Christmas in Osaka

Christmas is just a few days away and this will be my second Christmas in Asia so I thought I would share a few photos from my Christmas in Japan last year specifically my time in Osaka seeing the Hikari Kyoen or Festival of Lights.

We actually left Osaka on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas Day in Tokyo visiting Tokyo Tower and the Kapibarasan Café but Osaka was so full of pretty Christmas illuminations and decorations that I had to share even though it's a year late.

I definitely felt a lot more of a Christmas vibe around Osaka than I did in Tokyo in fact one morning I was woken up by a bunch of people riding motorcycles past our apartment dressed as Santa and after one of out shopping trips to Closet Child we saw it fake snowing in the mall across the road where there was a giant illuminated reindeer.

The Festival of Lights is definitely a must see if you're in Osaka for Christmas, it's very popular and there were lot's of people there watching the light show and enjoying all the food and drink stalls where you can get all kinds of foods from Western to Japanese and of course hot wine and sake. The main draw is the 3D light projection show which was very beautiful, I was pretty much mesmerised for the whole 10 minutes! Although Christmas isn't a popular celebration in Asia I'm always surprised and delighted by the little ways they celebrate and this was definitely a happy Christmas memory for me.

Where would you love to spend your Christmas?

Love & Sake

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: Okonomiyaki, Kushikatsu & Crabs at Dotonbori, Osaka

If ever that was a place that was just stereotypically Japanese Dotonbori would be it, there's all sorts of food, neon signs and craziness all over the place there and I loved it! I think this view is pretty much iconic and the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Osaka mentioned.

A visit to Dotonbori isn't complete without sampling some of its awesome food, I have never seen so much Takoyaki in my life but don't fear if you're a fellow veggie there are options, we visited Mizuno a famous Okonomiyaki restaurant there which is also has a Michelin star (fancy) there was a bit of a wait but it was worth it not too expensive and so delicious I kinda wished I ordered another!

We also checked out the "Angry Man Kushikatsu" place as they had lots of veggies on sticks and the reason why angry man is so angry is because there is strictly no double dipping of the sauce, they take it very seriously to as we were given a set of rules about it before we were given a menu!

This is one of my favourite photos I took in Japan is it's just so happy and random I mean who doesn't want a selfie with a random sparkly crab, it seems kinda weird to me that he was happily bouncing around while people were munching on their crab legs but don't worry Crab-chan I love you and will not eat you not just because I'm veggie but because I'm allergic... maybe I better rethink that hug lol!

As much fun as Dotonbori is in the daytime it really comes alive at night with all the neon signs, if it wasn't so cold I would have loved to do one of the boat trips down there but it was still great to see I particularly loved that they had the Glico Man running across the world and quickly snapped this photo of him running through Thailand to send to the family. I think it's safe to say this is a must when you're in Osaka and you haven't really experiences Osaka unless you've walked down Dotonbori.

Where would you love to visit in Japan?
Love & Pocky

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: Sky High on the HEP 5

Do ever have those moments when you just feel like you're in a movie? When riding the HEP 5 in Osaka and seeing the Japanese city skyline at night I felt like I was in my favourite movie Blade Runner, pretty damn cool!

Osaka at night is so pretty and I'd definitely recommend a ride in the HEP 5 it's also home to the Gudetama cafe, some awesome shops similar to the ones you can find in Shibuya 109 and there's a SEGA arcade in there to, basically HEP 5 has it all and it's fun place to spend the night plus riding a ferris wheel is such a great way to see the city.

Where is you favourite view of the city?

Love & Unicorns

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: Shitennoji Temple

After spending way too much time in shopping in Osaka we decided to start our day off with something cultural BUT the demon gods had other plans for us as the main attraction of Shitennoji Temple, the pagoda was covered in scaffolding and instead we walked into the most amazing temple flea market ever... so much for saving monies!

Despite the pagoda being closed off the inner grounds of the temple were open and free to explore and very beautiful, there were lots of separate buildings to see and the ponds in the grounds were inhabited by lot's of little turtles, so cute! And of course the market was pretty amazing to there were lot's of stalls there selling all different items from vintage furniture to food to kimonos to toys to pickles, I bought some pretty delicious mochi there and some cute toys for just 100 yen each so definitely a day well spent!

What are the best flea markets you've ever been to?

Love & Turtles

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: The Legendary Square Watermelon at Osaka Castle

This month I'm going to be sharing my final part of my Japan adventures and it's going to be all about Osaka and I'm starting it all off with Osaka Castle. Every time someone asked me what there was to see in Osaka the castle was normally my first reply although there are many other things to see and do there my mind always goes blank when people put me on the spot but the castle is a beautiful place and definitely worth seeing.

Can you believe these photos were taken in December as it looks just like springtime with the blossoms on the trees, it was quite cold that day despite the bright weather though but the gardens surrounding the castle were very beautiful. You can go inside the castle grounds but we were cheap and got a great view for free from the gardens.

The highlight of that day has to be finding the infamous square watermelon and the funniest thing was we had just said we needed to find one after geeking out about The Simpson's Japan episode which is hella old but still funny. We also got to try some pink strawberriess from the people who ran the fruit stand which were so delicious and sweet (and expensive!) because they thought I was cute, no really guys it's true or maybe they just thought my panda tights were cute but either way yay for free fruit!

What castles would you love to visit?

Love & Cats

Cate

xoxo

FYeahJapan: Treat Time with Gudetama, Cinamoroll, Pom Pom Purin & Hello Kitty

Japan has lot's of adorable theme cafés and we visited quite a few different ones during our travels, these are only a few of the many cafés there are to visit in Japan and there are new ones appearing every day for everything you could imagine so I thought today I would share some of the cute Sanrio related ones we visited and the yummy food I ate there to.

Gudetama Café

Gudetama is EVERYWHERE in Japan and probably more popular than Hello Kitty at the moment! The Gudetama Café opened on December 19th 2015 in HEP 5 in Osaka and we visited a couple days after so there were big bouquets of flowers outside, surprisingly it wasn't that busy either and we managed to get a table right away. I loved the egg shaped chairs they had there, all the Gudetama plushies and egg butts everywhere, I still don't understand why Gudetama has a butt but I love it and find it hilarious. There are lot's of delicious foods and drinks to chose from on the menu all looking like the egg himself so I decided to go all out and treat myself to the most expensive thing on the menu the french toast and lucky it did not disappoint with it's strawberry chocolate flavoured fake bacon. As with all theme cafés there's a little shop by the till where you can buy souvenirs of the characters but the selection is always quite small however we did get a free cute Gudetama Café sticker to commemorate our visit.

Cinnamoroll Café

The Cinnamoroll Café is a pop-up café inside Parco in Shibuya, it was supposed to be there for only a few weeks in December but it was still there in January when I left so they must have extended their stay however this one was kinda a pain to get in and after waiting a few hours on our first attempt and getting no where close we decided to visit again on a quieter day but the wait was still a few hours, you don't have to stand in line for hours though you just take a ticket with a number on and come back when you number is called so we decided to go shopping around Shibuya and came back later. They had quite a few interesting options on the menu one being a blue curry with cotton candy but I decided to play it safe and get a soda and we shared a cake which was surprisingly big, it also came with a free cup and my soda came with a free keychain and we also got some cute coasters to take home to. The cake was nice, not too sweet but nothing really special it's mostly about the cuteness rather than the taste, probably not worth the long wait but I still enjoyed it and all the silly photos we got!

Pom Pom Purin Café

The Pom Pom Purin Café was the first theme café we visited and it was decorated in cute Christmas decorations, this one is on Takeshita-dōri in Harajuku and a permanent fixture, it was mostly empty on the day we visited to so we got a table right away and rested for a while after a busy day of shopping. I ordered what I think was the Pom Pom Purin parfait and it was a lot bigger than expected in fact I didn't manage to eat it all which is kinda shocking for me also it was a bit weird and had some sour and quite bitter things in it (no idea what) but the pudding was pretty good! Sidenote the toilet was super fancy and had a lot of different buttons to play with which was kinda fun and interesting.

Hello Kitty Snacks

There is a Hello Kitty Café in Tokyo but unfortunately we didn't have time to visit it although we did visit one on our trip to Seoul in Korea which I'll be posting about soon so here are a couple of the Hello Kitty snacks I bought the first one was strawberry popcorn which was from a machine inside the Sanrio Shop in Shinsaibashi Osaka and the second a matcha sundae from the Hello Kitty shop in Odiaba both of which were delicious although I will pretty much buy anything with the Kitty on, Kitty has all my monies!

Who is your favourite Sanrio character?

Love & Pancakes

Cate

xoxo