OSAKA City Tour

Osaka's Pokemon Center is really small. I really thought it could be larger, but its just in one floor of the Umeda Building. Not really worth the time going there. =)

 

Tempozan Ferris Wheel

 There is a combo ticket if you go inside the Kaiyukan Aquarium and ride the Ferris Wheel. This is a good half day tour. =) Beside Kaiyukan, there is the Tempozan Harbor Mall, with shops and food court. 

 
At night, you can also drop by Umeda to view the Umeda Sky Building, or go the other side for the Hep 5 Ferris Wheel. 

KitKat Flavors of Japan!

I've visited Japan 3 years ago and the flavors or KitKat chocolate grew more since then! There were only Strawberry, Macha and Strawberry Cheesecake before (as far as I can remember). Now they sure have a lot of flavors and have premium ones as well. =) >> or Maybe I haven't seen them because they were out of stock? We went in December last time, now we went in October. :P 

Here are some I saw and bought in stores all over Japan during our 9 day trip. 

1. Kitkat Sake Flavor

There's Japan Sake, and Ume Sake. Comes in these nice box, about 780 yen each box.

2. Shinshu Apple Kitkat (Shinshu Edition)

  

3. Purple Sweet Potato Kitkat (Okinawa-Kyushu Edition)

4. Azuki Sandwich Flavor (Red Beans)

5. Kitkat Chestnut

* Below are the previous flavors i got from Japan. They were much simpler. :D 

You can also check out my previous post on Pasalubong from Japan! HERE

Klook your way! Its the best way! =) Singapore, Japan, Taipei and Bangkok

I've always gone to Klook for almost every park entrances in all of my out of the country trips. 

It is convenient, fast, and no need to print the vouchers too. It also works offline so if you do not have a wifi connection, just download the purchased voucher beforehand. 

I have tried the following passes and it has always worked with no issue at all! 

I've used it in Taipei, Singapore, Thailand, and in Japan. 

Sign up and claim your discounts and rewards as you book an activity. Here are the best choices! 

Singapore: 

1. Sim Card! Claim upon arrival on the airport, they will also set it up for you. Hassle Free. 

2. Singapore Zoo Ticket - book online, exchange the voucher on site via kiosks and get your ticket. Fast and easy. 

3. Universal Studios Singapore Ticket (1 Day Pass) - show QR code at the entrance gate. hassle free. (we got ours with a free lunch meal too and it was really great!) 

4. Gardens by the Bay - This is a must! spend the whole morning in here, walk up and try the cloud walk. get out, and shop a little, come back at night and enjoy the light show! =) 

Thailand and Taipei, Taiwan:
1. 4G Sim - Pick up in klook booth at the airport.

2. Taipei 101 Ticket - No need to fall in line to buy tickets. The place can be packed with people so be there early and show voucher and go up with ease. 


Japan - Nagoya and Osaka:

1. 4G sim - valid for 8 days, easy to set up. just follow the instructions and it is really easy. Signal is not lost even if we went from one prefecture to another. 

2. Icoca Cards - easy to redeem, with pre-loaded 1500yen. card is refundable for 250yen but why refund, you can still use it next time you travel to Japan! =) it remains active for 10 years. > Mainly for Osaka Trains, but we were able to use it in Nagoya, etc. it pretty much works in all machines that has the IC logo. 

3. Kintetsu Rail Pass - redeem in Nagoya Kintetsu Station. Easy to use, valid for 2 or 5 days. Saves you a lot of money if you are travelling from Nagoya to Osaka, to Kyoto, Nara, and Ise. 

4. Universal Studios Japan One Day pass - just present the QR code, have it scanned on the machine entrance and you are good to go! 

5. Universal Studios Amazing Express Pass - we got the express pass for 4 rides, mainly for the Harry Potter. saves you a lot of time because the good rides have at least 80 mins wait time each and it means you won't be able to enjoy a lot of rides especially during peak hours. It is a must! 

6. Legoland One day Pass - If you are going to Nagoya and will visit the Legoland, I suggest to get the voucher too. you need to have the ticket exchanged in the foreign visitors lane and there's not much people lining up especially at 930am compared to those who will buy the ticket onsite. 

* No need for express pass here (even if they do offer them). The rides are quick, not much waiting time especially for rides that are for much older than 10yo. we were able to cover the whole park early during weekdays and was even able to ride twice in some attractions. 

7. Kaiyukan Ticket - Osaka Aquarium! Visit the aquarium for less. while you are at it, ride the largest Ferris wheel, Tempozan Ferris Wheel just beside the Aquarium. 

8. Shirakawa-go and Takayama Day Tour - If you are staying in Nagoya, alot a day for this tour! it is worth the time. the bus fare alone for these places costs double the amount of the whole tour itself. There is an English guide and though the tour is primarily in Japanese, they show videos of the places in English. 

There are also a lot of tickets to sight-seeing spots and Temples, but they cost pretty much the same, don't purchase them in advance yet as you may still change your plans. I shared those that you must go and allot a day for. :D 

Happy Trip! 

Souvenirs and Pasalubong from Japan

What to look for when in Japan? I honestly do not know when it was us in there. everything seemed so nice and wonderful. But often time when you grab a hold of something, other stuffs get your attention. Which is pretty normal. A lot of cellphone charms and keychains, and memorabilia, and souvenirs and bags are sold in the Namba Walk, Dotonbori Shops, and almost all Tourist spots. Foods and chocolates and even mochi of different flavors are also popular Pasalubong from Japan.

There are really cute charms but they go for no less than 400 Yen each. lucky if you find one with a price tag of 300yen or less. I really doubt that!  Sample below is taken from the Takoyaki Museum. These takoyaki charms are all over the shopping area, and they basically cost the same. if you want one, just budget them at 400 yen each.

 

Well I have learned though, that you can buy cheap pasalubong only in Daiso. They have almost everything! from Home or kitchen items to Geisha doll replicas and stationary. For 108Yen, or just about 40 pesos, you can already bring home an item from Japan one for each of your friends. =)

First on your list: Every friend of yours who love to eat Ramen, and loves to eat egg, would also love this pasalubong. Its an EGG TIMER. cook perfect medium boiled eggs like they do in Japan. =) I have tested it, and yes it worked perfectly.

Also in Daiso are good Japan Souvenirs, for only 1000 yen per Doll, you can already give your Inaanak one doll each straight from Japan! :D These are replicas and some replicas sell for 5000Yen to 30,000 yen in some old towns in Japan.

Next are Kit Kats. There are a lot of Kitkat flavors found only in Japan. Most famous of this is the Green Tea Flavor. =) Go to Dotonbori and head to the Don Quixote shopping center for the best deals on KitKat. They sell it 3 packs for 760 Yen. Other shops sell 1 pack for 268Yen. This also is lowered to another 8% since tourists can buy tax free in Don Quixote.

Premium Strawberry KitKat

Unique Flavors of Kitkat only in Japan is the Green Tea, Strawberry, Strawberry Cheesecake (boxed with a Mt. Fuji Design) and the Cheesecake Flavor. I am not sure about the Premium Dark Chocolate Flavor but it sure was packed differently here too.

Strawberry Cheesecake

For your best of friends, your Ninangs you can go buy them a more expensive but really cute Solar Maiko. Like this one. It costs 1500 Yen inside the Airport and its the cheapest. In tourist spots its at 1650 Yen.

For your classmates, and officemates - you can bring them tasty goodies too - they are good but just really bulky. :P These are like the local "Shanghai" or "Lumpia"Chichirya we can buy for 1 peso. But they tastes better. These are available in Don Quixote, 1 pack at 30 pieces for 288 Yen.

Additionally, there's this Unique Oreo green tea filled snacks at Daiso for 108Yen. Too bad Daiso does not offer tax free shopping. haha

If you see this in the building around Dotonbori, you are in the right track. =) That's the Don Quixote.

 

Namba Walk

Shopping Center

For the Techie Friends and Family, you can go to Yodobashi and grab some of the headphones. They are at least 20% cheaper here in Japan. Also Camera Accessories are the best here - for less too. 8% discount on tax is applied for tourists as well. I bought myself 2 headphones here at on 1600Yen each.  They even cost the same as the solar Maiko! ha ha Casio Watches are available, Baby G, etc are at a lower price too. If you use a visa card, additional 5% discount is applied. =)



Japanese Love sweets, desserts actually. When you go by Kobe, they have a lot of stalls in the tourist spots that offers Mochi of different flavors. We kind of tasted a lot of these for free. They are always no less than a thousand yen per box. But some flavors are good. Dark Chocolate and Strawberries are the best. If you want to go classic, the red bean paste never go out of style.

With That, Domo Arigato Gozaimasu for reading! =) Happy Shopping! =)

Universal Studios Japan - A really fun filled day!

Universal Studios Japan, in Universal City Station (Osaka Japan) is what we have planned for our Day 2 in Japan. On board the JR (Japan Railway) line we hopped from a subway to the JR platform and on to the Universal studio station.

 

You will be greeted by a huge Harry Potter Advertisement when you get up to the station and on to the Universal City Walk. You won't get lost because the station gets off only in one destination.

Universal Studios Japan opens their gate at 10AM, we were there at 9AM but the ticket booths were already full of people lined up buying tickets. We came early because we want to avail of the Express Passes (additional) so we do not need to fall in line for the 5 most sought after rides in this Amusement Park. 

When you do not want to line up and only intends to get the regular passes, this is available in the airport tourist information centers. We went to the park on a Thursday, with hopes that there would be less people but its good that we shelled out an extra 4800 yen for this (regular ticket price is 7200 yen) because others have to wait at least 2 hours just to get in a ride (especially in Harry Potter)

More information on other Rides in their official website: https://www.usj.co.jp/e/

The Jaws Ride was nice, since people rushed off to fall in line in the Harry Potter ride (and we have a schedule) we went to this express ride. It was a good few minutes, with a good performance of our "ride guide"that was driving the boat. =) She killed the shark and sent us to safety. heheh

For Harry Potter, we have a designated time, so off we went for that after a ride in the Amityville section. The Jaws ride was very cool, and i sure loved it and enjoyed it as much as I did all the other rides we tried. The Hogsmeade is such a cool place, since it was a gloomy day, it sure gave us a very "real feel"of the town if I may say.

Hogwarts

What's a Hogwarts visit if you don't drink a Butter Beer? Oh nice cold drink (non-alcoholic) for a thirsty you after a wonderful ride!

Next is a ride in the Amazing Spider Man. It was another simulated ride. a 3D ride where Spiderman tries to save you and some other companion. This is also another nice ride, but it spins a bit. :D

Churritos

A nice walk after the harry potter ride, a friend tried her luck in one of the games such as this where you get to take home elmo with you when you happen to hit and let the 3 small boxes fall.

A Walk in the streets of San Francisco inside USJ. =)

 

 A Snack Bar, just looking so cute with the three main stars of the Minions Movie. :D They also manage a snack bar here in USJ. ha ha

Hello Kitty just so happens to pass by and some tourists also was asking to take pictures with her. After all, Japan isn't Japan if you don't see Hello Kitty Around. hehe