Japan Spring Time 2015: Day 3

Day 3 is our last day in Osaka. This day is devoted to visiting the city's famous sights.
First on this day is Osaka Castle and its castle grounds.

8:30 AM

Leave Osaka Hana Hostel Check-out Leave baggage

9:00 AM

ETA Osaka Castle Osaka Castle (Tanimachiyonchome/Tanimachi-4-Chome Sta.)

From Tanimachiyonchome Station, take Exit 1-B. Turn left after the exit and walk straight. Use Google maps for navigation if you have your pocket wifi. You can also ask the locals for directions and they'll be more than happy to help you out. :)

NHK Station?

Entrance to Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

Outside the castle

We didn't go inside the Osaka Castle anymore. According to some reviews over at Tripadvisor, they said the castle in Kyoto is more worth it to visit.

11:00 AM	Leave Osaka Castle
	ETD Shitenno-ji

We took some pictures outside the castle grounds, some pictures in the park. We walked back to Tanimachiyonchome Station and took a subway train to Tennoji Staion.

11:30 AM

Tennoji Sta.

We ate our lunch at the station and then proceeded to Shitenno-ji Temple. It's just a short 10-15 min. walk to the temple. Again, I relied on Google Maps. :) Google Maps and Hyperdia will be your best friend in Japan. :)

12:30 PM

ETD Umeda Sky Building

We went back to the station and then off to our last destination in Osaka, Umeda Sky Building.
The building is accessible via Umeda(Subway) Station. It's a good 15-min walk from the station.

Rooftop, rainy, windy..

View from below

View inside the observatory

3:00 PM

ETD Osaka Hana Hostel

4:00 PM

ETA Osaka Hana Hostel

We already checked-out of the hostel that morning. We left our luggage in their storage room so that we can still go around the city.

Before we left here is a picture of us with one of the friendly staff of Osaka Hana Hostel :)

Rightmost pic, one of the most friendliest staff at Osaka Hana :)

5:15 PM	ETD Kyoto
	1. Go to SHINSAIBASHI Station. 2. Take Osaka City Subway Midosuji Line bound for UMEDA(SUBWAY). 3. Transfer from UMEDA(SUBWAY) to OSAKA Station. 4. Buy tickets to Kyoto.

JR Osaka Station

Once you reach OSAKA Station, go to the JR Ticket Office to buy the JR Special Rapid Service to Kyoto. This was the cheapest train I could get and no reserved seats. I think it was around 40-45 min to Kyoto. Then, I bought our Shinkansen Tickets to Tokyo just in case.  I bought the reserved seats so I could sit on the left side and hopefully see Mt. Fuji on the way to Tokyo. Sadly, it rained when we were going to Tokyo so wasn't able to see it. :(

 Go to the JR Kyoto Ticket Office, it's on the ground floor of the station.

Kyoto Station

We checked-in at Econo-Inn around 6:30PM as it was evening when we arrived in Kyoto. Takes some time getting used to the surroundings and navigating a new city. Here is the link for Econo-Inn Kyoto. The website was right, Econo-Inn was just about 15-min walk from the Kyoto Station. *sigh*

We had dinner somewhere in Kyoto's Gion district, well the main street in Kyoto where the restaurants are located. To get there: Ride the subway from Kiyomizugojo Station and get off at Gojo Station.

It was around 9:00 PM when we got back to the hotel. Day 3 was exhausting because we had to travel with our luggage, up and down the stairs...but well worth it :)

Expenses:
Food - I don't have the breakdown
Shitennoji Entrance - Y900 (3 persons)
Hotel to Osaka Castle - Y720 (3 persons)
Osaka to Tennoji - Y540 (3 persons)
Tennoji to Umeda - 740 (3 persons)
Umeda Sky Building Entrance - Y2400 (3 persons)
Umeda to Hostel - Y720 (3 persons)
Gion to Hostel (RT) - Y900 (3 persons)
Econo-Inn - Y50,010 (That's 4 nights for 3 persons)
Shinkansen Nozomi Train - Y42, 330 (3 persons)

Est. Total: Y99260 excluding food

Japan Spring Time 2015: Day 2

For our second day in Osaka, it was a whole day of fun to spend at Universal Studios Japan!
I didn't really include USJ in my first draft of the itinerary. But, since this is the only Universal Studios that has the Harry Potter attraction, might as well visit it. Also, I soon found out that there was this Shingeki No Kyojin and Evangelion attraction!!! Sweet!!!


Enter in Hyperdia "Universal City" Station to get to USJ Osaka. From my previous post, Hyperdia is a very useful website in navigating the city by subway. :)

5:00 AM	Wake Up
7:30 AM	ETD USJ Osaka

8:15 AM

ETA USJ Osaka, buy USJ Cool Japan Express Pass (Attack on Titan, SNK, NGE)

USJ Cool Japan Express Pass and the other Express Passes allow you to skip the long waiting lines. You can enter the select attractions at a certain time allowing you to enjoy the rest of the park. Of course, it is much expensive as it is a separate ticket from the main entrance ticket fee.

I wasn't able to buy the USJ Cool Japan Express Pass because it was sold out already. I didn't know how to buy the ticket over the net since the site was in Japanese. So I just bought the regular entrance ticket. Sure you just had to endure the long waiting times but still worth it.

Anyway the attractions for the Cool Japan (anime stuff) is on a limited run only. :(

USJ should take you about the whole day until late evening. They have this awesome light parade around 8-8:30PM. I recommend you all to see it. It's simply unique from all of the parades I've seen from other theme parks.

Entrance!!!

Studio 14, where you need to get free tickets to SNK

Levi

Smiling Titan

Coca-Cola Cafe

Armin

Mikasa

Wands...

2nd entrance to Harry Potter

Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts Castle

Evangelion 4D

The below pictures are from the parade:

Goodby USJ!

10:00 PM

Leave USJ Osaka

I think it was almost 10:30-11:00PM that we reached our hostel. Tiring day but so worth it even if I went down the wrong station. Commuting by subway isn't easy. Still haven't gotten used to their subway system on our second day.

Expenses:
Food: I don't have the breakdown
Hostel to USJ: Y720 (3 persons)
USJ Tickets: Y21,600 (3 persons)
Drinks: Y200
USJ to Hostel: Y1260 (3 persons)


Est. Total: Y23780 excluding food