July 23; Sayonaro Nihon, mata aeru yo ne!

Day 16 in Japan; Day 168 in Asia

It was our last day in Japan. While Kristie went to the robot museum and Cat went to the Imperial Palace, I slept in to recuperate. Night buses, although good for budget travellers, aren't the most comfortable thing.

I did a bit of window shopping myself until reuniting with the girls at Ueno for out last night out in Japan. Before going shopping, I went to the bank to get some moolah. It was very efficient, people were very helpful (and spoke English!), and it felt very safe. 

safety first! Hard hate underneath the counter

beard papa cream puffs. delishhh

Ueno Market

takoyaki dinner! one more timeee. 

For our convenience, we spent the evening at the airport for our flight back to Hong Kong. Yay airport sleepovers!

buttons in the washroom stalls are cray

July 21; Downtime in Osaka

Day 14

Our last day in Osaka was spent exploring the neighbourhood in the rain. We ended up in a Uniqlo, random supermarket where I purchased my unique beverage of the day, a Walmart-y store, and a 100 Yen store/shopping mall sorta place. We always end up in shopping places.

My special purchase, which I called my love potion: Tasted...weird. 

Green DaKaRa = 100 Yen

Apparently, we were residing in a little Manila of some sort.

After the day of gallivanting , we headed back to have dinner and watched 21 Jump Street. Side note: It was actually, so funny! This movie made me like Channing Tatum. 

Night bus to Tokyo! Ugh, an uncomfortable journey.

July 18; Feeling like lovely princesses

Day 11

Cat's aunt offered us her floors to sleep on during our stay in Osaka. She's got a great big warm heart and has been super hospitable. We woke up with breakfast and snacks galore thanks to her. Everytime we meet someone, we're totally treated like lovely princesses.  It's gonna be a fantastic few days. 

In front of the house

Continuing on to our princess fantasies, we visited the Osaka Castle today. Apparently the castle had been destroyed in the war and then rebuilt again only to be destroyed by thunder, and then it was rebuilt/restored again. Now the castle is a museum.

moat

park washrooms

admiring the view

Osaka Castle

no fishing?

fishing.

We went to the Osaka NHK broadcasting Centre for a quick visit and found the most interest in the childrens area with a London Olympics themed showcase and Domo.

giant domo!
Photo Cred: Cat

Every princess loves to shop so we went to the shopping district in Umeda. 

The huge department store called Hep 5 had a Ferris wheel!

 

Fresh udon soup for dinner

In the mall, there was an arcade floor where there were games, rides, and sticker picture booths!

you could send the pics to your phone

end results with our diluted eyes and blemish free skin.

Some entertainment before heading back

Final feelings: day one in Osaka made me really happy.

July 17; Sayonara Kyoto, hajimemashite Osaka!

Day 10

Toda was the Yamaboko Junko (grand parade). Although this was the grand parade, it did not mark the end of Gion Matsuri, it was only just past its halfway point.  The parade started around 9am and ended about 2. We admired the floats from the sidelines as some lucky people (builders?) got to ride it while others (unlucky ones) had to haul the float all through the streets in the scorching summer heat. But there were frequent stops where water or beer was served from cutely dressed helpers.

chilling and serving drinks

We had Japanese curry for lunch.

You order the voucher from the machine.

Original curry = 290 Yen

The last thing we did on our last day in Kyoto was visit Fushini Inari Shrine. It was a really nice place, but we didn't expect there would be so much hiking. As we were not properly dressed (or rather I was not properly dressed) we climbed half way to get pretty pictures and then climbed back down to get more pretty pictures.

so orange

Purification Stations

Kristie ringing the bell

That beautiful shrine marks the end of our time in Kyoto. We headed to catch the bus for our next stop: Osaka! The Brooklyn-Bronx of Japan

Good bye Kyoto!
w/ Kyoto Tower