Osaka, Japan - Day 1

“Ladies & Gentleman, we have arrived at Kansai International Airport” We hope you have enjoyed flying with us and we hope to see you again.” That was the message from the Chief Steward of Cathay Pacific flight which my family and I were in as we arrived ( finally! ) at Kansai International Airport, Japan! Phew! That was an almost 10 hours flight which started from KLIA to HK Airport for transit and onwards to Kansai, Japan.

Wow! Finally, my family and I are in the “Land of the Rising Sun”, JAPAN. Cold, bitterly chilly and strong winds greeted us as we arrived at the airport. I can’t believe it ! I am in Japan! I have heard so many things about Japan and NEVER ever dreamt that I would be here ( really one! ) even though how hard or how much I would  have to save to get here. 

I am just so humbled and thankful to SLing, Wei & Jade for making it possible. SLing encouraged me by forking out the finances which I never knew that we had while Wei & Jade encouraged us so much to travel to Japan at least once in our lifetime. They ( Wei & Jade ) both drove a hard bargain in convincing us to go for the trip and they are really good planners. I really appreciate them a lot. Thank you, Wei & Jade!  

For many months, I have often battled in myself if my family and I would be able to put with the expenses for flight , food, inland travels and accommodation. I had to remind SLing and SYuen that we would have to be thrifty and ensure that we would have enough for all these aspects of the travel. 

Arrival at Kansai International Airport, Japan

At our hotel, WBF Namba Kuromon Hotel, Osaka, Japan

I must say that I have my reservations on a lot of matters but soon, we started paying off flight tickets then accommodations over the months. It was “affordable” in that sense as you pay up for the essentials like flight and accommodation. Then I started collecting Japanese yen for our trip. I saved what I could and exchanged them for the foreign cash like Japanese yen and HK dollars for our transit meals. I don’t mean to sound “so poor” or miserly either but I am that type who would rather be prepared than to die starving in a foreign land! Hahahahahahahaha………

Anyway, it was sorta a challenge for me and I like the preparation bit. SLing & SYuen helped me and prepared me mentally for the cold weather out there in Osaka, Yoto and Nara. This was to be our places of destination for the next few days while in Japan.

Icharan restaurant serving ramen...

Wei & Jade at the corner ramen shop

Sights of Namba at about 12midnight....

Coming back to the reality at the airport, I was glad standing at the airport together with Wei, Jade, the two kiddos, Ryan & Ashley, my mother in law, STing ( SLing’s sister) and Jade’s mom, Geok Lee. They quickly learned that I like to take photographs as we took photographs wherever we could. Then it was time to get to the railways line to get to our accommodation in Namba, Osaka -  a quaint, modern but bustling town in Osaka. I must admit that this time around, I had little time to read about our trip but Wei & Jade’s detailed itinerary made it virtually impossible to miss out on the details of our trip. They were meticulous and very precise even to the details of the LRT lines, stations, colors of the LRT lines and even the places of interest.

Sights of Namba at about 12midnight....

That night, we just wanted to get to our accommodation, WBF Namba Kuromon Hotel. As we walked our way to the railways station and looking out for the correct train to take to our place, it was fun walking around and seeing people in business suits and tie after work and so on. Mind you, this was at about 10.45pm and people are still boarding the train to go home! Does this people do not know what the definition of “rest after work” means?

Sights of Namba at about 12midnight....

Sights of Namba at about 12midnight....

Streets of Chuo district, Namba, Osaka...

The other thing I had observed intently ( this will drive me crazy as the days go by in days to come! Believe me!  ) is that every one is just running from one place to another and always in a hurry! For crying out loud, it’s 10.45pm, people! Time to go to sleep….not running around! Obviously, no one heard my “screaming” but it is always “sumimasen”  or “gomen-ne” that goes through my eyes. I have learnt that it meant “ Excuse me” or a casual “sorry” in Japanese. Over the next few days, I would have learnt quite a bit of Japanese by then.    

Transit at Hong Kong Airport...

After a 40 minutes ride on the train, we soon arrived at Namba Station and our great maze of walk begin. Wei had used the google map or some electronic map to get to our hotel with Ryan leading the way. Ryan had grown up a lot and he has become a wonder teenage boy. It was nice to see him lead us to the hotel. As we lugged our luggages ( mine was the biggest, actually! ) from train station to the streets of Namba, we got lost along the way but luckily with the help ( or rather no help as they spoke only Japanese and no other languages! ) from the locals, we managed to get to our hotel after Wei & Ryan managed to navigate us through. I must say that though tired from the flight but the lugging of the luggages through the streets of Namba was really fun and I enjoyed it very much.

Transit at Hong Kong airport////

You know what, the wind was blowing hard and cold according to the rest of the people in our group but I felt it was really just nice for me. Maybe I just had too much coffee on the plane that kept me warm a lot!

Anyway, after some walk, it was a great relief for all of us to get to the hotel. I had noted that Kuromon Market was just in front of the hotel and this was one of the attractions mentioned. I am excited about the prospect of exploring the market in the morning. The hotel was strategically located in town and a really nice hotel. I like the hotel very much, really.

Room...small but enough...

There is a coffee machine near the Reception Counter, two computer laptops at the sides for the use of the hotel patrons and heated environment which was a real comfort against the cold outside of the hotel. We were immediately assigned to our respective rooms and we were all excited about grabbing some Japanese meal as our opening meal in Japan. Our room was adequately spaced out small, actually  while I like the bathtub immensely. The room was clean and they have Japanese pyjamas ready for your use! Just love the light brown pyjamas,man! 

Anyway, after a quick freshening up, we were all out on the town to get some food. We had all opted for a bowl of ramen and our stop was Ichiran Restaurant. This is a 24 hours shop selling a good bowl of ramen. My first shock in life was that we were ushered to a vending machine to do our orders and the prices was pretty shocking to my system too. I was hyperventilating subconsciously and almost have a cardiac arrest instaneously when SLing came over and calmed me down by telling me that the prices are like that in Japan. I have to get used to this shocking pricing which is quite a norm in Japan and which I did over the day.

Bathroom...love the tub...handy for many days

So, I was thinking to myself that I could have had 12 days of two (2) roti canai kosong and a cup of the tarik, man! Hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa……. Anyway, as I was still full from the meals over in the plane, I decided to skip this one and let SLing and sister share a bowl while SYuen will get her own ramen.  Wei, Jade and myself went down to wait for them as we walked around a bit. I guess, this was the Dotonburi area which was famous for tourist food centre and shopping area. It was already way past 12 midnight while we were here. It was still bustling and there were still people having meals and so on. 

I was looking intently at the menus of the food available by these restaurants and they are mouth watering indeed. I could see gyoza ( dumplings) menu , sashimi, curry rice, takoyaki ( cuttlefish balls), okonomiyaki ( Japanese savory pancake ), ramen, tempura and sushi, of course.  

By the way, we had walked through some back and small alleys to get to the Ichiran restaurant and it was all safe indeed. However, there were some call girls here and there ( Japan ain’t that squeaky clean as mentioned afterall, huh? ) on the streets together with some boisterous young people on the street but overall, it was perfectly safe to be out here. I am very impressed indeed and as I walked around a bit, I realized that most shops had closed for the day but the lights and the atmosphere here was good. There are still people around at this hour and everyone seemed to mind their own business and not a single rowdiness was noted eventhough the smell of sake reeked people passed you by. I guess, it is true everyone is quiet civil out here. On one occasion, I noted two young men carrying out a middle aged lady who was obviously wasted from a drinking binge from one of the Japanese tavern-like hut. They  bowed and I responded with a curt bow and they respectfully brought the women to get some fresh air and then probably to a nearby car to get her home. That was real civil! 

By the way, a woman approached me if I wanted to have some fun that night as I was walking alone and she looked quite alright.  Naughty! Naughty! I respectfully showed her my ring finger and shook my head for a definite “NO” and she smiled and hurriedly left me while I tried to conjure in my head , “ what was that all about, Ivan? “ I had a good laugh and immediately walked towards Wei & Jade when I spotted them at the corner of the noodle shop. Then we were off to meet up with the rest as they had finished their meal. We started our walk back to the hotel as we wanted to rest and start afresh the following morning for next itinerary. 

As I freshened up for the day to get ready to go to bed, SLing was already off to some dreamland somewhere. It has been quite a day of travelling and for once, I am very happy about this travel. I am not tired but more to being amazed that I am actually in Japan! I had a piece of coconut bun which I had bought from the Bukit Baru bakery shop and a strong dose of coffee from the lobby before going to bed that night. What a day!

Welcome to Osaka!