Kitty Trail: Japan (2008), Osaka Stay

OSAKA

I finally managed to snag a reasonably-priced place to stay in this city where Yakuzas are found. Although it was daunting at first thought, since this would be my first train transfer in both JR station and local/subway, and the inn I was to stay at was a bit difficult to get to…plus my luggage suddenly got heavier due to some cakes I got at Nagasaki plus other pabaon from Benjie.

I chose this inn because Frommer’s had listed it under “Inexpensive“.(Between you and me I would think this term would apply for 4K Yen and below but it was more in this case *grin*).

My first choice, which was Hotel Il Monte had mistakenly said in another site that it was fully booked already, so when I tried the hotel’s main site and they replied they had a room, it was already too late since I had booked elsewhere in my zeal to have a roof over my head.

The site for this in case you are interested is http://www.ilmonte.co.jp. Don’t worry as there is an English page there somewhere. Its near to the Osaka station too.

The name of the hotel I ended up in was Family Inn Fifty’s Edobori.  The Address is 2-6-18 Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka 550-0002.

The con is that there was no closet (but there are hooks on the wall). But it was quite clean, had the usual bath and large containers for shampoos, rinses and body washes, had a double bed, wall-mounted TV, and air-conditioning. Toothbrush, toothpaste and slippers were provided.

To reach this place: you have two choices, take the bus from Osaka station or try the subway by changing subway lines in Osaka station.

I think Osaka has one of the more user-friendly train stations as it was easy for me to follow the color-coding to transfer from the Midosuji Line to the Honmachi Station, then transfer to the subway Chuo Line, getting off at Azawa Station.

I seriously doubt the 7 minute walk though, as I think it would be 10 minutes or more…plus since there is more than one exit, you have to be careful to orient yourself. It’s location, though a bit far for some first timers is okay though, especially if you want to be nearer Universal Studios Japan and the Osaka Aquarium as it is near the bay area.

Another plus is there is an eat all-you-can continental breakfast (knowing me, can you doubt the deciding factor, regardless of whether it was difficult to travel to this place?) with all the pastries, breads, coffee, milk, juice, tea, jam, butter, eggs you can carry in your stomach. Sorry, but I have no pictures during my breakfast since I was all focused on stuffing myself for the long trek ahead.

Amenities include free use of computers in the lobby, and these have internet access. Be careful, you might end up with the one with Japanese characters keyboard hehehe!

Visit http://www.fiftys.com where they have undoubtedly better marketing material than what I have posted here. Aside from picking up this inn’s name from the travel book, I also used http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/ to book my reservation for this hotel since it is Japan’s largest online hotel reservation company for those on the lookout for budget and moderately-priced accommodations.

I did lose about 15 minutes of walking around before I could find this hotel. Armed with a map, I was able to navigate transferring from the JR line to the subway line running near this inn’s vicinity…and I really thought I could make it with enough time to check in and go back to see a bunraku which was extended due to public demand and which had its last show at 4:30 pm.

Alas, by 4 pm I was still walking around the streets looking for this as the tall, fair and handsome policeman I came across could not speak English and could only point to the park which thankfully was on the map I had. Hmph…gwapo sana, walang English word naman.

Since I couldn’t read the kanji for the high school building, hence my miss, but luckily with a look at the compass and a question to a lady passing by, I figured enough to find this..lucky too as it was starting to sprinkle little raindrops on my head. And with my extra bag slung over my already drooping shoulders I thankfully recognized the building by the picture I saw of it.

I finally managed to check in without too much difficulty (clerk again had not much English on hand), and they just had to take a photocopy of my passport, and off to my room I went.

I unpacked, washed, took a cat-nap and with darkening skies still ventured out to try my luck again.

Arrived in Osaka May 5, 2008 at 2:45 pm, left for Kyoto on May 6 at 1:30 pm.

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Directions & Transportation:

*From JR Osaka station
Take the bus No.88 to Tosabori-2choume (about 10 mins). 1 min. walk from the bus stop.

*From Higobashi station (subway Yotsuhashi-line)
10 mins. walk from the station

*From Awaza Station (subway Chuo Line)
7 mins. walk from the station.

*From JR Shin-Osaka station
Take the subway Midosuji Line to Honmachi Station.

Change to the subway Chuo Line and get off at Awaza Station. 7 mins. walk from the station.

*From Kansai Int’l Airport 
Take the Nankai Rapid Express Train to the last stop, Namba Station. Change to the subway Sennnichimae Line and get off at Awaza Station. 7 mins. walk from the station. The total travel time will be 65 mins.

*From Osaka Int’l Airport
Take the Airport bus to Osaka station. From the station, follow the direction above. The total travel time will be about 50 mins.

-May 17, ’08 2:40 AM

Kitty Trail: Japan (2008), Reading/Research

I didn’t have time but I wanted to make the most out of my first trip to Japan.

I visited National Bookstore and Powerbooks and looked for on-sale travel books. All of the books I’ve bought were bargain…luckily, they also didn’t have stock of the books I was thinking of…as they might have been more expensive!

1. Frommer’s Japan 8th edition – I brought this on the trip with me as most of the material I had read from this helped me decide on which hotels, ryokan, spots to visit. Very useful as it listed schedules of opening/closing of shrines etc, which bus number to take, how to get to a hotel etc.

2. Fodor’s Exploring Japan 6th edition – the first Japan travel book I bought, it has lovely photographs and walks described in it and I love shiny thick paper on which it is printed. I also brought this on the trip, although details were not as extensive as Frommer’s in getting from one place to another. However, I recommend you buy this also if only to enjoy the pictures and descriptions they have of the different cultural aspects of Japan

3. DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: Japan – colourful pictures, but had to leave it behind. Their “Traveller’s Needs” section on Where to Stay, Where to Eat, Shopping in Japan, added to my knowledge gleaned from Frommer’s and helped me give me a more clear picture of what to expect. Thinner than Frommer’s (it was the thickest) its a good read and a nice addition to one’s collection.

4. Lonely Planet: Kyoto City Guide – some people I met along my trip told me they liked Lonely Planet travel books the best. Although I found the maps too cute for my eyes (sign of creeping age), it does have good information on where to prioritize in visiting. But I like my travel books to have good photographs even if they turn out to be bulky and that was what was lacking in this tome.

However, since I really wanted to get to know Kyoto more (in fact, if I had more money and vacation leave balance, I’d have stayed here for 1 week) so there was a lot of information here about the city that was on top of my list. It is also very useful for the budget conscious traveller as it mostly lists those which are on the average to low-cost establishments and lodgings.

5. Lonely Planet: Japanese phrasebook – its a small, handy book very useful for tucking in your bag and in case of emergencies I was prepared to do more than just windmill my arms about. I was prepared to emulate a Japanese accent and struggle through my anime-related Japanese vocabulary. I didn’t get to use it very often since I was lucky in Osaka to meet a nice guy who played travel guide, I only got to use it more when I was in Gion, Kyoto by myself during eating.

Most used-phrases and words in my case:

– Watashi wa Firipin-jin desu  (I am a Filipino).

– Watashi no tomodatchi (my friend).

– Kyoto/Tokyo/Nara e ikimasu (I am going to <insert place here>) – very useful at train stations coz I had to ask sometimes where the transfer was to be done.

– Eigo ga hanasemasu ka? (Do you speak English?) I sometimes used Eigo ga wakarimasu ka? (Do you understand English?)

– Sumisasen, wakarimasen (Excuse me or sorry, I do not understand) – the most abused word for me everyday was Sumimasen and Hai (yes).

– Kore was ikura desu ka? (How much does this cost?)

– Nanji desu ka (What time is it?)

– the numbers for 1 to 100, 1000-10,000

– days and months

– counters – but in my case more of bottles (hon), books (satsu), floors (kai), people (nin), time (ji), minutes (fun/pun)

– ku re jit to ka do  (credit card) – I learned this in Huis Ten Bosch when I was trying to ask them if they would accept credit card, and they just looked at me when I said “credit card, ok?”….but them I had the bright idea of fudging it by pronounciation…so when I said “ku-re-jit-do-ka-do, hai?”…that solved the problem. *wink*

– Takasugimasu (It is too expensive).

– Nani ga o susume desu ka? (What would you recommend?)

– and the usual up, right, left, down, below, north, south, east, west, near, far…etc.

I also placed in my laptop some pdfs of other Japanese-language audio books like Pimsleur, and some kanji and Japanese phrasebooks.

– May 16, ’08 3:37 PM