Day 4 - Osaka

Here comes the 4th part of my #verenleeinJapan trip! This is the pic of Shibuya Crossing in the morning! On this day, We moved from Tokyo to Osaka.

Before we checked out of our apartment, we decided to stroll around Shibuya again to take a photo in front of the Hachiko statue and have lunch first!

I stayed in Shibuya for 4 days but just got the chance to take a pic in front of this Hachiko statue because it's always sooo crowded there! Especially on weekends! Your photo will be photobombed by many people who sit behind this statue and the queue is also no joke! Soooo many people gathered up to take photo with Hachiko. Therefore, don't go there on weekends , k!

I went there on Monday morning, so it's not crowded, no photobomb, and the result turned out good despite my sleepy face. So happy. Kyaaa~ ^^

By the way, this statue is located in front of the Hachiko exit (Shibuya Station)

My #OOTD:

• H! by henry holland colar sweater worn inside
• Hat c/o frontrowshop.com
• Forever21 sequin sweater
• Et Cetera tweed blazer
• Romwe plaid skirt
• Socks bought in Shinsaibashi Sanrio Store 5 years ago :p
• Creepers c/o @Grinitty
• Zara gold studded sling bag

After we took photos with Hachiko statue, we randomly entered a small restaurant in Shibuya. We ordered this set from the restaurant's vending machine (most of Japanese food chains provide vending machines for ordering purposes, so it's very easy to order food when we don't understand each other's language! ;'p). Anddd, many japanese food chains also have this kind of set menu which consists of one big portion of ramen and one small portion of gyudon + raw egg! Drinks are all freeeee!! Yummyy!! Itadakimasu!

In Dogenzaka, Shibuya (only few steps away from our apartment!) , there's a branch of Marugame Udon!! It's my fav udon restaurant in Jakarta, and I was excited to try the 'original' version in Japan. At first, I didn't know if it was Marugame Udon's restaurant since there's not any english sign, only in Japanese characters. But the menu's pics looked exactly the same as in Jakarta's, as well as what's inside as shown above, so I was sure it was MARUGAME UDON :3.

In case you are wondering, yes we ate 4 times a day + snacks there . We usually ordered 2 menus for 3 people and shared it together, and then moved to another restaurant to try another food! So... in other words, we tried to eat as many kinds of food as possible!

I ordered my fav mentai kamatama udon with raw egg on top of it and my parents ordered an either seasonal / new menu there(not available in Indonesia's branches), which was udon with tobiko toppings. I didn't know the english name of this menu T.T

I stopped  by at BIC Camera's shop in Shibuya and stumbled upon this very cute special edition of hello kitty instax camera. It's only Y 9880 (around IDR1millions++). Indonesian shops sell it for 2,5-3millions!. I didn't buy it tho... I don't even use my old instax anymore! Too lazy to buy the films ;(

Taadah! This was our tiny lil apartment that we rented in Dogenzaka, Shibuya ! Take a pic first before we left ! The bidet toilet seat was the best part in this apartment... Japanese hi-tech at its best!

Since there's not direct shinkansen from shibuya to shin-osaka station, I had to go to Shinagawa station first and change train.

(I bought the shinkansen ticket at Shibuya Station . It's quite easy to purchase the ticket.

1. Look for the JR limited express/ shinkansen ticket machine
2. Press the ENGLISH button
3. Then you can choose your destination, date/time of departure, and the station you want to get on (since you can't get on shinkansen from Shibuya, so they will accumulate the ticket of 1)Shibuya -> *choose either tokyo station / shinagawa station* . You'll use a regular jr train to go to shinagawa/tokyo station. PLUS 2)*tokyo stat./shinagawa* -> *your destination* (me=shin-osaka station).
4. Choose non-reserved / reserved seat. Non-reserved means free seating. No number on your ticket, so you'll be separated from each other ( not seated in the same row) if you're travelling in a group when the train is crowded. It's around Y 2000 cheaper than reserved seat.

Shinagawa station is very big and the staffs were very helpful to help us look for our departure tracks . Don't worry :)

The view from the shinkansen! I think this is a mountain in Nagoya (view from my dad's seat. which was on the right side). I didn't see the Mt. Fuji since I slept almost 3/4 of the trip >_< (we can see Mt.Fuji through the left side's window) and woke up when the train reached Nagoya (they made a few stops before stopping at Shin-osaka).

#shinkansen ride to Osaka 🇯🇵❤️

A video posted by Veren Lee 👸 (@verenleecious) on Dec 21, 2014 at 8:47pm PST

I arrived in Osaka at around 4pm . Our hotel was very close to Shin-Osaka station, but the surrounding's kinda quiet and I had to take the subway to go to the crowded area in Osaka (Namba & Shinsaibashi!).

Funny story , when we arrived at Shin-osaka station, we got out from the central gate to go to our hotel (as stated on the hotel's direction). But we still couldn't see where our hotel was, so we asked the police man who was in front of the gate.

He pointed at a building, which could be easily seen if we looked slightly in the 'up/above' direction. lol. felt so stupidd T_T. Then he showed us the way (he couldn't speak english, so he brought us until we saw the way that he meant), which was STAIRS *danggggg!!!* *how are we suspossed to carry our heaaavy luggages while going down the stairs?? no escalator??*.

So yeah.. we went down the stairs and my dad carried most of our luggages. sorry dad T_T

After we arrived at our hotel, we checked in and took a little rest, then went back to the station to go to Dotonbori!! And we figured out another exit/entrance from the station that had an ESCALATOR... Like.... Omg... (//_\\)

During peak hours, the subways are soo crowded and cramped! 

If you're wondering why I was holding a subway ticket when I got a suica card, it's because Suica card can only be used on JR trains. So, if you're taking a subway (usually the sign is in pink color), you have to purchase a Pasmo card (the color is white with pink fonts+subway icon!). I didn't take many subways, so I decided to just buy separate tickets.

To go to Dotonbori street, we took the subway to Namba station. Look at the beautiful illuminating light on the trees!

5 years ago when I first went to Japan, I went to Shinsaibashi, but I didn't go to Dotonbori although it's very close. I didn't know there's this food heaven street until many bloggers instagrammed their pics in Dotonbori which are about takoyaki, glico man, etc.
Back then, I only strolled Shinsaibashi for a while since it's already quite late and the stores were almost closed. Maybe that's why I didn't know Dotonbori since I didn't go till the end of the street! :(

Again, the wind was so crazily cold on that evening, but I still managed to queue (15mins?) to buy a portion of Takoyaki!!

It's totally OISHII~~! Even the octopus tasted yummy and chewy! :P'''''

We decided to have our tummy filled at SUSHI ZANMAI, Dotonbori, Osaka.
Price? It's slightly more expensive than food chains like yoshinoya / matsuya/ sukiya since it' not rice, but a big sushi restaurant.

Yummy + fresh sushi! I also ordered another plates of salmon sashimi and a bowl of crab soup which were delicious too!

The famous glico man sign!! I didn't know where it was at first. The kind waiter from Sushi Zanmai showed me the way!! *although it required me to do this pose first to show them since they didn't understand what I was saying. lol* Arigatou!! ;D

If the cam focused on the sign, my face'd turn dark. If the cam focused on my face, the sign'd turn so bright... -___-". *should've come there at noon*

After filling our hungry tummies, time to shop!! It's really just a few steps away from Dotonbori.
There's shinsaibashi station too. So if you don't want to visit Dotonbori (or want to shop first before you eat), you can get off at Shinsaibashi station rather than Namba station.

Crowded like cray

Went to Ceci McBee's boutique.. I'd been admiring this brand for so long already after seeing it from Vivi Magazine. The price range was around Y 3500 - 8000 for clothes. I'd rather buy this brand than Zara, if only this brand were available in Indonesia.

Beside Cecil McBee's boutique, there's this outlet store of many japanese brands. The fitting room was so prettyyyy.

Selfie with my new camera, EOS M2! (Bought from BIC Camera in Shibuya)

Find these bautiful bags in a beautiful boutique in Shinbashi. They're kind of expensive. Wanted to buy it at first, but then I thought it'd be too 'crowded' when it's worn together in an outfit. Only pretty for the eyes . heheh :D

Around 9pm, the stores started to close down, so we decided to go back to our hotel.
We took the same subway like the one we took to get there, but that evening, it wasn't direct.
At a station which I couldn't remember the name (around 2 stops away to Shin-osaka station), everyone started to get off the train. On the subway, there's not any english announcement unlike JR trains, so we were confused!!
Because we were the only persons left inside, we also got off. The train moved again with no passenger, dunno where it headed to.
At last, we waited for another train to come... fyuh... so confusing... yet funny and memorable... *at least to me and my parents. ROFL*