyway, so I joined the masses...

Christmas Day started with donuts and fresh orange juice for brunch which Will kindly popped out and got. We had spotted the donut place the previous day. The creme brulee one back right was unbelievably good!

The rest of our Christmas day was pretty chilled (so chilled that I can't really remember what we did!). We did have Christmas dinner at a little local restaurant where Will celebrated with a humongous beer!

On boxing day we visited another of Kyoto's numerous shrines. This time it was the Fushimi Inara-taisha Shrine, made up of over 5000 red torii gates.

If, for an earlier post I reckoned I had over 500 photos of snow monkeys, I think I ended up with a similar number of photos of red gates! It was such a photogenic place.

Christmas Pikachu even put in an appearance!

It was crazy busy near the entrance of the shrine, but as we wound our way a couple of kilometres up the hill, the crowds thinned out. We were rewarded for our effort with lovely views over Kyoto.

Boxing day dinner was some amazing smoked salmon with salad back at our little apartment.

The next day we caught a train out to Arashiyama and started at the Tenryu-ji Temple with its lovely grounds.

Next up was the Arashiyama bamboo grove which was very cool.

Lunch was a very tasty affair in another cute little traditional restaurant.

Suitably refreshed, we then headed off to see our other major sight for the day, the famed Kinkaku-ji or 'Golden Pavilion' which is one of Japan's most photographed buildings. Even on a grey overcast drizzly day it was a stunning sight.

So, that concluded our time in Kyoto. The next morning we were back on a train for the short trip to Osaka. I'll finish with our Kyoto selfie collection from some of the major sights!