Osaka is affordable! Hotel Nikko Kansai Room Tour; Rinku, Dotonbori , Osaka Castle, Nara, Umeda,etc.
Our 5-day Japan trip has been a long-time goal of mine. It’s especially a dream come true because I want to meet my online ESL students (who became my friends).
This is a DIY tour, no agency, no paid attractions, just pure sightseeing and savoring the beauty of Kansai (Osaka and Nara) for the first time. Pwede naman pala maging affordable Ang Japan tour, diskarte lang. Even the restaurant prices are cheaper than Japanese restos in the Philippines.
Although the original itinerary I designed included Kyoto and Kobe, many elements made us decide to give up visiting those 2 cities for now. I mean, we’re guilty of waking up late which compromised our time to visit certain places. And then, there was the “shopping/window shopping” part which I didn’t anticipate to be time-consuming. Oh well, there’s always a next time! ;-p
Day 0 and Day 1
00:05 Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3
01:54 Arrival at Kansai International Airport
02:47 Japanese personnel, arranging luggage
03:00 Japanese SIM Vending Machine
03:37 Choosing Ninja WiFi SIM
04:24 Crossing the footbridge from KIX to Kansai Train Station
04:36 Entrance to the foot bridge of Hotel Nikko Kansai
04:46 LAWSON convenience store inside the building
04:52 Entrance of Hotel Nikko Kansai (Aeroplaza)
05:22 Hotel Nikko Kansai Room Tour
07:21 Money Exchange Machine inside Hotel Nikko Kansai
07:40 LAWSON food items
08:18 Going to Kansai Train Station and buying ticket to RINKU station
08:50 Rinku Town , Rinku Premium Outlets
09:50 RINKU Foodcourt
10:42 Piano at the Rinku Station
11:22 Buying Nankai Rap:t Ticket for Namba (how much?)
12:08 Nankai Rap:t Train
12:36 Check-in at Stay Osaka Namba (Hostel)
12:59 Eating Dango at Dotonbori
13:43 GLICO Sign
14:00 Dinner at Kamukura (Food and prices)…(how much did we spend for a hearty meal?)
Day 2 (Kurumon, BIC Camera, Japanese friend’s house)
15:00 Walking to Kurumon Market (300 meters away from our hostel)
15:15 Exploring Kurumon Market
18:13 Exploring Shinsaibashi area
18:36 BIC Camera (we spent a lot of time here, which compromised our other itinerary)
19:00 We met Mika-san, my former ESL student (online)
19:23 Grocery shopping at Mukunoso for the first time 🙂 (I’m gonna cook Filipino dishes for Mika-San
20:30 Arriving at Mika-sans home
20:48 Cooking time!
22:14 Eating time! 🙂
24:09 Train ride back to Namba
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Day 3 (Shopping/Window shopping day + Osaka Castle)
24:42 (Woke up late) Brunch at a Sake Bar
**After our brunch, we went back to BIC Camera, just right across this bar, and we spent hours there (again). And we also went inside other shops, including Don Quijote Namba.
We got tired of all the window shopping, we decided to walk back to our hostel to rest for a few hours. …unintentionally compromising our supposedly KOBE day tour ;-(
26:22 Around 3pm, we went to Osaka Castle 🙂 How much was our taxi fare?
Mika-san invited us for dinner at Shinsekai area, but we were too tired of all the walking. We decided to just buy our dinner at a Family Mart near our hostel.
27:35 Uber back to our hostel (how much?)
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Day 4 (Nara Park, Tennoji Park, Abeno Harukas, Meeting another Japanese friend)
27:37 Nippombashi Station (for Kintetsu Line to Nara)
28:27 Lockers of Nippombashi Station
29:02 Waiting for our train to Nara
30:16 Arriving Kintetsu Nara Station (the nearest station to Nara Park)
30:34 Lockers of Kintetsu Nara Station
30:57 Reference of tourist spots’ distance from the station
31:20 Brunch at Kamumura Nara (Prices and How to Order)
33:28 Walking to Nara Park, hotels seen along the way
34:09 Nara Park
(we also passed by 2 temples and a lake but didn’t take videos.haha)
35:07 Nara Souvenir stores
36:01 Fuij Kimono
36:26 More souvenir shops
36:38 Nakatinidou Mochi Store
37:28 (Coming from Nara, arriving at Tsuruhashi Station)
37:46 Reference of distance of tourist spots
38:54 Going to Abeno Harukas Building
39:48 Meeting Rie-san in person! 🙂
40:06 Going to Uoya Hidezo Izakaya
*We also went to UNIQLO Namba branch but didn’t take videos anymore 🙂
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Day 5 Umeda area (Yoshinoya, UNIQLO Umeda, UMEDA Sky Building)
43:41 Umeda Area, going to Yoshinoya
44:00 All great food at Yoshinoya (how much?????)
45:30 UMEDA Sky Building
46:35 Uniqlo UMEDA branch (the souvenir shirts are cheaper here vs. Don Quijote)
46:47 Getting our luggage from the JPY1000-coin locker (how many luggage fit inside?)
47:17 Claiming our physical train tickets bought from Klook (where and how?)
49:41 Going to our train track to ride the Haruka for KIX
50:14 Riding Haruka for Kansai International Airport
50:57 Restaurants at KIX
51:33 Online Pre-departure Check-in KIX
51:56 Boarding Cebu Pacific (8pm) KIX to NAIA 4 hours
52:30 Boarding Cebu Pacific (7am) NAIA to LAX Laguindingan 1.5 hours
53:55 Home sweet home, at last! 🙂
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