Dotonbori : Osaka Japan

Next destination? Dotonbori! 

It was actually easier if we took a taxi, but because we love adventure (and being cheapskate), we opted to take the local train/subway. If you have taken the subway to the Dotonbori, you can probably guess what happened (wink). Yeah, you’re correct! We got lost again. Lol. We went down on the correct station but went out on the wrong exit. By the time we reached the place, it was already time for lunch. Yay to another food trip right? Not! Why you ask? Because the street food market was not yet open. We forgot the tiny detail that most of the street market opens in the evening. What did we do then? Luckily, there were a few restaurants that are open. We went to the first restaurant near the entrance of the street and ordered Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, and Gyoza. It was superb! Taste better that the one we order in the Philippines. It was also very cheap.

The very confusing MAP -_-

On our way...

Osaka Castle

We didn’t really plan to visit other destinations in Osaka aside from the Universal Studios. This is because we know that we didn’t have enough time left in our itinerary. Day 5 is dedicated to a whole day in universal studios and Day 6 evening is our flight back to the Philippines. 

Day 6: After eating breakfast and checking out of our hotel, we again left our luggage to the hotel’s storage and decided to take a last minute trip to Osaka Castle and Dotonbori. Our hotel is located about 15 minutes walk from the Castle, hence, another walk-a-ton happened. o_o 

Unlike Tokyo castle where you need to schedule your visit, the Osaka Castle Park is a public area giving visitors the chance to get a closer look of the castle.

Nope! It's not COLD. It was actually very HOT. The reason why we're wearing jackets is because the sun really hurts our skin. Ate Haydn and I were wearing Uniqlo UV jackets from UniqloPH. 

Side note: We went gaga over Uniqlo Japan. It's very cheap! Like a dress for 1,250 PHP can be bought for 1,250 YEN. If you're a Uniqlo fan like us, make sure to have extra money for shopping. 😘

The park

🎶🎶And alas I see the castle 🎶🎶

Floral Set

I actually bought the matching coat and short in Chemistry SM San Lazaro during their Christmas sale. Got the set for about P500. I usually don't wear the set together. Most of the time I pair the shorts with Plain top and vise versa.

Coat and Short Set from Chemistry

Inner Cami from Uniqlo

Accessories from The Landmark

Heels from B-Club

Kyoto : Japan

From Tokyo, we decided to take the bus to Osaka. We pre-booked our bus tickets from Willers Express and opted for the night trip. We rode the bus in Willers Tokyo bus station at 10:30 pm and arrived in Osaka Station at 6:30 am. The actual check-in time for the hotel is at 2:00 pm. Fortunately, the hotel has their luggage storage room for the guest. After leaving our luggage to them, we took the train from Osaka Central to Kyoto. The train ride is supposed to be around 45 minutes only. However, we were so tired by this time that we (3 of us) feel asleep and missed our stop. After a few transfers and additional 30 minutes ride, we finally reach KYOTO. 

If I haven’t mentioned it before, we had the unfortunate timing of taking this trip during Japan’s Summer season. Let me tell you, it’s 100% hotter that Philippines Tag-init/Summer. We "almost" gave up roaming the place and wanted to just stay in the hotel. "Almost" being the key word. In the end, we gathered our energy (like how they do it in animes <wink>) and was able to successfully do temple-run in Kyoto under the scorching heat of their summer season. =p

Kyoto is famous for its Temples. They are literally just a few meters away from each other. It's like there is a temple in every street.