Japan Trip Sept-Nov 2010: Osaka (大阪)

We left around 8am in order to catch the train that was leaving for Okayama. the both of us has planned to head to Kurashiki, a town on the west side of Okayama prefecture. Hence when we reached Okayama, we decided to put our bags into those coin lockers u'll find in the train station. However, we were not able to find any available coin lockers!!! we were like 'Oh No! how? should we take a bargain and bring our bags to Kurashiki to look for lockers?" in the end we went to the train information counter to ask them for where exactly are the coin lockers.

the lady at the counter told us that today all the coin lockers cannot be used! wah... we were like a little fustrated.... in the end we decided to give Kurashiki a miss. (hiaz we can't even walk around okayama... because of our bags) so we decided to head back to Osaka to do whatever shopping that we need to do. Tomorrow, we'll travel to Kurashiki. Hiaz... time wasted.

yeah and so we made reservations on the Shinkansen from Okayama to Osaka. and i must say... its nice to sit in seats that are being reserved. hahaha... coz the seats are bigger and feels nicer... but only thing is... the entire carriage is quite. u hardly hear people talking! and even when the train reach a station, there is no voice over of the train station that the tain has reached. yeah... so u juz gotta keep a look out for the station that u're getting off.

since this entry will be shorter than the rest... decided to write a little more about the train system in Japan. In fact when u take a train in Japan, for example like those loop lines that serve the city areas... during the peak hours 7.30am - 9am or 5.30pm - 8pm, if u're a guy make sure that you're queueing to get onto the correct train carriage. Coz in Japan, during peak hours, there are designated carriages for ladies only!! and if u're a guy and u get into these carriages during peak hours... everyone will be staring at you. but for the ladies, its ok to board these special carriages or other carriages that are not designated for ladies. juz tat u make be taking them at your own risk. why at your own risk is because u maybe molested by the guy commuters. =P

and also... all handphones must be put to silent mode! hahaha... yeah yeah... coz the Japanese feel that when taking the train, is for commuters to relax or catch a nap. and even when u talk, u gotta talk softly. yeah... so there are quite a no. of rules and regulations to take note of when u board the train in Japan.

so coming back to the day's events. when we reached Osaka, we headed to our hotel and checked in. after that it was close to 2pm.... hence we headed to Umeda and walked around and did shopping. I must say that this is not the best season to shop for people coming from tropical countries. hahaha... the reason is because... all the shops are selling autumn and winter clothings. and such clothing would not come in useful for us in Singapore. Unless u're buying them to wear them in temperate countries when u go travelling in the future. Also all the shops were selling boots. they look really nice and pretty affordable. hmmm... for example looking at a pair from a shop that advertised 'SALE', i saw the shoes/boots were priced at 1999円 per pair. that's like S$32 for a pair of boots. cheap!! but we did not purchase any... coz they would not be useful in singapore. hahaha....

around dinner time, we decided to try looking for a famous shop that sells Omu rice (オムライス). and this shop, my sister did some googling is in Shin-saibashi area, which is like from Umeda, u just keep walking straight, u'll get to Shin-saibashi.

Osaka Night lights

so we walked... and when we reached there... we started to ask people... but they don't know. therefore we headed back to underground station and ask the tourist information counter. the lady was really nice... she gave us a map and wrote the kanji name of the shop. the shop was called Hokkyokusei (北極星). its at Hokkyokusei 2-7-27 Nishi-shinsibashi Chuou-ku, Osaka
Tel:+81 -6-6211-7829

Hokkyokusei (北極星)

anyway it was difficult to get there.... and its very near to the Korean ambassy if u were to head there and give the omu rice a try. when we enter the restaurant... it really has a very nice ambience. very traditional. when we sat down, it just reminds me of the restaurant that we had lunch in Gero 2 years ago, when we ate Tomato Hida Beef bowl. and this restaurant juz gave me that sort of feeling... its nice.

Interior of the restaurant

by the way, u gotta take off your shoes and place them in the shoe locker, when u enter. The Omu rice meal was also pretty affordable... almost the same price as meals that u were to find in other restaurants near to the subway.

So my sister and I both got the meal... i had chicken omu rice while she had the mushroom omu rice. i must say its really nice... unlike the omu rice that i ate the day before. the tomato sauce is nice... not too pungent.

feeling hungry??? my chicken omu rice, with fried ebi on it

This Omu rice set cost about 1000円 coz we got the set meal. If u order juz the rice, its lesser than 1000円. But seriously for such a delicious meal... 1000円 is pretty worth it!!! =D
after dinner, we decided to call it a day. coz even though we did not do any sight-seeing... our legs were really tired... due to the fact that we walked a lot because of shopping and also looking for this particular omu rice shop.