Osaka Castle, Pokemon Center and Delicious Okonomiyaki - 25 March 2017

We started a bit late today as we were waiting for another friend that flew from Hongkong earlier this morning. He was a bit lost on his way finding the hostel as he didn't have any internet access and only relying on the WIFI.
Luckily, he is able to converse in Japanese, hence he could ask around for the direction. After a while, he arrived and checked into the hostel. Then off we go for our adventure today!

That's why I mentioned on previous post that having internet and google map access is a huge help during traveling regardless whether you are travelling with tour group or on your own. I always budgeted local data sim-card or pocket wifi when travelling abroad. Better be prepared than sorry. :)

Our first destination was Osaka Castle which located not too far away from our hostel.
We went to Namba Station then purchased the ICOCA card so that we don't need to buy one way trip ticket to save some cost.

Icoca Card

From Namba Station we took the Orange Line, Kintetsu-Nara Line to Tsuruhashi Station then transfer to JR Red Line, Osaka Loop Line and stopped at Morinomiya Station where we can walk to Osaka Castle. This trip cost us ¥330.

From Khaosan World Namba Hostel to Osaka Castle

One of the main reason we chose to go to Japan on late of March and early April is to see the Famous Cherry Blossoms (Sakura - 桜). We were expecting to see the Cherry Blossoms in the Osaka Castle area, however when we arrived we only see small amount of Cherry Blossoms. This year it was blossomed a bit late..

Osaka Castle Park Entrance Outside Morinomiya Station

Outer Moat Surrounding the Castle  

When we were walking to the Castle direction, we were greeted by several food stalls, they sell Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), Strawberry Daifuku (いちご大福), Yakisoba (焼きそば) and a lot more.

Food Stalls

I've always wanted to try Daifuku as it's quite expensive in Singapore, so I bought one to try. Cost me around ¥300. The taste was great, Strawberry on top of the Daifuku was fresh and sweet, the red bean paste inside was not too sweet, all of them combined with the not too sweet mochi which created a perfect combination.

Strawberry Daifuku

After we finished the snack, we continue walking towards the castle. It wasn't too crowded when I visited the castle as it's still early (before lunch time).

Osaka Castle from Far

Osaka Castle from Near

We purchased the ticket from the vending machine on the right side of the Castle. Ticket was ¥600.
Inside the castle there was a lot of artefact such as the war armour, weapons with their historical explanation, however mostly it's in Japanese. We are allowed to take pictures, however it's not allowed to use flash.
Note: The castle consist of several floor and you need to climb using the staircase. There's an elevator however it's used for elderly or disabled. Toilet also available on the first floor, just look for Otearai (お手洗い) sign inside.

After we finished, we went to the nearby food stalls to take a look and rest.

I saw Oden (おでん) and decided to try it as I have never had it before.
Oden is a hotpot dishes that have various ingredients such as fish cake, tofu, chikuwa (竹輪), boiled egg, radish (Daikon - 大根), and many more.

Oden that consist of fish cake, tofu and chikuwa

I took Chikuwa (the long one), tofu and fish cake. They also gave me japanese mustard (Karashi - 辛子) as the condiment for the oden. The taste was good, soup was based on light soy sauce so it's not too salty and the flavour was well infused on the tofu and fish cake. 

Note: Japanese mustard is different with normal mustard that we usually used for hotdogs, this is taste spicy which is similar to Wasabi (わさび).

We finished the food then stroll around in the castle park. As I mentioned earlier, this year's Cherry blossoms blossomed a little bit late. So we didn't really see Cherry blossoms when we stroll around the park.

This would be very pretty if there were Cherry Blossoms

Luckily that we were still able to see the Plums blossoms (Ume - 梅), even though it's not Cherry blossoms, it was still pretty!

Japanese Plum Blossoms

Osaka Castle from the nearby Plum Garden

From the Osaka Castle we took the train back to Osaka Station. We took the JR Red Line, Osaka Loop Line from Morinomiya Station which cost us ¥160.

From Osaka Castle to Osaka Station

Above Osaka Station, there is a lot of shopping malls. So we went there and take a look around. On the same time I was looking forward to visit Osaka Pokemon Center which is on one of the shopping malls. 

We arrived at the Osaka Pokemon Center, my 2 friends are not a big fan of Pokemon, hence they stroll around the area while waiting for me. With my current age, there was nothing much to buy however there was a lot to see! 

There was an event where Pikachu, the Pokemon Mascot walking around to greet the kids while I was there.

Pikachu, The Pokemon mascot

I stumbled upon a limited edition Gachapon (ガチャポン) and decided to try my luck to get my favourite Pokemon - Charmander. 

Characters available in the limited edition Gachapon
The Character  I want is the one in the middle 

My first 4 pulls was a dud, I got the same characters that I don't want consecutively, I couldn't believe it!! My 2 friends couldn't believe that I got the same characters in 4 consecutive pulls, so they donated some of their coins for me to try my luck some more. I finally got what I want after 8 pulls.. I gave 2 of the duplicated character from my first 4 pulls to my friends.

Souvenirs from Pokemon Center Osaka

Squirtle and Ditto on top of the Portable WIFI Router
This is what I got 4 times consecutively!

We went back to Osaka Station to get back to Dotonbori area (AGAIN!) for dinner. So we took Red Line, Midosuji Line from Osaka Station to Namba Station which cost us ¥230.

The Famous Kanidouraku Restaurant in Dotonbori, Osaka

Mizuno Okonomiyaki Restaurant in Dotonbori, Osaka

Tonight, we want to eat okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), we saw some okonomiyaki restaurant on our first day in Dotonbori and decided to look for the good one. So we found Mizuno okonomiyaki restaurant that is famous in Dotonbori area. They were awarded Michelin star in 2016 and 2017.

Mizuno is featured in Michelin Guide

We went to the restaurant and found out that the queue was amazing! After queueing for a while, we were thinking whether we should go for other restaurant or keep queueing. In the end, we continue to queue for Mizuno as we really curious how good it is.
While we were queuing the staff approached us and asked us what would we like to order.
The staff gave us the Japanese menu, so we asked if they have the english menu. Glad that they have the english menu. :)
We chose 3 dishes from their top 5 menu, Mizunoyaki , Modanyaki and Yamaimoyaki.

Their top 5 menu in both Japanese and English

After around 1 hour, we finally get into the restaurant!

The chef preparing the food in front of the customers

 We were ushered to the 2nd floor to our table.

Teppanyaki Grill on the table to cook the okonomiyaki

At first we were thinking that they will cook the okonomiyaki in front of us like at the first floor, however it was not, they prepared it in their kitchen then brought it to us. They will ask several question on the toppings. I.e. whether we want the mayonnaise, seaweed sprinklers, etc.

Yamaimoyaki

Yamaimoyaki was a bit unique compared to the other 2 as they were using a yam as their main ingredient, nevertheless it was delicious!

Left: Modanyaki, Right: Mizunoyaki

The taste was delicious, it was very different with the okonomiyaki that you usually buy at night market, food court or japanese restaurant outside japan.
To make it even tastier, use more sauces! 
The waiting was worth it! Totally it cost us ¥4160, the price is not so expensive considered that they are awarded Michelin star.

*Tips: in the case you need an english menu in japan, you can request it by simply saying "Sumimasen, eigo no menu ga arimasuka?" (すみません、英語のメニュがありますか？) which is translated to "Excuse me, do you have english menu?". 
Usually the staff will answer  "Hai, chotto matte kudasai" (はい、ちょっと待ってください) which translated to "Ok, please wait for a while" when they have the english menu.
Else they will answer "Sumimasen, eigo menu ga arimasen" (すみません、英語メニュがありません) which translated to "Sorry, we don't have english menu" when they don't have the english menu.

After we finished, we were looking for a dessert. We remembered that we saw a Melon Bread Ice Cream stall on the first night, so we decided to try it. The banner is quite hilarious "世界で２番めにおいしい 焼きたてメロンパンアイス" which translated "The second delicious melon-pan ice cream in the world". We have no idea why they wrote 2nd instead of the 1st.

Melon Pan Stall

We ordered the original Melon-pan with Vanilla Ice Cream which cost us ¥400 each.

She is preparing our orders!

Melon-pan with Vanilla Ice Cream

The taste was very refreshing since we ate it after our okonomiyaki dinner.
After this, we stroll around then walk back to our hostel. This ends our 2nd day in Osaka.