BLOG -- My Trip to Japan V.5 -- ADVENTURE PART 1 (Ikeda, Umeda, Universal Citywalk Osaka)

Here is Part 1 of my Japan blogs. We visited a couple familiar spots plus we tempted our wallets by going to a lot of geeky shops (well, more my wallet than my boyfriend's). SPOILER ALERT: my wallet was more or less safe due to the ridiculous high prices we saw almost everywhere! :S

Below is a link to my previous entries about a couple of these areas.

Japan Trip 2023: Ikeda, Kyoto, Universal Studios Japan

Japan Trip 2016: Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya

IKEDA

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This was my third time visiting Ikeda. It was initially not on the itinerary, but a friend asked for a T-shirt souvenir from the Cupnoodles Museum. Luckily I was able to squeeze it in. From what I saw, Ikeda seemed about the same as the past visits. Definitely check it out if you want to see the Cupnoodles Museum and you don't want to pay any admission fees (the Cupnoodles Museum at Yokohama still charges 500 yen for admission).

PLACES VISITED:

Cupnoodles Museum (RE-VISIT)

The gift shop was surprisingly pretty empty so we went there first. In all my past visits, the gift shop was always very crowded.

After getting the T-shirt souvenir for my friend, we briefly checked out the exhibits to see if anything changed. Aside from the wall of cup noodle packaging looking updated, everything else seemed about the same. The line for the My CUPNOODLES Factory was still very long! Same as with my past visit, I tried looking for the Tasting Room but didn't find it. Looking on their website, the Tasting Room isn't listed on their attractions anymore. I guess it's gone now. ;_;

After checking the website, one thing that's changed is that you don't need to borrow an audio set for 2000 yen anymore if you want to get information about the exhibits in English or Chinese. Supposedly there is an app that can be downloaded or QR codes that can be scanned that would provide the information in English or Chinese. For those with access to data on their phones, this is less of a hassle than borrowing an audio set. For those without access to data or a phone, I'm unsure if you can still borrow an audio set.

A wall chronicling all the Cup Noodles flavours and brands / sub-brands since the beginning. I think it got updated since the last time we visited.

The long line for the My CUPNOODLES Factory.

The T-shirt souvenir that my friend asked me to get. It's pretty cute and very cheap (between 1500-1800 yen) compared to other T-shirt prices at other gift shops (between 3000-4500 yen!). I would have gotten one myself if the T-shirt was a different colour, like black or blue.

Some other items at the gift shop. I think I would have gotten the notebook if it wasn't sold out.

OTHER PHOTOS:

We came back to this supermarket. We needed to load up on water and the prices are decent.

I wonder what this used to be.

A cute manhole cover!

An ad for some kind of show. I kinda wanted to check it out.

UMEDA

DAYS SPENT: 1

OVERALL THOUGHTS: We visited Umeda for one main reason: to check out some nerdy shops! Before we left for Japan, my sister's husband mentioned a department store in Umeda where one of its floors had a Capcom store, Nintendo store, Pokemon store, and a Final Fantasy store. It sounded like a nerd's paradise.

We ended up visiting Umeda over the span of two days -- half of one day checking out that department store and half of another day exploring the area a little bit. Overall, Umeda was a pretty neat place. 

PLACES VISITED:

Daimaru Umeda Store

This was the department store with all the nerdy shops. Even though the store was really close to Umeda station, it wasn't overly easy to find. One time we tried relying on the signage to direct us and we ended up at another department store (maybe we followed the wrong signage). Just use Google maps or something to make sure you are going the right way.

When we got to Daimaru Umeda Store, we took the elevator to the 13th floor (what a lucky number) and what we saw... were tons of people! Almost each store was packed with shoppers. It was a bit difficult to walk around. The only places that weren't full was the Capcom Cafe and the Tomica Plarail Shop (more on the Capcom Cafe in another entry). 

We spent some time at each shop, except for the Tomica Plarail Shop (sorry, I'm not a train fan). There wasn't a Final Fantasy store, but there was a pop-up Harry Potter store. Maybe the Final Fantasy store that my sister's husband mentioned was a pop-up store when they went. I spent the most time at the Capcom store (looking at all the Ace Attorney and Monster Hunter merch) and the least time at the One Piece store (yes, there was also a One Piece store!). If it wasn't so crowded I could have spent hours looking at everything.

I was expecting my wallet to get completely drained but it didn't -- so many products were priced so high that it was easy for me to say "Nope!". The T-shirts were ridiculously overpriced, ranging from 4000-5500 yen (about 35-48 CAD). The Nintendo store was selling their T-shirt for 7000 yen (about 61 CAD)! If you gotta get something from these stores but you don't want to break the bank, I'd suggest avoiding the T-shirts and browsing around for maybe a smaller item. There is likely something else that can offer more bang for your yen.

The Capcom store!

Yayy, Phoenix Wright!

I love that there are tons of merchandise for the Ace Attorney games.

All the Capcom plushies you could ever want!

My boyfriend posing with a Monster Hunter display.

The One Piece store. The store was overly crowded so I didn't spend too much time looking around.

The Nintendo store displaying the T-shirts costing 7000 yen.

Isabelle and Tom Nook. Some of the Animal Crossing products looked kinda cute.

Pikmin!

I want one of those ties!

All the Amiibos you could ever want. They even have some older and hard-to-get ones like The Villager.

The Pop-up Harry Potter store.

Another shot of the pop-up store.

A peek into the pop-up store.

Tsuyu no Tenjin Shrine

We came upon this shrine by accident. We were walking along a line of shops and spotted a temple-like entrance nestled between two of them. It stood out because the temple-like entrance had an older, ancient design where the shops had more of a modern architecture. 

On a whim, we decided to check it out. We were greeted with a pretty walkway and various decor. There was a green grassy carpet and touches of pink and heart-shaped plaques all over.

After doing some research, I found out that the shrine was the Tsuyu no Tenjin shrine. There seems to be various spellings like Tsuyunoten shrine or Tsuyunoten Jinja. It is also known as the Ohatsu Tenjin shrine, with some associations to the play "The Love Suicides of Sonezaki". I thought that made sense -- I thought I felt some air of love while walking through the shrine.

This entrance that stood out among the surrounding shops.

What a pretty walkway.

This is also so pretty.

Another entrance into the shrine.

Can you spot the cat?

A place to get a fortune telling slip.

We opted to get a cheaper fortune.

I got just slightly good luck.

OTHER PHOTOS:

I took this pic just 'cuz of the Konami logo.

A Gundam display for a pop-up Gunpla shop in Daimaru Umeda Store.

Hmm, I think I spot something red and blue...

It's the mascot for the Osaka Expo!

UNIVERSAL CITYWALK OSAKA

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The last time we went to Universal Studios Japan we barely had any time to roam around the surrounding shops. So to "complete" the experience, we decided to wander around those shops instead of actually entering Universal Studios Japan. Since it's just outside Universal Studios Japan's entrance, admission is not needed!

If you want some of the atmosphere of Universal Studios Japan but you don't want to experience long line-ups and a hefty admission price, it's worth checking out at least once.

PLACES VISITED:

All over

From what we saw, Universal Citywalk Osaka is made up of gift shops and food places. There are three floors to explore, but we mainly explored the first floor. I would have wanted to explore the other floors but my feet were pretty tired by the time we got there. It just means we'll have to come back again :)

The food places were varied, having some Western places like Hard Rock Cafe and Red Lobster and having Japanese and Asian places like MOS Burger and Sushiro. The gift shops had some items that could be found in the gift shops inside Universal Studios Japan (but not everything!). Almost everything was on the pricey side, though, so be mindful of your wallet!

Next time I'll have to check out the Takoyaki Park that's on the 4th floor and explore more of the restaurants on the 5th floor.

For anybody curious about all the shops and food places at Universal Citywalk Osaka, here is the link for the floor map: https://ucw.jp/global/en/floormap/

Part of Universal Citywalk Osaka.

One of the more crowded gift shops. It was fun to browse around.

It's nice to know another shop that carries Tsukigesho products. Thankfully these prices look the same as at the actual Tsukigesho shop.

A shot of Universal Studios Japan entrance. The weather looks nice.

A board with all the dining spots.

This hotel architecture looks really pretty.

Yoshiya

Yoshiya was NOT in Universal Citywalk Osaka, but it was close by so I am including it in this section. My boyfriend and I decided to walk between two shops and we came upon what looked like an apartment building just across with a small bridge connecting the apartment and Universal Citywalk Osaka. One of the apartment units looked like a small shop so we crossed the bridge and checked it out.

What we stepped into was a candy land paradise! <3 Everywhere around us were candies and chip bags! <3 Many of the candies were being sold by piece so a lot of it looked really cheap, like 15 yen or 35 yen. We spent probably a good couple hours just looking at everything and deciding what to get. Every now and then we'd see other customers come in and load a basket full of snacks.

Later on, we saw that some of the candies we bought were slightly cheaper at pharmacies and convenience stores. However, some of the candies were a bit cheaper at Yoshiya and some of the candies we saw we didn't see anywhere else. It was such a marvelous sight, seeing all that candy. <3

Where we walked to find Yoshiya.

Another shot of the walkway to Yoshiya.

The entrance into the candy land paradise. <3

Whoa!

I'm drooling over all the candy.

OTHER PHOTOS:

An advertisement for an upcoming event at Universal Studios Japan.

An interesting-looking ad.

That's it for Part 1. My apologies again for such a long wait. Fingers crossed that the next entry will take less time to post ^^;

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! :)