BLOG -- My Trip to Japan V.5 -- ADVENTURE PART 3 (Shinsaibashi, Tennoji)

Here is Part 3 of my Japan blogs. We briefly explored a couple new areas -- one to get a souvenir for a friend and the other to check out a couple temples.

SHINSAIBASHI

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: We came here mainly to get a souvenir for a friend and spent some time in line to get that souvenir. After checking online, I found out that Shinsaibashi is next to Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi has a large shopping street (Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street) that leads to Dotonbori. We have explored that large shopping street multiple times and didn't realize it was part of Shinsaibashi. ^^;

PLACES VISITED:

America-mura (American Village)

If you are looking for "non-mainstream" fashion, America-mura is the place to check out. We did some window shopping, but didn't step inside 'cuz of the pricing on the displayed T-shirts. If the T-shirts costed 3000-4500 yen, how much would other clothing cost? Close to the end of our exploration, we saw a BOOKOFF shop and went inside. What a relief to see T-shirts at more reasonable prices (around 1350 yen), even though the clothing was secondhand.

If we had more time, I think I'd like to come back. I'm almost certain we missed some shops. There should be a small Statue of Liberty in America-mura, but we missed seeing it. ^^;

A shot of America-mura.

The line we were in to get the souvenir. The shop is called Lilo Coffee Roasters.

The inner goth / punk in me wanted to check this shop out (Volcan & Aphrodite), but I was too shy to walk in.

TENNOJI

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Tennoji was our area for visiting temples. There were two temples within walking distance of each other. There was also a zoo and a museum but they were closed (we were the area way too early). If you plan to visit the zoo and the museum, aim to get to the Tennoji area after 9:30 AM and not on a Monday. There was a place I missed exploring so I'll definitely come back to Tennoji again. 

PLACES VISITED:

Isshin-ji Temple

This was a temple with some interesting statues. It was raining so we kept the visit pretty short. The greenery gave a serene atmosphere and the front entrance had an interesting canopy design.

A back entrance to Isshin-ji Temple.

A statue among some greenery.

The front entrance. Those statues look intimidating.

Shitennoji Temple (outside)

The walk to Shitennoji Temple was about 8-10 minutes from Isshin-ji Temple. As we were walking, we noticed a number of children in school uniforms walking in the same direction. My initial thought was, 'Is there a school trip going on?'. It turns out that there is a school right next to the temple! There was a sign next to the school's entrance expressing that this is a school and to please not take pictures. 

When we reached Shitennoji Temple, we realized that we were in a "lobby area" and we had to pay an admission to really enter the temple. There were three different admissions: 300 yen to the inner precinct, 300 yen to the garden, and 500 yen to the treasure house (why was there so many different admissions?). With our schedule being a bit tight that day, we ended up not paying the admission and instead briefly exploring the lobby area before heading towards our next destination (which was the Hikaru no Go exhibit in Den Den Town).

The entrance to Shitennoji temple.

A map. It looks pretty huge!

A glimpse of what we would have seen if we had paid the admission.

This souvenir shop has been taken in by the gacha. The first 4 green characters in the sign above reads "omiyage", which loosely translates to souvenirs for friends, colleagues, and family from a destination.

OTHER PHOTOS:

A vibrant mural in Dobutsuen-Mae station.

The entrance to Shinsekai, a place I wanted to check out in the evening.

All the stalls in Shinsekai were closed in the morning.

A long bridge towards the Osaka Museum of Fine Arts.

That's it for Part 3. Thanks for reading! If you are still here despite all the long pauses in between, thank you for sticking around! XD

If you have any questions or comments about any of these places I visited, feel free to say something in the comments box or fill out a contact form!

Take care, stay safe, and until next time! :)

BLOG -- Recap of June

June was pretty busy but pretty uneventful. I am still on-track with my "watch one movie every week" resolution :)

Outings / Events in June:

- Did temp work at my friend's uncle's trophy shop. It was busy work for a few weeks.

Exposures:

- Nothing this month.

Finished...

Watching:

- (Movie): Wolfwalkers -- I enjoyed the animation and music a lot.

- (Movie): Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father -- Really grim, but heartfelt, and worth watching. Have a box of tissues next to you if you ever decide to watch check it out.

- (Movie): Eternity -- I thought the world-building was interesting.

- (Anime - Movie): Josee, the Tiger and the Fish -- I enjoyed it.

Playing:

- (PS4): Yakuza 6: Song of Life -- I finally beat it! A blog will be coming... after most of the Japan blogs have been done ^^;

- (PS5): Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights -- I reached Ending A so I'm counting it. I'll keep playing it, though, until I've explored everything and seen all the endings.

Reading:

- Nothing this month.

Currently... 

Playing (not all at once):

- (PS5): Gal Guardians: Demon Purge

- (PS4): Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!

- (PS4): Dark Cloud 2

- (PS4): Skyrim
- (PS4): Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

- (PS4): Baldur's Gate I: Enhanced Edition

- (PS4): Black Bird

- (PSP): Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure

- (3DS): Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
- (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition   
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PC): UnEpic  
- (PC): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)

- (PC): Crusader Kings III

- (PC): Divinity: Original Sin

- (Mobile): Dragon Quest III

- (Mobile): Bloons TD 6

Watching:

- (Series): Criminal Minds: Evolution (Season 2)

- (Series): The Goldbergs (Season 5)
- (Series): Huff (Season 1 - Episode 10)
- (Series): Stranger Things (Season 5 - Episode 5)

- (Series): The Boys (Season 5)

- (Series): Bob's Burgers (Season 5 - Episode 6)

- (Series): Squid Game (Season 3)

- (Series): House of the Dragon (Season 3)

- (Series): Shrinking (Season 4)

- (Series): Invincible (Season 4)

- (Anime): Log Horizon (Season 4)

- (Anime): Pyscho-Pass (Season 4?)
- (Anime): Kakegurui (Season 3?)
- (Anime): Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls (Episode 2)

- (Anime): Gintama (Episode 13)

- (Anime): Tokyo Revengers (Season 4)

- (Anime): Gurren Lagann (Episode 10)

- (Anime): Chihayafuru (Season 4?)

- (Anime): One Punch Man (Season 3?)

- (Anime): Junji Ito's Japanese Tales of the Macabre (Episode 5)

- (Anime): Demon Slayers (Season 4 - Movie 2)

- (Anime): Jujutsu Kaisen (Season 3)

- (Anime): Naruto: Shippuden (Season 2 - Episode 39)

- (Anime): Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Season 4?)

- (YouTube): StephenVlogs (Day 1061)

Reading:

- (Manga): One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volume ?? -- Chapter 1148) <-- I'm behind again
- (Manga): Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Volume 2)

- (Manga): Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi (Volume 10)

- (Novel): 86 by Asato Asato (Volume 2)

That's it for June. Here are a couple pics I took this month, some pics of my gacha pulls in Blue Archive, plus a YouTube video I watched.

Some sushi after finishing the temp. work. Yum!

A funny dialogue in Divinity: Original Sin.

After the free 100 pulls, I pulled 100 more and got Rio (Armed) along the way.

When Aris (Armed) and Kei's banners released, I got them before reaching pity.

I also got Yuzu (Armed) and Eimi (Armed) before reaching pity! No more pulling in Blue Archive for a while ^^

"The Internet's Most Documented Man" by Bowlmyshoes. I still have to watch the rest of his vlogs.

Thanks for reading! Happy Canada Day for those celebrating Canada Day and happy early Independence Day for those celebrating Independence Day in a few days.

As usual, if you have any questions / comments about anything, feel free.

Take care and until next time! :)

BLOG -- My Trip to Japan V.5 -- ADVENTURE PART 2 (Nipponbashi, Namba, Dotonbori)

Here is Part 2 of my Japan blogs. This covers the areas within walking distance of the hotel. Every spot mentioned here took about 10-15 minutes.

NOTE: Even though I have Namba and Dotonbori in two separate sections, Dotonbori is actually within Namba. Since Dotonbori is a key location in some of the Yakuza games, I like highlighting it as a separate place.

Below is a link to a previous entry about these areas.

Japan Trip 2023: Nipponbashi / Den Den Town, Namba, Dotonbori

NIPPONBASHI

DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons

OVERALL THOUGHTS: We wandered around Nipponbashi often, especially when we wanted to check out Den Den Town for some nerdy shops like Animate or Volks. I liked that this area was within walking distance.

PLACES VISITED:

Den Den Town (RE-VISIT)

I'm sure I've mentioned this in my last Japan trip, but Den Den Town is Osaka's version of Akihabara. Looking for some anime, video games, or electronic goods? Den Den Town's got it. There are some shops that carry second-hand figures or claw game prizes for low-ish prices. There is also a Lawson 100 shop closeby where you can buy some things on the cheap. Only thing to keep in mind is that most shops in Den Den Town open around 10 AM so avoid getting there too early.

A shot of Den Den Town.

Oh my... I wanted this so badly. But the cost... it's too much (approx $954 CAD)! D:

A shop that sells goods for Dark Souls, Warhammer, Elden Ring, World of Warcraft, and other series. The merchandise is pretty pricey but looks like nice quality.

Look at all the Yakuza games! <3

Hikaru no Go Exhibit

While my boyfriend and I were walking around Namba, I saw a poster and standee advertising a Hikaru no Go exhibit. Being a Hikaru no Go fan, I wanted to check it out. It was located in Space Gratus, which we found out was some gallery space with Animate. We went to Animate on the last day of the exhibit, but couldn't find Space Gratus on any of its floors. When we were about to give up, I saw a Hikaru no Go sign or poster on a building just across. It turned out that the building across from Animate was Space Gratus. Phew!

Admission into the exhibit was 2200 yen each. I was a bit surprised because the poster didn't mention any admission price, but I didn't mind. For me, the exhibit was very nice. There were tons of original manga pages with a few key locations or scenes recreated with real furniture. Close to the end there were coloured pieces like manga covers and some promotional artwork. 

On another floor was an eating area, which I think needed some kind of ticket or reservation to enter. There was also a gift shop that had tons and tons of goods. For any Hikaru no Go fan, it was a shopping paradise. Sadly, almost everything was a bit on the pricey side (and in gacha format, ugh). I still got a few things, which you'll see later in my "Swags" post. 

Overall, I really enjoyed myself. I was also happy to see attendees of varying ages (around 20-50+) at the exhibit. The fandom for Hikaru no Go still lives on! :)

A random card that's given with your admission. We got Akira and Sai on the top left. Akira's my favourite character so I was very happy. XD

A Go board and some stools. I think the Go problem was shown in the series. We were allowed to sit on the stools.

A recreation of Hikaru's room depicting a specific scene.

Sai and some manga pages featuring him!

Kuromon Market

When I looked up places to visit in Namba, Kuromon Market often came up. Kuromon Market is a shotengai (a shopping street) that has a lot of foods and goods to buy. We got there just as the stalls and shops were opening up. Barely anybody was there but when it got to noon, the market was packed. 

It was a really neat place. There was a dining area with a bunch of benches and lots of food stalls. I haven't seen any other shotengai with a dining area before. There was also a supermarket. We also saw a small walkway in the middle of Kuromon Market leading outside to a couple cafes selling what looked like handmade souvenirs. 

I would definitely come back! :)

One entrance into Kuromon Market.

Inside the market. The canopy design looks nice.

The little walkway in the middle of Kuromon Market. It was random and inviting.

OTHER PHOTOS:

Something neat around Den Den Town.

Why are there figures of the Netflix One Piece characters??

In Animate, there are capsule machines containing fanart merch. I never realized it before!

There was so many fanart merch of Blue Archive. The machines were tempting me so much.

Here are some other Blue Archive merch, but official ones.

NAMBA

DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons

OVERALL THOUGHTS: For this blog, Namba covers the rest of the areas surrounding the hotel that aren't highlighted. We did a lot more exploring on foot to see what things we could do and check out close by. 

Keeping this here from the previous Japan blog:

For those wanting to maximize the JR lines, you may want to stay at a hotel closer to the Osaka Loop Line or closer to JR Namba, if you don't mind changing lines. It was about a 10-13 minute walk to JR Namba from our hotel. 

PLACES VISITED:

Namba Yasaka Shrine

This was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. My boyfriend enjoys checking out shrines and temples so I try to include some in the itinerary. Namba Yasaka Shrine doesn't cover too much area, but the large lion head stage more than makes up for it. That lion head is huge and menacing in an awe-inspiring way. There weren't too many people when we were there so the shrine also felt very peaceful with all the surrounding greenery. I'd recommend checking it out at least once.

The entrance to Namba Yasaka Shrine. The lion's head really stands out.

A closer look at the lion's head. It looks ready to suck up everything surrounding it.

There is a note to not write on the table. Clearly, it wasn't followed!

An area to do the cleansing ritual that is common at shrines. The cleansing ritual involved drinking some of the water, but apparently the ritual got changed after the COVID pandemic.

Parks Garden

Parks Garden is at the top of this shopping complex called Namba Parks. We checked this out on a whim and it was very scenic. There was a lot of greenery and neat architecture. There were several flights of stairs with varied plants at each level. It's definitely a place to visit for a scenic experience. It was slightly windy, though, so maybe bring a light jacket.

My boyfriend standing in front of the Parks Garden signage.

The entrance looks a bit majestic.

Look at all the plants!

I like that there are some people just chilling on the green.

Pop-up Events at Namba Square

Across from the hotel was Namba Square, an open area that would often have chairs and tables for passersby to sit and relax a bit. Sometimes those chairs and tables would be put away and events would happen instead. During our trip, we saw two events pop up in Namba Square. We checked out the first event briefly because we had some time and it was music-oriented (which really interested me). We didn't have time to check out the second event, but we glanced at it briefly when walking by.

Overall, it's nice seeing random events pop up in Namba Square and seeing various people gather.

The schedule for the first pop-up event.

Going by the schedule above and the time I took this pic, this would be the idols segment. They were singing and dancing.

The schedule for the second pop-up event.

The set up looked very interesting.

OTHER PHOTOS:

A shot of Namba at night.

Pay phones still exist!

These were the movies playing while we were there. I watched Kokuho in theatres (in Canada) months after the trip!

The standee and poster advertising the Hikaru no Go exhibition. I'm glad I noticed them.

We went to Karaoke-kan again. Prices went up slightly but they were still cheaper when compared to doing karaoke in Toronto.

I crappily sung a song from this anime, hehe. :)

I took a picture here because infomen booths are in the Yakuza games.

Whoever put these two prizes side by side is cruel! T_T

DOTONBORI

DAYS SPENT: Several mornings and afternoons

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dotonbori is still Dotonbori. It's a place with a lot of beauty, food, shopping, and people. The crowd can be off-putting sometimes, but if I'm ever in Osaka, I will always do my best to stop by -- because I love Dotonbori so much. :)

The beauty of Dotonbori at night.

Dotonbori Hotel looks very funky!

Another shot of Dotonbori at night.

The crowd of people wanting to go on the Tombori River Cruise. If the crowd wasn't so huge then we would have tried taking the cruise.

Water bottles and flowers offered to the two firefighters who were killed during the Dotonbori fire back in August 18, 2025. May they rest in peace *bows*

That's it for Part 2. For anybody waiting all this time since Part 1, thank you for waiting! Fingers crossed that Part 3 will come much sooner *fingers crossed*

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments about any of these places I visited, feel free to say something in the comments box or fill out a contact form!

Take care, stay safe, and until next time! :)