After a 6 hours and 10 minutes flight, and approximately an hour long queue at the immigration clearance upon arrival at the Kansai Airport, my dear and I were more than eager to check into our hotel, Swissotel Nankai Osaka. One of the many reasons why I chose this hotel was due to its prime location and great convenience from the airport. All we needed to do was purchase a pair of limited express tickets at the airport and we were able to get to our hotel directly in less than 45 minutes.
Swissotel Nankai Osaka is located right above the Nankai station with easy access to the main Namba subway station and the underground Namba City shopping mall, as well as Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi. In another words, the hotel is located right at the heart of Osaka. The room was really cozy and spacious with the best city view.
It's pretty obvious that I couldn't get enough of the scenic view from our room. For all the perks that the hotel offered, this luxurious 5-stars hotel comes with a pretty costly price per night. However, given the priceless city view and excellence hotel service, we thought that it was all worth it. Anyway, it was around 11pm by the time we checked in and we immediately went hunting for food. It didn't take us long to find our way to Dotonbori, which was just outside our hotel, and we were amazed by the colorful and exciting long street of food district. There were many shops that operated 24 hours everyday or past midnight. The street food, being amazing and cheap, makes Dotonbori a sin of gluttony.
For ladies, it will not hurt your wallet to drop by the three storey tall Forever 21 located in Dotonbori as they are always having some crazy sale. I got many clothes for only 199 yen to 499 yen (crazily cheap huh?) and most of them were handpicked by my prince (●♡∀♡).
We eventually found what we were looking for!
Ichiran Ramen 一蘭 is known as one of the best ramen in Japan, if not the best in the world. Not exaggerating, but we ended up eating Ichiran for 9 nights (out of the 11 nights of our stay in Japan)! My dear, who is not a fan of rice or noodles, would often order another serving of noodles! We had never queue for any food in Singapore but for almost every nights, we were willing to wait patiently in the cold for 30 mins and sometimes up to an hour just for a bowl or two of of this rich Tonkotsu soup based noodles.
No words can describe how heavenly this divine bowl of goodness actually is. Besides its unsurpassed taste, Ichiran Ramen is the first company in the world that offered trans-fat free tonkotsu ramen. In addition, the broth is rich with natural collagen which makes our skin looks better! For just 910 yen, you can get a good taste of heaven, along with many health and beauty benefits. It explained the frequent long queue.
We loved it so much that we even bought some back to Singapore with us. My dear was teasing me the other night and insisted to film me harassing the Ichiran boxes due to my craving for it >.<.
For those who are planning a trip to Japan and will like to try this legendary ramen, make sure to fill in your choice of preference when you are queuing.
When it's your turn, purchase your order from the vending machine and hand over the form and order ticket to the waiter upon arriving at your seat.
Most of the Ichiran outlets only have individual booth seats like this:
It was designed this way so that customers would just focus on on eating their ramen without distractions which many foreigners found it awkward. I overheard some tourists from Hong Kong commenting in Cantonese that it seemed as though they were visiting a prison center. Anyway, you can fold back the divider like how I did if you are eating with your family or friends.
Without a doubt, Ichiran has officially become my favorite food!
A photo of me taken along the river of Dotonbori after we had indulged ourselves with Ichiran for the number x time.
My dear got me this very pretty pink coat that I wanted for 6990 yen at Namba City, which was located right below our hotel, and a pair of comfortable furry boots to protect me from the cold. It was really sweet of him <3!
Another famous Dotonbori landmark is the Kani Doraku mechanized crab. Famous for serving all kinds of crab, Kani Doraku is one of the most famous restaurants in Dotonbori. We had to wait for an hour and 50 minutes during lunch hours for a table.
We ended up shopping at Shinsaibashi, which is conveniently next to Dotonbori, to pass the time.
If Dotonbori is for dining, Shinsaibashi is for shopping. It is the premier shopping area in Osaka. Around 600 meters long, it’s filled with trendy boutiques and luxury department stores like Daimaru, H&M, Zara and many more renowned brands. You can also find many bargains so shopping there isn't exactly unaffordable as most believed Japan to be.
The place is flooded with people by the time we got there so be prepared to challenge the heavy on-coming human traffic when you arrived at the Shinsaibashi Arcade.
My favorite store in Shinsaibaishi!!
This Sanrio Gallery is three storey tall (๑♡3♡๑)l! I literally went back there three times and spent more than an hour in there! I have the best boyfriend in the world because not only did he followed me around the shop patiently and listened to my enthusiasm over all the extremely adorable Sanrio merchandise, he even got me all these wonderful gifts!
My melody water bottle, towel and chopsticks 乂‿乂!! The only items I paid for are the gifts for my best sister, Fuzzy. I know of many boyfriends or husbands who prefer to leave their partners and go elsewhere when they are shopping for stuffs that do not interest them which made me appreciate my prince a whole lot for always staying by my side and being interested in everything I love.
He's such an ideal partner in all aspects (✿ ♥‿♥).
We went back to Dotonbori to have our crab feast at Kani Doraku.
The crab was really fresh and sweet, definitely the best we had eaten by far, but the whole meal was a little on the costly end. I would recommend those who enjoy crab to give it a try even though we still preferred to dine in Ichiran.
This shop is for all Takoyaki's lovers but be prepared for a long queue.
You will see a lot of people queuing for Pablo Cheese tarts, a very popular Japanese dessert, in Osaka. Lucky for us, there was one small outlet right below our hotel which we didn't have to queue for.
There are two types of cheese tarts to choose from - medium or raw. The ingredients are the same but the baking time is different. I bought the medium one which I regretted after trying as I would prefer it to be less baked. Overall, Pablo cheesecake is rich and creamy but it might not suit everyone's taste as the tart texture is really soft while the crust is pretty crunchy.
Before I end this post, for my friends who are planning a trip to Osaka for the first time and will like to know the best place to shop for discounted items. Let me introduce you to:
Shimamura (｡’▽’｡)♡!
A really big one-stop-shop!
I think Shimamura is the gem! It has everything a store should have - dresses, gowns, skirts, shoes, hats, working attires, kids wears, socks, underwear, night wears, bras and so many more. All for very affordable prices. The quality is very good considering the cheap prices. Surprisingly, the qualities of the clothes and shoes are even better than those from Forever 21, Mango, H&M and Zara.
For example, I bought this pair of shoes for my dear for...
.....only 1980 yen which is approximately $23.
It's not only unique and trendy but the quality is better than most shoes he bought from Singapore which cost a lot more. Lucky for him, the shoes fit him perfectly. It was the last pair in the shop and I was fortunate enough to spot it on display right at a lonely corner.
I bought this lovely black boots for 2900 yen, probably the most expensive price you can find for women's shoes there as most shoes range from 900 yen - 2900 yen. I regretted not getting the white one too >.<.
We ended up shopping there for more than an hour and bought two bags of clothes and shoes that worth around 18000 yen (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡ ✧*。We won't be able to buy so many items for that amount if we were to shop elsewhere.
If you are in Osaka and will love to get to Shimamura, you will have to take the Yotsubashi line to Daikokucho Station and walk about 15 minutes. Shimamura is located on the 2nd floor of the MaxValu supermarket building. You may need to ask around as it is not easy to find the exact location. After reaching the station, we even got into a cab but the driver did not know where it was so we had venture on our own by foot. Fortunately, my dear was a pro navigator of Japan and he led me to the place in the end! Hurray for my love ♡〜٩( ╹▿╹ )۶〜♡!
After shopping in Shimamura, you may want to head down to MaxValu to shop for a wide range of cheap groceries too. On the other hand, you may also like to visit Don quixote in Dotonbori for discounted daily products as well.
I'm ending my post with a photo taken on my first afternoon in Dotonbori.
Behind me is the giant Glico man sign, originally installed in 1935, it is Dotonbori’s most iconic landmark; a symbol for the Glico candy company, which happens to be the makers of caramel candy and Pocky ╰(✿´⌣`✿)╯♡.
In my opinion, the city of Osaka, being older and smaller, hides a lot of what it has to offer - with amazing food and friendlier people. It is definitely underrated. At first, like many visitors, I was skeptical about Osaka and thought it was not anywhere on a par with a bigger city like Tokyo, but after my trip there, I know it is the place I will choose to go back to (ღ˘⌣˘ღ).
♥ Ashley ♥
