March
28, 2018
We
got up early today because we had packed schedule today. Being in a group of
six women made us became so detail about time management because it took longer
to get ready than to find a location. Breakfast was simple but delicious
provided by our best chef Miss Nisa who served “Iwak Karing” (salted fish) she
brought from Indonesia. I wonder how could her salted fish dish stay that long?
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| Morning mess |
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| On our way to Osaka castle |
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| Me In front of Osaka Castle |
Our
first destination was Osaka castle which also appeared in “NCT life in osaka”.
In this trip I played Nakamoto Yuta role as tour guide although Osaka was not
my hometown. To get to Osaka castle we took sennimachi line from Namba station
and changed to tanimachi line at Tanimachi-9-chomme station to get to Tanimachi-4-chome,
the closest station to Osaka Castle. Osaka castle is one of the main hanami
spot in Osaka during cherry blossom season. The Nishinomaru garden with 600
cherry trees, tea house, and the former Osaka castle guesthouse offers a nice
view of the castle from below. Osaka castle was built to be the center of new
unified Japan under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi but it was destructed
Tokugawa’s troop years after Hideyoshi death. In 1931 the castle was
reconstructed and in 1997 major repair work was done to give it new glamour
look. For further history of the castle you may visit https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4000.html
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| NCT in front of Osaka Castle |
Arriving
at the castle we were struck by the beauty of cherry blossom line in front of
it’s main gate. To enter the castle ground no admission fee is needed but you
have to pay 600 yen to get into the observatory deck. We were once again got
into it for free by showing our OAP ticket. The castle is closed every Monday.
After
hundreds selfies we decided to chill off with ice cream and takoyaki we could
find in stalls lined up in front of the castle which were also visited by EXID
in battle trip and NCT in “NCT Life in Osaka”. They had delicious matcha ice
cream but I wouldn’t recommend the Takoyaki.
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| We had same ice cream with different look (our face) |
While
savouring our ice cream, we were surprised by a woman who approached us and
spoke Bahasa. It turned out that she’s Indonesian who has been working in Japan
for six years. She came from Medan and
through an exchange programme I guessed, she was sent to Japan. We were
surprised to know that she is a nurse working for a hospital in Osaka. Being
busy body we were, we asked about her payment. Guess what? She’s paid more than
10 millions rupiah in a month which is much bigger than my salary. It’s not
surprising when we saw her reluctant expression when we asked her whether she
wanted to get back to Indonesia. Just like Mr. Made we met at the airport, I
could catch any Batak accent in her speech. She sounded more like a Japanese.
It’s very understandable because Japanese don’t really speak English. So the
foreigners are forced to speak in Japanese in their daily life. No wonder if
most of the foreigners in Japan have Japan accent in few years later.I respect
Japanese for their pride over their language. We also met a Javanese university
student who has been living in Osaka for two years in order to get her master
degree in Education. Gosh, I envy those students a lot. I wonder if I didn’t go
to medical school maybe I would be in some foreign country finishing my master
degree, (T-T)
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| In front of Osaka Castle Gate |
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| Our trip motto is "Mabok Sakura" |
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| Well girls, that's what you call as broken heart...such unexperienced korean drama lovers. |
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I am missing you spring
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Look....maybe my other half is somewhere over there
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| I can't leave you spring... |
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| Maybe this is what the King used to see from observatory |
Our
next Hanami place is Osaka mint bureau located 10-15 minutes walk north of
Temmabashi station. We took Tanimachi line to get there. All the train expenses
were covered by OAP. All hail to OAP. The
Osaka Mint Bureau is famous for the more than 300 cherry trees, which stand on its premises. Over 100 cherry varieties, mostly later blooming yae-zakura trees (with more than five
petals per blossom) can be viewed on the premises. For further information
of Osaka Mint Bureau you can access https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4008.html.
After
getting out of Temmabashi station, we asked few locals of Japanese where Osaka
mint bureau is located. We also took picture of Temmabashi station area. After
crossing a bridge with a river under we arrived at Cherry blossom garden lined
up on the river side. I wasn’t sure if this one was actually Osaka Mint Bureu
we were looking for but since there were a lot of people doing Hanami and the
view of Cherry blossom was amazing we decided to take a part in Hanami party.
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| Love you.... |
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| Close up picture of cherry blossom |
After
finishing our onigiri and short nap we continued our journey to Osaka museum of
housing and living which we could get into for free with OAP. The Osaka Museum of
Housing and Living is a remarkable facility located in the northeastern part of
the Kita Area. The museum has re-created buildings and streets that show what
life was like in Osaka in the past. A model of the entire city during the Edo
Period, the only one of its kind in Japan, is housed in the building. Visitors
can learn all about Osaka's development, experiencing via interactive exhibits
the different ways of life in the city during different periods of its history.
https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/osaka-museum-housing-living
Actually it was so
simple to get there from Osaka mint bureau. We only had to get into Tanimachi
line and head to Tenjinbashisuji 6-chome Station but I mistoke this station
with Tanimachi-6-chome. So regretfully we got to take another train to get back
to Tenjinbashisuji-6-chome. Thankfully we had our OAP, so even when we got lost
a lot and had to take train here and there, they were for free. So, I highly
recommended this OAP for any backpacker or independent traveler who tend to get
lost. From the picture of the internet I thought the museum is located in open
area or at least open rooftop but again I was wrong. It’s actually located in a
closed top floor of the building. But we are talking about Japan here, a
country of technology, so they designed the museum in super modern system that
made us could experience the time change from morning, afternoon, and night in
one room. They even had sounds effect for thunder and horse steps just like in
Edo periode. The roof were covered with white screen that reflected thunder,
sunray, and other effect from the projector I guessed. Here we could see how old
Osaka city was like. I don’t know how to read Japanese character so I didn’t
have any idea what place I actually took picture in.
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| Traditional toys from Edo era |
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| This place showed you how peaceful life was back in ancient time |
Next itinerary would
be Osaka HEP Five Ferris wheel at the top of HEP Five building. Also we wanted
to use our OAP to experience joypolis wild river. Again....my favorite VIXX member was here, in HEP Five Ferris wheel. One day I have to see him in person (determined as hell).
(Cha hakyeon a.k.a VIXX leader)
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| Another Same place different time picture with Cha Hakyeon |
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So, in every chart of HEP Five Ferris wheel there a huge speaker
which can be connected to your phone so you can enjoy fun ride.
In this picture I played BTS "Best of me" and look who is jamming
hard to the music, it's our angel, Mrs. Angel. |
Being in HEP we
wouldn’t miss our chance to try Joypolis wild river. It’s covered by OAP. It’s
basically a 3D game in which you’ll be riding a boat with an extra large screen in front of it and the boat which is actually static will move violently because of the
hydrolic support under. It will give you almost real sensation like you are
doing rafting.
After enjoying Osaka view from HEP five ferris wheel we headed to the biggest shopping district of Osaka a.k.a Dotonbori. This area is very iconic that if you don’t visit this place it means you haven’t visit Osaka. Again EXID (battle trip), Wanna One (Wanna one zero base), NCT (NCT life Osaka), VIXX Leo, and lovely Hakyeonie were once here. Being a devoted Kpoper I am, I couldn’t skip this place.
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Cha Hakyeon in VIXX TV during his family
trip at Dotonbori |
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| Posing in front of Glico man sign is a must |
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| Busy night at Dotonbori |
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| Waiting for our Takoyaki |
We closed our
adventure that day by relaxing in our Air BnB facility located in peaceful area
but of course it’s only possible after getting lost and walk about 1.7 km to
find the right route. Here is the tips, when you try to memorize any route in Japan
during spring trip, never ever use any park with cherry blossom as reminder
because there will be tens of them.
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