The plane just landed in Kansai Airport of Osaka City, I felt really happy and excited because I was finally able to visit my dream destination. Back to the days when I was in Vietnam, I always dreamed that one day I would have a chance to visit Japan. I called it a dream because it was very hard for me to be able to get a visa as well as afford for a trip at that time. However, in 2018 I got my Canadian citizenship, and I wondered why not take a trip to Japan to mark this occasion.
Before our trip:
1. We booked Air Bnb for our accommodations in Japan. I think this is the easiest and cheapest way to find a place to stay in Japan since we knew that the hotels in Japan are very expensive. With $65 (or even cheaper if you are willing to share with other people), you can find a place which is both comfortable and convenient for you to access with the public transportation in Japan. We were both satisfied with all the Air Bnb that we lived. The rooms were very clean, well-equipped with air-conditioner, heater, washing machine, pocket wifi and TV except that the rooms were much smaller than we expected but I think that wasn’t a big problem since there are more interesting things to explore in Japan than spending our time in a Air bob room.
2. We ordered the 3 day Kansai Thru Pass which you can ride on subways, private railways and buses throughout the Kansai district. Since we started our trip 1 day in Osaka, and 2 days in Kyoto, we see that this pass was really worth. The Pass can be used on unconsecutive days during its period of validity, that’s why when we came back to Osaka, we still could use it. One important thing that we didn’t know till we picked up our pass at the airport that we can’t use the pass on the day we pick up. That makes sense for us since after landing at the Kansai airport, we just wanted to check in our Air Bnb, take a rest and explore Dontobori which is just a few steps away from our place.
We picked up our Kansai Thru Pass which was ordered in Canada
You can buy your train or subway tickets here right after you arrive in the airport.
3. Pocket Wifi: Most of the Air Bnb that we lived offered free pocket wifi. However, we knew that some hosts wouldn’t allow us to take it outside, that’s why we order our pocket wifi in Canada, and picked it up at the airport after landing.
OSAKA:
My first impression when I just came here was the friendliness of the people here. They bow and say hi to you every time. “Kon ni chi wa”, “Ohayo gozaimasu”, “Arigatou gozaimasu” were heard everywhere we went. Especially they are very enthusiastic helping you although the language barrier is not small at all.
For a minute, I wondered what people were doing at those machines
Known as one of the largest cities and metropolitian areas in Japan, Osaka is not the same city compared to the other biggest cities where I have been to like Toronto, Montreal or New York. I was so amazed by the modernization, the good organization as well as the punctuality of the public transportations here. At first we were a lit bit surprised and confused when we saw a lot of people standing in front of the machines as if they were playing in a casino, we weren’t sure what they were doing until we realized that those machines are to buy the subway and train tickets. Also, Japan is the only place in the world that i could see such a lot of vending machines. They are everywhere, from the big streets to the small alleys. How convenient it is. I even told Thông that we wouldn’t be afraid of getting thirsty when we were in Japan. Despite how modern Japan is, it’s still famous for its long history of culture & tradition. In a popular area like Dontobori, we still saw an old temple, Hozenji Temple where we could enjoy a peaceful moment in a busy city.
We arrived at Kansai Airport at 7:30 AM and after all the custom process, we picked up our pocket wifi which was ordered when we were in Canada, Kansai Thru Pass, and get some coins for the lockers, we still had a lot of time till our check in time at Air bnb. We wanted to take advantage of the time so we took the subway to Dontobori which is also close to our Air bnb. Since we didn’t want to carry our luggages around while spending time at Dontobori right after we arrived, we looked for the lockers to put our luggages away. However, things were not as easy as we expected, we spent almost half a hour walking around and around looking for the lockers but were not able to get any because all the big lockers were occup ied. Looking around and we realized that we are not the only one. Other tourists were also struggling to find a locker, I told Thong that this might be a busy season in Osaka an that’s why it’s hard to get anything.
These lockers are easily found at some subway stations and are very convenient.
We finally found a locker and put our luggages in and walked around Dontobori. I did a lot of research on the internet and knew that Dontobori is one of must visit places in Osaka. I was even told by my friend that I have to try the takoyaki and take the picture by the bridge at Dontobori river. I bought the takoyaki and sat in front of the store and ate it since it’s not polite to both walk and eat in Japan. However, the takoyaki wasn’t as good as the ones we tried in Toronto. It was very wet from inside and not crispy from the outside. We were also impressed by all the 3D signs of a lot of restaurants and shops here. I finally was able to check in our Air bnd. It was super small with a matress, and small table and a bathroom. We didn’t even have any space for our luggages. I wan’t really surprised since small living spaces in Japan are nothing new.
First selfie of this trip
Standing on the bridge at Dontobori River
I always told Thong that the early birds always catch the worms. Knowing that Japan is always busy with tourists, we have to wake up early to be able to avoid the crowd at some famous places in Japan. Some of my friends saw our pictures we took with the Glico man sign on our Instagram and wondered why there are no people at all in our pictures. I barely know that we had to wake up at 6am to get there early. So be the early birds if you want to avoid the crowd and want some nice pictures for your trip.
To avoid this crowd, we had to wake up very early.
After that we took subway to Osaka Castle where we still had a chance to see some cherry blossoms. Thong and I took a lot of pictures here before it got busy with a lot of tourists.
Standing in front of Osaka Castle
KYOTO
Saying good-bye to Osaka for now (We’ll come back later for more explorations), we took train to Kyoto where I really got excited to visit most in in trip. In only 1 and a half hour we were already in Kyoto and just in time to check in our hotel here. We immediately walked around the neighbourhood and explored.
1. Bamboo Forest at Arashiyama:
One of the place that I really wanted to visit in Kyoto is bamboo forest at Arashiyama. This is a place with a lot of bamboo trees and the asmosphere is very peaceful. I did a lot of research about this place including how to get there, what to do, how to take nice pictures, and we got a lot of advice on the Internet and one of them was come early if you don’t want a lot of people in your picture as a background. I woke up at 6am and got there at 7:20am and I saw that there were even a lot of people woke up earlier than us. Bamboo Forest is not only a place you can come, visit, and enjoy the peaceful ambiance, but also a place for your wedding photos since we saw a lot of couples (especially from China) came here to take wedding photo with their professional crews.
Behind the scene
2. Monkey Park at Watayama:
After that we crossed the Togetsu-kyo Bridge to visit Watayama Monkey Park. We bought the tickets and hiked about 2o minutes to be able to see the money. The view is amazing with the city skyline and the monkeys are adorable and friendly. If you want to feed them, you can come into the small house and buy the small bags of foods of apples or peanuts.
3. Fushimi Inari Shrine: