Japan Trip Day 2: Osaka

After a tiring day, I woke up at 830am which was still earlier than my set alarm clock. My friends arrived this morning so I had to pick them up at the station. I used the chance to explore Namba area. Osaka is more relaxed than Tokyo and the shops seem to open at a later timing. I had difficulties finding breakfast and I decided on MOS burger. There is onion ring+fries combo though there are only 2 pieces of onion rings.

I managed to find Takashimaya again (which is actually just outside Namba Nankai station immediately after arriving from airport). The department store was quite nerve wrecking as the people kept greeting even when I only passed by. It would be quite intimidating to take a look at the prices. I checked out Uniqlo which is not cheaper than in Singapore so I bought nothing.

My friends were not trying to find free wifi and after waiting at the station, they messaged me that they were already waiting at the airbnb. I gotta walk back but too bad for them to wait there. When I reached, they were nowhere! After 15 minutes, they messaged again andthey were actually waiting at the other door. Jeez... clearly they never read the airbnb guide to get the directions. I hate people who just follow GPS or google map blindly and not prepared for travelling.

We went to Osaka Castle as one friend had not been there. It was less crowded and the weather was friendlier than my visit 2 years ago. The main castle was closed this time and the Disney coin machine is not there anymore :( I could not get nice pictures since both friends are terrible and this would be ruining my holiday. Haiz.. I was well prepared with coins to get Disney's coins at Osaka Castle but the machine was no longer there T_T

From here we went to Umeda and surprisingly there was nothing to buy at Mandarake Umeda. Wow.. It seems that I will spend less for toys at this trip. Haha.. My friend has a friend who works in Osaka and he shared that because of the storm, there was a possibility of disruption of train service. Thus instead of exploring Umeda, we just had late lunch and quickly return to Namba area. We dropped by at Shinsaibashi. The Disney Store was pretty interesting although there was nothing worth buying.

I just realised that Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori were actually connected so we walked all the way to our accommodation. My friends wanted to check Mandarake Grandchaos while I decided to just get the Heero and Relena figurine set for 8000 JPY.

 Normally I dislike SD style but Gundam Wing merchandises are rarely made so it is an easy decision to just get this

We also went to Big Camera Namba and there was 1 floor to get food souvenir. Hmm.. good good I would not need to travel far to think of souvenirs. There was a 100 yen shop too. My friend wanted to buy Kimi no Na Wa limited edition and I offered to take the cash and used my credit card to pay. It was really a pleasant surprise that payment by credit card was given 5% off!! Japan is always notorious as a cash society so it seems that that they are finally embracing cashless services. Giving 5% for card payment is essentially an encouragement to use credit cards.

This morning the hot water was still not working so I informed the airbnb contact person. In the evening, the host actually dropped by. Wow.. She spoke little English while I spoke little Japanese so communication was difficult. No wonder the contact person in airbnb is like an agent or something. It was quite paiseh to get her to come because in the evening all the hot water seemed to be functioning already.

Let's call it early day tonight since my friends need to rest and we all need to start early to go Kyoto tomorrow.