Osaka day 3

 Day 3 is universal studios day. 

We did not get an express pass so we decided to go really early. We tried for 7:30 but ended up arriving at about 8am. People were already on the roller coaster. We managed to book a timed schedule for Mario Brothers by 10:50 am so we had time to go around the Harry Potter area before that. It was a good day weather wise. No rain expected and none fell.

At the entrance

In front of Hogwarts

The queue to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride was not so long so early in the morning. The ride was exhilarating. It was 4D. You get strapped on a roller coaster seat that tilts up, down, left, and right. It was a little nauseating mainly because the images werent so clear.

The queue for butterbeer was long but i had to have a taste :) It tastes like the butterball candy with soda. I liked it.

Next stop was Super Nintendo World. It was a feast for the eyes. You can get an electronic band that connects to an app and play with some interactive blocks. We didnt feel like it was worth it. 

Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge was fun. You had to wear 3d glasses attached to your helmet and shoot stuff while youre on a moving cart. 

There was another ride but the queue was so long and we were hungry. The line in the restaurant was so long so we just left the nintendo world area to look for another place to eat.

Next we went to go see the minions. We rode the Despicable me: Minion mayhem which everyone liked. 

It was also 4D but the images were so much clearer and the story was fun. There were times we were lying on our backs or facing down. No wonder they did not allow cameras during the ride.

After that, we did the Jaws ride which the kids liked. Then we went to the Snoopy area which was for little kids. Then we tried to win stuffed toys in their arcade boots but failed. 

By 7pm, most of the rides were closed. The souvenir shops were still open though.

 

The universal city walk was bustling. The lines to the restaurants were all long so we just decided to go home and eat near there. The metro was just nearby so we took our first metro ride. Sadly, we missed the correct exit area so we walked longer than we needed to. Google map directions get wonky in the subway.

Osaka Day 2

 Day 2 in our itinerary was to go to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. We walked to dotonbori to get a taxi. I should have used the Go taxi app but it needed me to authenticate my cell number which was on roaming but not getting One Time Passwords. We anticipated a long walk so a taxi was the best route. Again, 3x more expensive but worth it. We just showed the address and they knew where to go. 

Buying the ticket could be done online to skip the queue. Buy it direct from the official site. The queue was not long. You have the option to buy the ticket with access to the bay cruise or the ferry to universal studios which was nearby. 

We bought the hokkaido milk soft serve ice cream near the entrance and at the food court. It was very  good. It had a creaminess that was exceptional.

Lego discovery center is nearby as well as a giant ferris wheel. Sadly the wheel was under maintenance after we finished the aquarium so we didnt get to ride it. 

The aquarium had several levels. It is wheelchair friendly. There were the usual 180 degree aquarium tunnel experience. There were rays, different fish from different regions, king crabs, jelly fish, seals, penguins, dolphins and the huge aquarium with live whalesharks.

The aquarium was clean and well maintained. The windows were so clear that you see the fish really clearly. There were stamps along the route. You can just use the brochure for it or buy a stamp book.

After the aquarium, we wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. It was under maintenance so we just walked over to the food court to eat. There was a Japan exclusive Wendy's burger with beef steak and wasabi. It was good.

We had time so we took the taxi to the osaka umeda station where we walked to the Hankyu sanban gai building to check out the Kiddie land. I thought it was a play place like kidzoona. I was wrong. It was a place for character toys and hobbies. There were also a houseware shop in the same floor.

We then took a taxi home for some much needed rest. Our flat had a foot massager. We took turns using it.

Osaka Day 1

 Our flight was at 8:40am. We were there 3 hours before so we left really early. Our driver overslept and refused to answer our call. Luckily, we got a grab car fast enough and we got there on time. No traffic at 5am :)

Our check in was ok. There wasnt a long queue. We leisurely took our time. We got some food at Bo's coffee near our gate. The sandwhiches at the other stores seemed risky. I do not want to get  sick at the start of our holiday.

There were slight turbulence while we were up in the air. I just slept through it but it was a bit nauseating. The AirAsia pilot landed really well. I'm used to Philippine airlines and it was comparable in smoothness.

Our gate in Kansai was far but they had a train that brought us to the main terminal. 

I had to hurry and pick up our Wifi device from the NEST counter accross the street since i booked the wifi device too late. The weather was nice. It wasn't too cold that i needed a jacket. I had some trouble meeting the driver because the mobile internet needed me to restart my device. He was sending messages via skype. I should have logged on to the airport free wifi. In any case, we found each other and we got on our ride to the flat. Their hi ace van is different from the hi ace vans here in Manila. It was much more roomy.

Our Airbnb sent us the code to enter the building and the code to open the key box hanging on the door. It was a fairly smooth check in. They did need is us to send selfies and passport photos upon arrival and to fill out a google doc form for the government. It goes without saying that our faces looked haggard from the trip.

We arrived after lunch so first thing was to eat. On the way to dotonbori main street, we had the obligatory glico running man photo. It was a little drizzling but luckily, our airbnb host provided umbrellas.

Dotonbori was full of tourists and there were so many options to eat and shop.

The moving giant crab sign and others were all here. We ate at an okonomiyaki place so that we can sit down. The food was ok. 

After eating, we window shopped a bit then as i brought my sons and nanny to the flat, my wife and friends went shopping at Don Quixote. There were food stuff, souvenirs, cosmetics, toys, etc. I went back after securing the kids. The tax free line was long. I did not know that once you bought the stuff tax free, you need to keep it sealed in its container until you go home. If you consume it while in japan, you need to pay consumption tax... if you get checked and caught. 

I had to wait to try out the sakura kitkat and sakura lipton tea. (The tea is so fragrant! I wish i bought more.)

Leaving for Osaka, Japan

  Our trip was a little last minute so things were a bit rushed. First, our visa to enter Japan needed processing. 

What do you need for the Japan visa?

1) You need to go through an accredited travel agency. Only they are allowed to process visas in the Philippines. It takes from 5 to 7 days to process. 

2) For first timers, you need to provide a PSA birth certificate and a PSA marriage certificate if you are married. For late registration of birth certificate, you need proof that you are actually from the Philippines by providing a form 137 from your elementary or high school as well as a baptismal certificate. Our nanny had this problem. She was also not baptized as far as she remembers so we just had a letter telling the embassy that she was not baptized. We did provide the form 137. (FYI, she was approved)

3) You need to get a bank statement that shows your bank balance and ADB for the past 3 months. I dont think that you need to show a lot, just enough to show that you can afford to go there.

4) You need an ITR.

5) Next you need to fill out the forms that you can get from https://www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp  The travel agency can give you other info. They need your itinerary and who the guarantor is (it can be local or one of your travel companions). You can also file for multiple entry good for 5 years but this is dependent on whether they decide to give you one or not. Nonetheless, best to file if you plan to go back.

If you have travelled to japan before, you can just provide photocopies of your birth certificate and marriage certificate plus your old passport with the old visa.

I applied via Reli Tours because they charge only 999 pesos plus 500 if you want multiple entry. If you failed to get the multiple entry visa, they will return your 500 pesos.

What accommodations do I recommend?

Having been to Japan before, i know that Japanese hotel rooms are really small. So small that it is inconvenient if you have other people with you. This time we booked a flat from Airbnb. It was a good decision. Not only are the rooms bigger, the beds are bigger too and it has a decent bathroom plus a living room and kitchen. When we were too tired to go out for food, we just heated the stuff we bought from Family Mart (there's a lot of these stores all over) and ate in the flat. We chose a flat near dotonbori, 4 corners away from the Dotonbori main street. It made taking a taxi accessible plus there were so many restaurants and shopping opportunities nearby. 

Transportation

We had trouble booking flights for some reason. ANA and JAL had stopovers in tokyo before going to Osaka so we scratched that off. PAL was extremely expensive given our late decision to go. Cebu Pacific wont let us pay despite the 9 times i tried. We ended up with Air Asia. It was ok. The small airbus made turbulence really nauseating but manageable since it was just a 4 hour direct flight. One thing we hated was that on the return trip, they suddenly announced that they will spray insecticide for some reason. They sprayed INSECTICIDE inside a closed plane while we were inside it. It was nasty knowing that we were going to inhale something toxic to insects.

Since we were 7 with kids, we decided to book a large hi ace from the airport to the flat. It costs about 7000 pesos. The idea of taking the metro with large luggages and kids from the airport was dreadful. The van was great. We booked it from Klook.

Other booking

Since we were going to go to Universal studios, we needed to book ahead of time. The weekday prices were cheaper than the weekend prices. Even if we tried booking a week in advance, the Express passes were all sold out. Our solution was to go there early so that we were able to register for a scheduled pass to enter the Super Mario world. This allowed us time to enjoy the Harry Potter area before going to Super Mario world.

Mobile Internet and Roaming

We booked the Japan Wireless wifi device. It was the cheapest compared to other services online and other devices being rented out at the airport. You do need to book over 3 days in advance or else you might need to go farther or book delivery to your hotel.

I have stopped using globe for a long time. I used smart gigaroam, 3 GB, for 999 pesos. When i arrived, i logged on to the NTT Docomo network and RESTARTED my phone. It worked after that. Both prepaid and postpaid accounts were wonky. I tried getting OTP from Air Asia Move and the Go taxi app and i never got it. I did get some spam texts, go figure. My advice is that you log on and authorize all your apps and stuff before you leave so that you avoid the headache. 

Currency

You need Japanese yen in cash. A lot of the stores do not accept credit cards or Gcash accounts. There are currency exchange machines in Don Quixote stores. The exchange at the airport is not that favorable. 

Country Travel sites

 There are two travel sites that you need to make accounts in and log on to with your travel details and passports. 

The first one is the etravel.gov.ph which is the site for the Philippines. It is a little useless in my opinion. We didnt encounter any opportunities to use it. The machine on  our return rejected the boarding pass and passport so we ended up using the regular queue anyway. 

The second site is the Visit Japan Web site. This one we got to use since it allowed us to scan the QR code when we arrived in Kansai airport.

Our 7 day itinerary are as follows:

Itinerary

Apr 23 arrival 

- check in to the Airbnb flat

- check out dotonbori + Dotonbori Don Quijote + kamigata ukiyoe museum nearby

Apr 24 Osaka Aquarium + more dotonbori or mall or kiddie land

Apr 25 Universal studios ( ALL DAY)

Apr 26 (OSAKA EPASS DAY) Umeda sky building observatory, koji kibutani tenken art museum + pokemon center + hep five ferris wheel and mall + Osaka Castle (cherry blossom viewing) + Osaka jo gozabune boat ride around the castle

Apr 27  Shinsekai food area (try kushikatsu) + nearby Abeno Harukas + Tsutenkaku tower & slider - Shitennoji temple and Tennoji park & zoo

Apr 28 Kobe Sanda Premium Outlet / sylvanian land  

Apr 29 Departure