Osaka 1-Day Itinerary: Beyond Shinsaibashi

I have been to Osaka (??) three times and each time I only visited the Shinsaibashi area (???). On this day trip, I still went to Shinsaibashi but also other places. The first thing I did after I arrived in Osaka was to buy the Eco Card One Day Pass for 800 yen at the metro station. The day pass allows for unlimited use of the city�s subway, bus and tram although I only used the subway to get around.

El Poncho

My first stop was to Shinsaibashi to find a Mexican restaurant called El Poncho. The restaurant is on the 8th floor of a skinny building diagonally from Uniqlo. The decor made me feel like I wasn�t in Japan anymore. I ordered a vegetarian lunch set which came with a soup, a drink, three pieces of cheese quesadilla, and two soft taco skins to wrap the beans, sour cream, guacamole, corn, carrots and kabocha. It wasn�t the most authentic but tasted good and satisfied my Mexican food craving. It is hard to find authentic foreign cuisine in Japan so this place came close enough.

Vegetarian lunch set

I walked to Amerikamura (American Village) after lunch and looked around the shops. There are many second hand shops in the area and you can see the well known Statue of Liberty on top of a building.

Amerikamura

Statue of Liberty in Osaka

From Amerikamura I walked to Namba Station (??) and took the subway to Nipponbashi Station ???)to see Kuromon Market (????). It reminded me of Nishiki Market (???) in Kyoto with the many seafood stalls and souvenir food shops. Many tourists were there buying goods and I heard more foreign languages than Japanese.

Kuromon Market

Den Den Town

I ended up walking through Den Den Town to the next station. There were many anime and electronics stores. I took the subway to Tennoji Station(???)to see Abenos Haruka which is the tallest skyscraper in Japan. On the 16th floor there is a free garden deck to see the city�s view. It was a sunny day and the spacious elevator had large glass windows for a great view on the way up. I sat at one of the benches in the garden and took in the views. There are some restaurants and a cafe an escalator ride up from the 16th floor if you want to enjoy the view with some treats.

Abeno Harukas

Garden on the 16th floor

Osaka city view from Abenos Harukas garden

My next stop was Osaka Castle which was a bit of a walk from Morinomiya Station(???). Osaka Castle was very touristy with the many food trucks and souvenir stores right in front of it. The vibe was different from the more traditionally preserved Himeji Castle only an hour train ride away. There are no food trucks at Himeji Castle and the souvenir store is outside the ticket gate, far from the main keep. However, for tourists who do not have time to visit Himeji Castle, Osaka Castle is still a nice representation of Japanese castles. That's the end of this day trip!

Moat surrounding Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

Kyoto and Nara 2-Day Itinerary: Day Two

Read Day 1 here - Kyoto: Kiyomizudera Temple, Nishiki Market, Ginkakuji
Read Day 2 here - Nara: Nara Park, Todaiji Temple, Kofuji Temple

In the morning we left Kyoto (??) and took the train to Uji (??) which is famous for matcha. The ride takes 20-30 minutes depending on which train you take (rapid or not.) Our first stop was to Byodo-in (???) which was about a 10 minute walk from the JR station.

Byodo-In

I have been to Byodo-in before (post here) and it was just as beautiful the second time around even in the rainy weather. This time we went into the Phoenix Hall which only finished renovations recently. I suggest going into the museum to watch the video of how they revived the hall and the artifacts they took from the hall to display before going on the hall tour itself. Especially since I don't speak Japanese and the tour itself is all in Japanese, the visuals and English plaques from the museum really helped me to understand its history.

Matcha soba, rice, matcha jelly with red bean and mochi

After the tour we went to Nakamura Tokichi Honten (????) to queue for about 40 minutes. It is a very popular spot to eat matcha goodies and last time I was here I didn't have time to wait 1+ hour so I left. But this time I factored in waiting time into our itinerary because I really wanted to try it and it definitely did not disappoint.

Matcha dessert

We got matcha soba, matcha the drink and matcha jelly with red bean, mochi and matcha ice cream. It might sound like a lot of matcha but the flavours were so fresh and light that it left this matcha-lover very happy. I especially liked the matcha jelly and ice cream dessert.

Following this great lunch, we took the train to Nara (??) and then a city bus to Nara Park (????) to see the famous deer. There really were a lot and I thought I saw a lot of free roaming deer while in Miyajima (??) but Nara definitely outnumbered them. We also saw Todaiji Temple (???) in the area but did not go in.

Nara Park

Todaiji Temple

On our way back to Nara Station we opted to walk instead of taking the city bus to see more of the city. We walked past Kofukiji Temple (???) which were filled with tourists and high school groups like Kiyamizudera.

Kofukiji Temple

Departing from Nara, we took the train to Osaka Station (??) and then a train from Osaka Station to Rinku Town Station (???????) to the premium outlets which took about an hour. The style is very similar to outlets I have been to in North America and feature a lot of those stores as well. From the outlets there is a direct bus to Kansai International Airport.

Rinku Town Outlets

Read Day 1 here - Kyoto: Kiyomizudera Temple, Nishiki Market, Ginkakuji
Read Day 2 here - Nara: Nara Park, Todaiji Temple, Kofuji Temple

Castle in the Sky and Kinosaki Onsen

Being a fan of Studio Ghibli, I have wanted to visit the Takeda Castle Ruins since I learned of it when I first came to Japan. It is said to be a Castle in the Sky like the Ghibli movie called Laputa and is also sometimes called the Machu Picchu of Japan. I have not yet been to Machu Picchu in Peru but the version in Japan is definitely much smaller in area and the hike is easier.

Lone bench at the Takeda Castle Ruins

After some research online, it was recommended that we go between sunrise to 8am. After 8am, the fog will have mostly dissipated and the castle among the clouds effect will be gone. On a Sunday morning, we set off at 5am and drove for about 1.5 hours to Asago (??). You can also take the train to JR Takeda Station (???). You can visit Asago's website here for more information on the castle's history and how to get there.

We followed the Google Maps route and it led us to a parking lot where traffic controllers told us that the lot was closed until 8am and directed us to another parking lot. At the next parking lot there was a sign with a map and we followed it to walk to the base of the mountain where Hyomaijinja is (????). We chose the sign that said 30-40 minute Mountain Trail (actually it had a typo and was spelled Mauntain Trail) that was visible on the left after you ascend the flight of stone stairs up to the shrine. If you do not want to hike, you can take a Zentan bus up for 500 yen. Check the schedule here.

The hike was steeper than I thought and although it was a cool morning, we were all sweating by the time we reached the top after many flights of stairs on the trail. Admission to the castle ruins cost 500 yen. We reached the top around 7:30am and the view was definitely worth the steep hike. The dense fog hung over the castle ruins allowing parts of the lush green rice fields at the bottom to peep through. 7:30am in the morning may seem early but if you were going to make your way out there, you should try your best to come before the fog goes away.

The castle in the sky photos used to promote the Takeda Castle Ruins were probably taken from a helicopter or on a mountain on the opposite side because this trail leads you to the castle ruins itself so you cannot see it in its entirety enveloped by clouds. However, it was still very pretty and serene. Despite the word "ruins" in the name, the place was tidy and well kept with rope to prevent tourists from stepping out of bounds into dangerous zones. There were no visible remnants of the castle left except some stone bases. The hike down the mountain was much, much easier and quite enjoyable.

Kinosaki Onsen area

After a day of early morning hiking, we drove for another hour to Kinosaki Onsen (????), a quaint onsen town with seven different onsens. Honestly, we chose one at random and tried out Ichino-yu (600 yen per person). The water was very hot and there was a semi-outdoor section which was less hot.

Crab Soba

We found lunch at a restaurant by the river and I tried some crab soba because crab is supposedly famous in this part of Hyogo Prefecture. In all, it was a productive day with a good balance of exercising and relaxing.