II. Osaka

Let me start off this post as I start every other by saying how sorry I am. It is nearly April and I still have so many posts to share with you! I am very much so sinking under the uni work load at the moment, but it's totally fine. This post continues from that last post. After we found our hotel and dumped our bags we caught the train back and started our day of exploring inside the train station, because in Japan that's where the fun begins. (All of the above food is plastic and I still want to eat all of it)

Just one of the many shops full of excessive phone cases. I am only just noticing that creepy cat thing and now I regret taking this photo.

In Japan giving gifts when you travel is customary. So generally what you will see a lot of when you travel, at stations and airports are these boxes of sweets. They are everywhere. Like instead of just buying your family member a little chocolate bar, you buy them a set of the same chocolate bars in different sizes with a matching mug.

I actually can't believe after all the times we walked past this wanting to marry the smell we never actually tried these! But from later experiences its seems that a lot of things that smell really delicious in Japan usually waste their sweetness on their smell and end up tasting pretty bland (I'm looking at you Pablo custard tarts).

Affordable packaged food everywhere, it was the best!

They really seem to love their crepes in Japan. You can get sweet or savoury, but in all honesty I think I would prefer neither. But they do make them look so pretty in the windows.

This is Dotombori, a main shopping strip in Osaka. There is a big shopping area in the centre of Osaka that is comprised of Shinsaibashi (The main shops with pretty lights), Dotombori (where most of the big food places are) and Amerikamura (American stores and lots of killer vintage places).

This crab is one of the many giant food signs hanging up along Dotombori. Each store has a little song that plays as you are walking past. I will never forget the Takoyaki song. Saya and I would always sing along when we walked past. I actually found a video of the song. Ignore the video, close your eyes and listen to the video below, add like 3 other songs on top and you are pretty much walking down Dotonbori. 

This is still my favourite photo from Osaka. I honestly loved Osaka so much more then Tokyo and I wish we could have stayed longer. The shopping there was so much cheaper.

In Japan you can get a Teryaki Chicken burger from McDonald's, and let me tell you, it is an experience. I have this weird thing about checking out the McDonald's whenever I go somewhere overseas. I guess the whole thing about travelling is seeing how cultures are different. And I think I see McDonald's as the key commercial product that exists everywhere but always has slight variations to reflect the country that it's in. 

This clown is terrifying and for some reason it was everywhere. This was just one of the many souvenir shops we witnessed.

These are the little candies you see in the Ghibli films.

That sock shop down there on the right, I forgot it's name but I am sure it will come up again. Seriously best socks! Regret not buying at least 9 more pairs.

Look at all those miscellaneous food boxes.

Would you like some eyelids for your face? These eyelid sticker things are everywhere! I never really noticed them on girls in the street until one day Saya pointed them out to me, and then I could never unsee them. From my understanding they are literally stickers to lift your eyelids up and give you that crease that I am since Japan feeling very lucky to have. I can barely put on fake eyelashes for a special occasion! Imagine doing this every single day!

Just a casual chemist. It's not overwhelming at all.

Japan has seriously refined the choice of hair colour to an art. In Australia you may find 20 shades of brown at a chemist if you are lucky. This whole entire wall is pretty much brown or black. I have never seen so many shades of brown in my life. 

I took this photo in Monki of a bag I thought Lani would like. I was going to go back and buy it but I completely forgot. Craft day again Lani? We can get out my sewing machine.

We love Monki. Why does Australia not have this amazing store.

Takoyaki, the amount of times I ate it I never really liked it that much. I like octopus, just the combination didn't really do it for me. But in saying that I still ate it multiple times. I wasn't going to go to Japan and not eat Takoyaki! I'm not some sort of amateur.

This is what nightmares are made of.

I thought Osaka was amazing during the day, the night literally blew me away. I can't believe how beautiful everything got. So many lights, the whole city is just a giant advertisement, and I'm not even mad.

Another street food in Osaka was scallops. Can't say I tried it, completely forgot.

FUGU!! Fugu was so big in Osaka. It seemed to be everywhere. And no I didn't try it. I don't think my travel insurance would cover that. "Poison fish, poison fish, tasty fish!"

See that giant sashimi that looks like it's about to drop on the unsuspecting people underneath and crush them to a pulp. That's a sushi train where everything costs equivalent to $1.40 (I am just going to write costs in $ as it saves you converting, plus I don't know how to type the Yen sign)

This was my first experience of Sushi in Japan, and I was not disappointed. This is by far the thing I miss most about Japan. Cheap, amazing quality sushi with all you can drink matcha. I would literally eat this every day. And the weird thing is, I would be full after a couple of plates. Where here I can eat like 7 plates easily even though they cost their weight in gold. 

Be warned though, they like to put the wasabi on for you in Japan. So as a public safety announcement 'check yo sushi'. Don't so what Donny Don't Does and eat the sushi without checking first. Or you will be in a world of pain. Unless you're into that kind of stuff.

When we were wandering around we fell in to this place. Still not sure what the deal it. I think you fish and then take the fish home to eat it? It seemed totally normal but now I think about it, does that mean you have to catch the train home with a dying fish? Plus there were eels in the other room.

Seriously how ridiculously beautiful does Osaka look at night! Could go on about it forever but I need to go. 

On the first day in Osaka I bought this cute tutu skirt from Monki that was on sale, makeup, some random beanie, this super cute fluff keyring and the prettiest ciggarettes I have ever seen. Well really the packet was the pretty part. I still have them. They were literally 0.00000001 strength so I didn't smoke them. Just bought them for the Kawaii factor. 

Will try and get the other posts done before I go to the Hunter Valley/ Melbourne/ maybe Perth in April. Wish me luck.

#Osaka

erica