Explored Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Shinsekai and Shopped at Mega Don Quijote

After checking in at our hotel in Osaka, we just rested for a few hours then went out around 5PM to visit Dotonbori. We passed by Shinsaibashi going here. From staying at the quiet place of Kyoto wherein establishments closes as early as 6PM, we were happy to see that there’s night life in this area of Osaka.

Read previous stories HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

We don’t like crowd, but we can’t avoid them in this area. Ang daming tourists. We went straight to see the famous Glico man.

We saw a Lotteria store near the area and Ren asked us to buy some burger for him. He said that their burger was juicy and yummy. Unfortunately, we were not able to snap some photos of the food he ordered.

Ren was not feeling well at this time, so we headed home after eating and taking the photos of the Glico man. While walking to the train station, we saw some cheap luggage and decided to buy some for our pasalubong and to make it easier for us going to the airport via train. We saw this store selling them for ¥3900 only. We bought 2 to avail the tax free promo (minimum of ¥5500).

I gave ¥10,000 to the cashier but forgot to take my change. I just realized that he was not able to give the change when we were at the train station and I need to buy some tickets. I noticed that I only have a thousand yen in my wallet which was supposed to be ¥4000 if I was able to get the change from the store.

I decided to return to the store, hoping that they were looking for me, but unfortunately when I returned and asked for the change it seemed that they do not understand what I was talking about. I left my phone with Ren so I can’t translate what I wanted to say. I thought that they have a system wherein they can check if they have an excess money in the cashier’s drawer, but unfortunately there’s none. So I decided to just let it go. Naisip ko sige na nga mura lang naman yung luggage, hayaan ko na nga lang, e sa hindi kami magkaintindihan. Hayssss the language barrier.

The next day, Ren was not yet feeling well. He had a fever perhaps because of the cold weather and too much walking. This was our last day in Japan and was supposed to visit Osaka Castle, Umeda Skybuilding and shop for pasalubong, but since Ren was sick we decided to just stay at the hotel.

Good thing I brought some paracetamol. We also gave him some sponge bath and hot soup that I bought from the Family Mart store nearby.

Around 8am, I decided to go out to shop alone at the nearby Don Quijote. I also visited the Shinsekai area. Shinsekai is a colorful area to the west of Tennoji Park packed with cheap shops and eateries and best known for its iconic Tsutenkaku Tower. I should have visited this place the night before because the tower lights up and there are a lot of unique stores beautifully designed around the area.

After, taking some photos here, I then walked to my next destination which was the Mega Don Quijote. Sakto lang kasi pagdating ko kaka open lang nila.

Don Quijote was overwhelming. Ang daming items sa area at sa umpisa naguguluhan ako sa set-up ng store. Yung mga signs imbes na asa taas, nasa floor nakalagay. I want to buy a lot of stuff because we have 40kg baggage allowance going home and my original plan is to sell some items at our neighborhood. But because I was alone, I made sure to just buy stuff I can carry back to our hotel. It was a walking distance, pero kung mabigat dala mo, mahirap din.

We extend our duration in the hotel to make sure that Ren was okay before heading to the airport. Buti na lang din at gabi pa ang flight namin.

Instead of 11am, we checked out around 2PM and Ren was feeling better na. Napagod lang talaga siguro kasi hindi din sanay katawan nya maglakad lakad talaga. Kaya it’s advisable din to have a travel insurance just in case may mas malalang mangyari and you need to go to the hospital.

At the airport, mabilis naman ang process ng check in and drop off ng luggage. My plan was to buy Royce chocolates and Tokyo Banana here, pero grabe as early as 6PM out of stocks na at yung ibang kiosk naman sarado na. Ito ang disadvantage kapag pala gabi ang flight mo.

Inside the plane, I felt sad that our 8 days in Japan has ended. It was a nice trip, we were tired, somehow regretful that we were not able to do a lot of stuff that I planned to eat and visit but this will give me more reason to visit this beautiful country again in the future.