Spotlight on Jamie: sakura

, by Jamie

Osaka Japan April 2014 (Part 2)

If you haven't read my first post about my trip to Japan last April, CLICK HERE! ^_^

So yes, here's your kid-at-heart blogger enjoying pigeons at the Izumisano Station! :3 Can you guess where we're going this time?

On our second day, we spent our whole day at Namba! It's the center of the Minami or south of Osaka that is famous for shopping and entertainment! To be exact, we went to Dōtonbori.

One of Dōtonbori's landmarks is this six and a half meter long crab called Kani Doraku Crab. It was so entertaining as you can see it move its legs and eyestalks!

And of course, Glico Man! The 1935 symbol of the Glico Candy. Manufacturer of your favorite Pocky and Pretz snacks! It's so famous that it has become a-must-photo-background if you'll be going to Namba! But yea~ blame my Olympus camera with a 40mm-150mm lens that didn't allow me to do that! And that's also why Glico Man's photo is only half body! Hihi

But look at me (looking stupid) while I show you a 360 degrees view on the Dōtonboribashi bridge with Glico Man!

Originally, our plan was to experience the boat tour/ride at the Dōtonbori Canal. But unfortunately, no boat was available that time (or we just don't know where to catch it. hihi)

So, proceed to plan no. 2... SHOPPING~! ^_^ The Dōtonbori bridge connects to Shinsaibashi-suji and Ebisubashi-suji shopping districts. Clothes and shoes aren't really the cheapest things in Japan, but I'm glad its cheaper here in Dōtonbori compare to shops in Tokyo! If I'm not mistaken, added tax in Osaka is lower than Tokyo's too. So the items that you'll buy here would really be cheaper than in Tokyo.

I've gone crazy with spring shopping items! I've been really eyeing on this daisy and pastel floral print platforms, but it costs almost one lapad (¥10,000)! A month later, I ordered a much cheaper one online because I couldn't resist just seeing it! Haha

Here's a photo of some stylish Japanese girls walking around the area too. Style snapping! Well, they'd look pretty normal around Japan as others would wear a looot crazier outfits than this!

And here's my favorite snapshot on our second day. Looks like there's going to be a Bike Showdown of all ages! Hahaha

Since I took only few photos on our second day, I've decided to include our third day on this post too! ^_^

On our third day, our plan was to visit the Ōsaka-jō or Osaka Castle. Above are photos of where we walked in from the station to the Ōsaka-jō.

We ran into this couple (I think they're a couple) playing catch on a baseball field near the Ōsaka-jō. I felt like I was watching a telenovela! Of course, I imagined it in slow-mo and with a feel-good background music! Hihi

And here's the Osaka Castle! I don't know what my travel companions had decided, but we didn't go to come near it anymore. Seeing it was enough. lol maybe they've gone too tired from walking because we got lost too. And there's a fee on getting around the Osaka Castle too, but I've heard that you can never enter it tho.

Instead, we just enjoyed the Sakura Park beside the Okawa river. It was really windy that day so you can see falling sakura petals in this photo! Swear it was magical like what you see in anime's theme song MVs! Haha

And a very touristy photo here!

And that's it about our day 2 and 3 in Osaka! Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing this. Come back for more! ;)

P.S. No outfit post this week 'cause I dumbly forgot to save the photos to my macbook before going out of town! Next week, I promise!

P.P.S. A BIG CHANGE ON SPOTLIGHT ON JAMIE SOON!! ^_^

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, by Jamie

food

Osaka Japan April 2014 (Part 1)

It’s finally here! My first blog post about my trip to Japan last spring! ^_^

Sweaters from La Belle Fille

But I’m warning you guys, it’s more like a photo dump rather than a decent travel post! Haha. That’s what happens when you don’t actually have your proper itinerary and you don’t have the basic knowledge on where you’re specifically going. It’s my first out-of-the-country trip guys, so forgive me! :3 And my Canon Kiss X2 actually gave up on me a month before our Japan trip, so the photos were taken by my Olympus EPM-1. I'm not satisfied with some of the photos, but it's better than nothing!

So yes, today’s blog post is all about our first day in Osaka! I’ve been to Japan for the first time last April with my family and relatives. It’s a one week in Osaka and another week in Tokyo trip. It’s really expensive to book a hotel in Japan, so we’re really lucky to have our sponsors in both prefectures, a.k.a. relatives and family friends!

We've got to experience living in a typical Japanese house for a week. And it was an amazing experience. We ate with chopsticks in a kotatsu, a Japanese table, and sit or kneel on a square cushion called zabuton. We slept on the tatami floor with our comforters. Typical Japanese houses are small but are amazingly structured in a very functional way that there isn't any wasted space. The photo above is a picture of our neighborhood!

Living in Japan would consist of a lot of biking, or in my case, I don't have a bike with me there, it's gonna be walking. Unlike in the Philippines where you can just call a taxi/jeep/tricycle anywhere, in Japan, there are no public transportation roaming around the area. You have to personally call a cab driver to fetch you from where you are exactly, and it's not really cheap. So yeah, walking will be your very first choice if you don't want to spend that much on your trip. But I enjoyed it anyway! Every corner of Japan is clean, organized and beautiful.

Look how clean their streets are.

A building they call the Lego Building because of its exterior!

And I spotted a legit daisy outside a random house while we're walking! My eyes literally sparkled. *o*

And our first stop was, of course, Japanese food! I'd personally recommend Tenkaippin Ramen house for a very 'sulit' ramen! Their serving was big and can actually be shared by two persons who eat lightly, like me and my mom! Haha. And their karage has become my instant favorite Japanese side dish!

On our first day, we decided to spend our time in a near park full of cherry blossoms, because that's why we basically went to Japan. To experience sakura flowers!

There are different colors of blossom of sakura. There are light pink, dark pink, I've read that there's even yellow and green. Here's the white version of sakura.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to catch them on full bloom. They started to fall off because it was the second week of April already. You can see that the leaves are already started growing. But we were still lucky to catch a sight of them! And thanks to Ojīchan at the back for photobombing. Heehee~

Japanese people also tend to have picnics whenever spring comes, and the sakura trees started to bloom. It's a celebration for them. Here are some elders having a good time under a sakura tree with their bikes parked on the side! One of my favorite photo in our Osaka trip.

Don't you think this looks like a scene from a telenovela? A woman reminiscing her past love, the one that got away when she was younger, and they used to date under this very tree? /haha my imagination

Thought this was a rose, but this beautiful flower is called Camelia. Well, still a family of the rose flower. But I think it's more beautiful! Too bad, you can't really pick flowers in Japan. Would you believe that you can actually spend a night in jail just for picking flowers? But yea, I think that's just right!

Next stop was to Rinku Town! /shoppinggg

A ferris wheel that no one actually rides...

A rad houndstooth motorcycle! Let me have this please.

Rinku Premium Outlets is at Izumisano-Shi, Osaka, Japan. It includes a wide range of well-known foreign brands and has a resort atmosphere. It was like heavennn~ well, for people who has the money. For me, I just enjoyed window shopping while waiting for my parents. Haha

Almost all the stores in Japan have a strict no photo policy. But yeah..

But really, my ultimate heaven was Seria! A yaku yen (¥100) shop, where everything is for 100yen only! (duh) They have everything from house to kitchen needs, kawaii school stuff, accessories, DIYs, and more stuff that you didn't know that you need until you see it! My mom and I totally went crazy on that store that we didn't realize 2hrs or so had passed already! I felt really sorry for my dad and cousin because we kept them waiting. :3