Look at a Robot-looking 4-footed Building and everything else in Osaka

Exterior — There was a bit of a queue to get in but we were just interested in its exterior.

Wohooo! Landing on Japan’s soil means also trying the bullet train. Well, we would have to say it’s a must. So it was time to head southwest! We indeed had a blast during our first 3 days in Japan: Tokyo tour, Nikko tour, and Mount Fuji tour in spite of being left by the plane bound to Haneda (how? The blow-by-blow account is here). And yes, I really love the country by now ❤. Landscapes. Landscapes. Oh landscapes!

Date	Place	Preview
April 29	Airport Tour = Missed flight!
April 30	Tokyo Tour Tokyo Prefecture
May 1	Nikko Tour Tochigi Prefecture
May 2	Mount Fuji Tour Shizuoka and Kanagawa Prefecture
May 3	Osaka Tour Osaka Prefecture
May 4 AM	Todaiji Temple in Nara Nara Prefecture
May 4 PM	Kyoto Tour I Kyoto Prefecture
May 5	Kyoto Tour II Kyoto Prefecture
May 6 AM	Himeji Tour Hyogo Prefecture
May 6 PM	Kobe Tour Hyogo Prefecture
May 7	Hiroshima Tour Hiroshima Prefecture

Okay, going back to bullet trains. The thing about this is that you have to buy a separate train card just for bullet trains, which you can only buy in JR stations. And together with your existing train card for regular within-the-city trains or subways (we purchased Suica), you would insert both tickets in the turnstile.

Aha, our Nozomi bullet train bound to Osaka ready to take in passengers.

When my friend Mikee arrived first in Narita, Tokyo (we had a separate flight from her since she came from Philippines), she looked around to see where she would be able to buy our bullet train tickets bound to Osaka. Unfortunately, the season that we were in was somehow peak so the planned time for reserved seats was not available. Only non-reserved seats were there but that would also mean that if the non-reserved train would be full by the time we arrive, we may end up in Guinness for completing a 2.5-hour bullet train ride while standing. So we decided to buy the tickets when we would all be face-to-face in Tokyo.

After meeting Hachiko in Shibuya station, we targeted to get our bullet train tickets, by hook or by crook (we had to go to Osaka because our departure would be from Kansai airport bound to our homes). We took the time of a kind gentleman who works in the train station to help us in purchasing the tickets. Originally, if all conditions would have been perfect such as not buying during peak season or at least buying the ticket ahead of time, the cost would have been 14650 JPY (~145 USD). However, each ticket costed 19230 JPY (~190 USD) and there were no other better options. So we took it: 6:30 AM on May 3. Booked!

Tip: Try to really buy your bullet train tickets way ahead of time. You will be able to save more.

We left our cute-and-compact Tokyo Airbnb an hour before our bullet train departure since we had to walk around 10 minutes to the nearest train station and then would take the local train to Tokyo station, which was another 10-15 minutes. But with our luggage, it took us way more than 10 minutes. Our hearts were pounding and in our minds “we just could not miss our 190 USD train!”

But we made it! We were excited for the arrival of our speedy train that we could not stop taking videos to record how fast it looks. Inside the train, what we did not know was that we booked a smoking train. Oops! So then we had to suffer the smell of cigarette smoke during the whole trip (I guess that was better than standing). Lesson learned.

Tip: …and make sure you check that the train you are booking is a non-smoking train unless, of course, you are okay with it.

Good thing it did not feel like it was a 2.5-hour ride. What I could remember was that I was watching outside the window for just about 5-10 minutes then dozed off. Ahh, that was because we woke up early and were tired from dragging our luggage from one station to another. Thus, we fell asleep in the train.

One moment later, which felt like only 15 minutes had passed, we found ourselves in Shin-Osaka station around 9 AM. That was fast! Hello there, Osaka!

First off, we planned to drop our luggage in our Osaka Airbnb before we start our day. We have had enough of dragging already (at least we thought so). Prior to this, my friend Manish contacted our Airbnb host the night before to accommodate us early in the morning just to drop our luggage since the actual check-in was at 4 PM. However, we received no reply from the host but we still decided to drag (again) our luggage to the Airbnb location.

The location was similar to the distance we had in Tokyo. It was around 10 minutes walk from the nearest subway and since we still had to find exactly where the apartment was (we met people along the way but nobody could really pinpoint where it was) while patiently trying to find a way to reach out to the host, it took a great deal amount of our time. First, we did not have any pocket-WIFI so even before we started walking, we tried to send messages in the train station via the free WIFI but to no avail. Second, we went anyway to try to find the building so we thought we could find him there and, therefore, could leave our luggage. We finally found the apartment building but not the host. The building was secured and we were stuck outside.

There was this small shop we found nearby the apartment building. It was managed by a kind and helpful elderly man who extended his help to us from trying to get in touch with the host to allowing us to connect to his WIFI. He even offered to keep our luggage but only until 1 PM since he has to close his shop. It was really so kind of him. I thank God for simple blessings as this. Apparently, our host was out-of-town and that left us with no choice but to go back to the train station and utilize the coin lockers. We said our thank yous to the elderly man and trudged back to the train station. Whew!

Another lesson learned perhaps, was that to try to arrange it in advance with the host or maybe we could have decided in the first place to just leave our luggage in the train station coin lockers (I find this amazing to have coin lockers in train stations which could accommodate even large luggage).

It was also during this day that our friend Arleen was flying back to Ho Chi Minh. Sadly, she could not have enough leaves to enjoy the rest of Japan with us but I bet she would visit Japan again in the future. She was hoping to visit at least one attraction in Osaka before she flies off but due to series of unfortunate events, she was just able to make a round-trip tour to the Shin-Osaka station and had a pasta-heavy lunch with us.

At the end of our May 3 trip, we had to fetch our luggage from the coin lockers and we received notice from the host that the keys were available for us for check-in. Finally. In fairness to the host, his place was excellent though a little compact (which is so Japanese anyway) but it was complete!

Entrance — This is what you will see when you enter the door.

It was my first time to really travel light by not bringing a lot of clothes so I was able to maximize the washing machines of our Airbnb homes even in Tokyo. Moreover, they provided all toiletries needed. Really amazing! This is what I like about Airbnb, the comfort of home.

Kitchen — The small and cute kitchen provided for us. Washing machine was also available.

Toilet — This toilet was very narrow. Only one person can fit. Period.

Sink — The sink located in between the toilet and the bathroom. I like this concept because 3 people can do their businesses at the same time.

Bath — The compact and lovely bathroom. The materials were the same with the bathroom we had in Tokyo. This must be a standard design.

Bed — And this was the bedroom with bed sheets of my favorite color.

And best of all, pocket WIFI devices were also provided for us. What a treat! What made the place even more lovely were the wall designs and wonderful messages written all over it. Thank God! ☺