Japan Trip 2015: Day 1 in Osaka (Shinsaibashi, Kuromon Market, Namba Walk, Namba Parks Mall)

Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade in the morning

I'm finally in Japan! (Well, I'm actually back home, but my mind was left back in Japan, so who cares...) It's been a long time since buying my air flight tickets from AirAsia 14 months ahead, so there was plenty of time for research and cash stashing before the currency plummeted badly.

So, I landed in Kansai Airport in Osaka on Oct 3, 2015 and my great Airbnb host, Kevin, picked me up and my travel buddies (we travelled in a group of five) at midnight from the airport to his apartment in Shinsaibashi. We paid around RM150 per night per pax for a great stay in his apartment located in the heart of Shinsaibashi shopping arcade. Two thumbs up! If you are interested to rent his apartment, check out the link here.

Onigiri from Family Mart

Had this onigiri bought from the nearby Family Mart for breakfast. Oh, did I mention that there were THREE Family Mart stores near to our rented apartment? Breakfast and snacks are super convenient with Japanese kombinis.

Buns, cakes, and ham for breakfast. All from Family Mart!

For the course of our stay, we relied on 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, and Mini Stop for all our breakfasts and quick snacks.

Fresh milk and Lipton milk tea with Halloween packaging

Before I move on to the rest of the trip, let me praise Lipton for having a great range of teas in Japan! Coming from a tea lover, I thought I would suffer as I did in South Korea, but I guess not :D 

I love their line of Halloween packaging across the board for all their products. I probably visited at the right time since Halloween seems to be quite fun among Japanese!

River near Shinsaibashi

The sun rises around 5am in Osaka, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the clock on the first morning. 6am and here I am thinking it's 8am! I'm not usually a morning person and I was quite bothered to be up so early. I had breakfast and got ready in super slow motion. 

The weather that morning was cool, around 15 degrees. Nice weather to be out and about, I'd say! Osaka people seemed laid back and since it was a Sunday morning, the city was still waking up at 8am when were started our first day in the city. The river we passed by was so still... I guess nobody's up yet?

Kuromon Market

First stop was Kuromon Market, where all the ladies (and tourists) go crazy sampling pickles, fried food, sweets, and whatnots... almost everything edible on sale seemed to ready to be sampled, except the famous Kobe beef of course!

Kobe beef at Kuromon Market

Some of the goods on sale looks pretty delicious. Come here on an empty stomach if you want to try them all!

Croquettes at Kuromon Market

There are also some sweet treats for sale, for those not into savoury stuff or heavy meals. These strawberry mochi were yummy, not too sweet. Sorry, but I'll just have to treat you to a photo of the mochi. For the real thing, make sure to stop by Kuromon Market! :)

Strawberry mochi at Kuromon Market

Here comes another picture of the galore of sweets found in Kuromon Market!

Sweet goodies for kids and all the young-at-heart grown-ups!

I know I've just been spamming food pictures ever since I started on Kuromon Market, but bear with me because I'm gonna show you my buckwheat ramen from a little shop in the market. 

I had a great bowl of ramen under 300yen (that's a steal, considering it's around RM10) and I had the experience of ordering it through a vending machine! Sorry no picture of the process though, got too excited and forgot about it :p

Buckwheat ramen with a huge helping of kombu on the side!

After brunch, my travel buddies and I took a walk to Namba Walk. Over there we had some little surprises in store for us...

Malaysian flag spotted in Osaka!

We spotted a banner with the Malaysian flag in the shopping arcade! What are the odds of seeing our country's flag in Japan? I think Malaysia is calling us home already... I guess not since it's only Day One!

Bicycle parking

Along the way, I saw some bicycle parking. I have never seen a nation so taken into the cycling activity, since we Malaysians are practically in our cars all the time. But be warned when walking, because some cyclists just seem not to brake at all!

Vending machine drinks all at 100 yen!

At first when I passed by these vending machines, I didn't understand what is the hype all about over 100 yen (approximately RM3.50) drinks. I came to find out most drink costs around 130 yen to 200 yen in the kombinis and vending machines, so I guess it's something to shout about... we poor Malaysians resort to drinking plain water only :(

Menu banner outside a small restaurant

Time to hunt for lunch! Everything starts looking good, and every banner warrants some scrutiny. Too many restaurants to choose from, each one looks better than the last!

Ebi curry for lunch

Finally we settled down in a cafe off the shopping arcade. Upon entering, we realised the cigarette smoke smell was strong but only came to realise it was a smoking cafe after sitting down. Too bad, we didn't dare to leave but opted to order and eat our food fast for a quick escape! The ebi curry was surprisingly good, and the young waitress was quite fluent in English as well. Would have given two thumbs up if not for the smoking factor!

Star Wars merchandise in Bic Camera

After lunch, we made a stop in Bic Camera and we found lots of good stuff in there. 

Figurines at Bic Camera

From electronics to gadgets to model car kits, and even Star Wars merchandise, you name it, they've got it. Definitely stop here if you are into tech stuff or toys! :)

Namba Parks Mall

Soon, we made our way to Namba Parks Mall for some departmental shopping. The mall's architecture is simply stunning, (no box-like structures) which makes it different from standard Japanese architecture. Check out their Sky Garden though! Don't want to put pictures here to spoil all the fun. 

Prices here are a bit high though, so we did some window shopping and had dinner at one of the restaurants upstairs in their food court area. Later, we headed home via subway after a long day of walking just because we couldn't take it anymore. Salute all the Japanese for being able to do this day in, day out!

Read on for updates on my epic trip to Japan!

Day 2 in Osaka Castle, Shinsaibashi, Amerikamura and Dotombori.

Day 3 in Kyoto Station, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Tenryu-ji Temple, Seiryo-ji Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Groove.


The author is extremely happy to be in Japan! So much so she's been having a sweet binge buying any sweet goodies she lays her eyes on... here goes her diet!

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