Tsuutenkaku to Namba

Last weekend's trip is to Shinsekai to see Tsuutenkaku Tower. It's a walkable distance from Namba station, but the closest station is Doubutsuenmae. It's right beside the zoo. Reached the station at around 13:00, was back at Namba station around 16:20 so that I could go home in time to watch Hagaren =D


From doubutsuenmae exit 1, go through this tunnel and through to Janjan-chou.






One of the old theatres over there. Interesting posters. There's another one just walk a bit through into the small street ahead, I was expecting another old themed theatre, but seems like it's all ero, nude women poster... And barely people there. There are lots of old men in Shinsekai. I was scared and just dashed over to the main street again ;_;



One weird bike here. And a look through the main street.



At the other end of the main street. Can see the roller coaster up there.



Lunch at Kametsuruya. The kushikatsu is smaller that what I thought, but it's yummy. I watched from TV that you can only dip the kushikatsu once into the sauce bowl, since it's used by everyone, and yes, the dipping sauce is always right on the table. 4 kushikatsu and calpis is 700 yen. Nice big place and has clean toilet. Small places that has long queues and seem to be tastier and cheaper doesn't have toilets, do they?



Under the tower. The entrance is on the right side. Smaller that what I thought, again. Japan really looks big through the photos, but it's really actually small. Same as what I thought at Shibuya.



From the top. How many Joshin are there down there? This is toward the Denden town and Namba.



Looking down, there's the 3 branches of the road to the north, the one on the left is where I'm going next.



Decided to get this plate. 100 yen with Billiken on it.



Small cards containing information and discounts to other places like Kobe tower or manga museum in Kyoto.



Comparison with Monster vs Alien. The girl is voiced by Becky.



Down to Shinsekai road? It was so empty. This shop looks so old themed.



Tsuutenkaku from north. That big guy was holding a big plushie and humming something...



A chair and a box for 5 yen. From a second hand shop.



Denden town. Go straight up and left and there's Namba. About 20 min walk from Shinsekai.

Instant Yakisoba

Was impressed by how well designed the packaging is.


First, pull the A up till the line and fill in the water.


Then pull the B and slowly pour the water out.


Put in the sauce and aonori. I can even see a bit of green lettuce!! Yumm. Though I think it should be a bit sweeter.

Colonel Sanders is Back!

24 years ago (ah, the same year I was born!) KFC's mascot Colonel Sanders from a nearby shop in Osaka was thrown into Dotonburi river. Earlier this year the upper half of the statue was found (didn't know that!). I just knew it when I came back from uni and turn on the TV this evening.

So what happened was that they 'repaired' the statue and gave it a lower body to fit the 'washed' look of the part that was found. And today, it was brought to a shrine for blessings XD

But the curse to Hanshin Tigers was lifted 6 years ago, right?

video:
http://www.asahi.com/video/news/TKY200906250255.html

Snacks part 1

Japanese snacks have lots of varieties and well, I'm gonna present just very few of them.


1. Takoyaki flavored potato ring. This is yumm. Reminds me of the Takoyaki Ramune I had last year.


2. Choco banana pocky. Tastes like a snack in Indonesia that I always forget the name.


3. Cheese Potato Soup. Yummmm. Had this for breakfast.


4. Somehow. It doesn't taste as good as normal Cookies and Cream, even though it's Haagen Dazs.


5. Lately there're lots of Evangelion stuff. Well, the new movie's coming. Hmm, actually, what I saw were probably only coffee and ramen. Haha. Also available in can.

Kaisuu Ticket

Kaisuu (回数) means several times. Bought the ticket at the price of 10 tickets but usable for 11 times. For example, normal ticket costs 240 yen. With this, 1 way becomes 218 yen. For Research student who can't get student's monthly pass, this is the only saver. It is usable to and from any station as long as it's the same distance with the price bought (240 yen).

But what if you happen to want to go a bit further on one day (not sure about shorter)? If you buy the normal ticket, you won't get discount. So, put in the ticket into the machine. And it will be automatically exchanged to the small normal ticket, saying 240 yen. No need for the big ticket. With this then, when you go out, you adjust it at the adjustment fare machine. And well, the discount is not as much as if you use another Kaisuu Ticket, but, it's just a rare journey, not a problem.

Futatsu no Spica

Watching it at 8pm on NHKG in Osaka.

I remember the anime was about a girl in an astronaut school who sometimes talks with a man with lion costume's head, who's voiced by Koyasu Takehito. Hmm. Astronaut was one of my dream. XD

The first episode was so-so, I guess. The ending song is by Orange Range.

Food and Colliding Cars?!

First up, the colliding cars?! Well, they're all stopping. Once the light goes green. All of them turn to their right. Amusing view.



100 yen McD burger. This one is McPork. Great for quick supper. Was too hungry before I can reach home.

Namba

Namba (Minami -- South) is my most favourite place in Osaka. Or maybe just because I'm more used to it than Umeda (Kita -- North). Hmm, but Umeda doesn't have Denden town. Well, though if it's Hanakimi, I'd prefer the doctor... ;p Namba has lots of cute clothes shops, lots of nice food, and there's the Osaka's Akihabara, Denden Town.



Well, first stop was lunch. The shop has various meals involving curry and omurice (tomato ketchup fried rice covered with a thin omelette). Yumm. The shop was kind of long and narrow. Like one shop I saw on TV. You can put your belongings under the table, on the hanger, or on top, just like the ones in the trains. Such a cute shop.



Was starving and had Omurice Kare-, 580 yen.



Found this Manner Station. Place for the people to smoke. Rarely see people smoke on the street here.



The Shinkabukiza is closing this month. It will move to Honmachi. I'm not sure if they're going to destroy the building like what will happen to Tokyo's Kabukiza. ='( Kind of sad. I wanted to go, but their last show is not Kabuki...



It's to the left from Namba Park. Passing Taito, passing Daiso, passing furniture shops. Nanzan-doori - Denden town. Takashimaya is at the corner. Turn right.



Keep on going straight and this is the first anime shop. It sells lots of the opened random boxes. Famous characters with higher prices. They sell the packaged 1 sets too. There are also discounted ones. 2nd floor is for the big figurines.



Pass the Gundam shop. I never went into the 2nd floor. Since I'm not planning to buy any Gundam at the moment. After Gundam shop, there's McD where I always stop by to rest and have 100 yen stuff. I'm so cheap =d



Go straight and reach Animate. For new and properly placed anime goods. Not a big store, so not much figurines. But lots of anime goods like bath powder, food, handkerchiefs, etc. 1st floor is for books and 2nd floor is for figurines and various anime goods. The TV at the stairs have been playing Hetalia for 2 weeks. Afterwards, there're 2 K-books shops.



Volks store. The first 4 floors are for the usual anime goods. Not that complete, but it has its own section for figure kits. There are also racks for rent for people who want to sell their stuff. 5th floor is the Dollfies shop. The display is not as good as Akihabara, but it seems to be more well stocked. Is disappointed I can't buy Takeru's head separately. Maybe I'd buy the Takeru set. The EB head is expensive. But yeah, Takeru's head still don't have hair. Hmmmm...



Not sure what the big bug on top of the building is. I saw a half Liberty Statue on the train, too. Weird. It was too fast I couldn't take pic of it.



This is a street parallel with the Denden town main street. Seems like I only see males here. With some maids. And few girls. Hm. There's Gamers shop as well.

I'm still not sure which shops sell the cheapest. Animate is the most expensive, I suppose. If you can find the stuff at K-books, it'll be cheaper mostly. I got a 6cm Tsuna for 105 yen. Otherwise, the first store is so far the most complete that I know. For bigger figures, I think Mandarake is the best. Well, it sells a mix of new and second, I think. But the ones I bought there are all very new.

105yen Shop

I LOVE THEM.

Supposedly 100 yen, but 5 yen for tax.

Well, most of the products may not be made in Japan, but some are. The most famous one would be Daiso. There's a 5 storey Daiso shop near Denden town. It's a great landmark to know that you're going the right way from Namba Parks to Denden town XD

There's another store in Namba station which focuses on "zakka"-ish stuff. Some of their products are 500 yen though. Then, another store I found today is the store above. This also focuses on "zakka"-ish stuff. But all of the items are 105 yen. I bought a very very very cute bowl there. So cheap. Some of the stuff are the same as what I found at another 105 yen shop, Seria.



For example, above: chopsticks, bowl, mat, glass = 420 yen. Well, they don't look expensive, but they don't look too cheap either.

EZNabiWalk

The nice GPS function on my phone is the EZNabiWalk. You pick a point where you want to go to, and then say you want to go there from your current position. It will adjust the direction where you're facing is automatically. Though... if you're at a round place with lots of street branches, and it looks all the same, you won't know that you're going the wrong way until after awhile. It updates fast, but not too fast at some times. See the blue dots? It tracked me from GPS and that's where I went out of the path... ^_^;

Love it. Costs 210 yen per month. Maybe I should continue it if I plan to walk around a lot.



Well, the station was very quiet and there were barely people. Pretty confusing.

Train Ticket Part 1

There are loooots of different train tickets in Japan, since there are lots of different train companies here. First time I come here, I knew nothing but the usual small one trip ticket that you buy whenever you want to ride the train. Then there are the:


- Special 1 day ticket (unlimited one day trip, discounted)
- JR-pass (only applies for tourists though, discounted)
- prepaid ticket (surutto Kansai, can be used almost anywhere in Kansai, no discount though)
- 回数券カード (buy 10 get 11 trips, discounted)
- 定期券 (Periodical unlimited ticket, eg. unlimited monthly, for a certain path, discounted)
- Pitapa (Like Suica? may be discounted?)

And the way to use it is interesting. Well, normally you slide the card through. And when you don't have enough credit to get out of the station, you can top it up at the machine near the station. But there's also time when you can put 2 cards in. One time I use it from the airport. I can only buy it halfway till my destination. But luckily I have this 回数券カード so I slide the 2 cards in together at my destination! No need to go out and buy another ticket~


I wish I'm in Tokyo so I can just use my phone. But this is Osaka. A bit different, only JR works with phone. I'm still not sure which one's the best for me. As I have to take 2 different trains everyday. Currently using the 回数券カード. Is thinking of using Pitapa, but Pitapa only discounts the subway, which won't do much good for me =( Nothing to lose, though. I can just use it only for subways. There's the credit card version and the normal version. And to process it takes few weeks... =_=;

Run & Walk (KDDI AU)

One feature that I find interesting when browsing for mobile phones was this one. It's like iPod x Nike thing, I guess. Monitoring where you run and measure the distance through GPS. I doesn't seem that good, I seem to be going through buildings... =_=; But not bad. I almost got lost this morning. It was raining and I didn't feel like checking the map. Haha...

You can check your jogging (or cycling, if you pay monthly fee) from the phone or from PC. From the PC website, you can replay your running track. It's fun to see. Actually, I decided to run because I got this feature on my phone =d I forgot to take the pics from the phone. Will add them later.

And luckily, I found a really nice pair of shoes. Puma. Original price was 8800yen. I got it for 3990. I really like it XD

There's another feature that uses GPS that I find cool. Will blog it when I use it again next time. It's not like all of the features are only available in Japan, but still, my phone was much less hi-tech than this, hehe.