Travel tips to Osaka and Kyoto

Day 8 (Sat, 30 September 2017)

It was bye bye Osaka for us, bright and early, to catch the 10.55am flight back to Singapore.

Getting to Kansai Airport from Namba station is quite straightforward. Take the Nankai Line (Limited Express Rapit takes about 38mins). I recommend booking online to enjoy a discounted price of Y1,130 (one way) vs the normal price of Y1,430. Don't worry, you don't need to specify the time of the train when you book, just the date. We caught the 7.30am train and arrived at Kansai at 8.11am.

Nothing much to talk about on this day so I'll just share a few tips and observations on travelling in Kyoto/Osaka.

Trains

Trains in Osaka and Kyoto are no different from the ones in the rest of Japan - they're fast and reliable. However, getting on the right train can be confusing, especially in larger stations like Kyoto and Namba. While getting to the correct line is usually easy, we found that their signages for the direction can be a little muddled. Sometimes, the same destination is depicted on the walls for opposing directions, which makes things somewhat confusing.

The frequency of their subway trains is high but less so when it comes to rail. To compound matters, there are often multiple types of trains for one route, eg. express, special and local, with different timings and frequencies. Here's a very useful site to check train schedules and figure out the best route to your destination.

In other words, when travelling on the trains, do give yourself ample leeway in terms of time - at least 15 minutes extra. At times, we'd gotten lost in the station, waited at the wrong platform or gone to the wrong counter to collect tickets. Since some trains run only every half an hour or so, going early also means you have a higher chance of getting a seat.

Wifi

Many places in Osaka and Kyoto offer free wifi, whether at the hotels, train stations or cafes.

However, the strength of the connection varies. Even in our five-star hotel, the connection dropped intermittently. For this reason, I highly recommend Changi Wifi. At only $5 a day, you get wifi on the go for your family (it also provided incentive for my kids to stick close to me if they wanted wifi 😆). Having wifi on the go is particularly useful in areas where there are simply no road names or English names. Many a times, we couldn't find our destination using a regular map and had to resort to using google maps for walking directions. Saved us from getting lost.

Fruit and Veg

I'd noted this in my Tokyo trip 9 years ago, and it's still true of Osaka/Kyoto today. Fresh fruit is a rare commodity in Japan. For those of us who are used to eating 1 or 2 servings of fruit each day, we found it very difficult to keep this up in Osaka/Kyoto. At the supermarket, the selection of fruit is puny compared to what we're used to, and ridiculously pricey. Most fruit is sold singly, even bananas, and it's hard to find anything under Y250 (about S$3).

In the markets, we saw melons being sold at about S$8 a SLICE and these weren't even the premium gift melons famed in Japan, just ordinary ones. This photo was taken at Kuromon Ichiba Market. Peaches for up to Y2,500 (about S$30) each and grapes for Y1,500 (about S$18) per punnet.

I'm not sure why this is so. I tried searching on the Internet and some say it's because Japan has very strict standards on fruit - it has to be perfect before it can be sold, hence the high prices. Others say it's due to high import taxes on fruit. Whatever it is, it seems like fruit to the Japanese is a premium item like cake to us, not something you eat every day.

Same goes for veggies. In meals, it's rare to see a lot of fresh veg. You tend to get only pickled veg in small quantities. On our first night back home, it was wonderful to be able to eat a huge plate of stir-fried broccoli - I think we ate more fresh veg in that one meal than in our entire trip put together.

There's not much you can do about this but if you want to get your servings of fibre without spending a fortune at the supermarket, one option is to bring bags of dried fruit like raisins, prunes or apricots. 

What to Buy

Obviously this is up to individual preference, but go for Japanese goods (duh). Very popular among tourists are Japanese cosmetics, which are a lot cheaper in Japan than in Singapore. For instance, the  Liese hair colour sells at Watson's for S$19.90, whereas in Osaka, you can get it for Y650 (about S$8). Incidentally, Japanese women go ga-ga over mascara and eyeliner - these two items hog advertising space throughout the city, even on trains. And speaking from personal experience, nothing beats Japanese brands in this department.

Furthermore, most of the discount stores offer tax-free shopping. Just bring along your passport for a waiver of the 8% tax. You can find these beauty stores all over Dotonbori.

Of course, another huge shopping hit is Uniqlo. There's a large outlet at one end of Shinsaibashi. And for us foodies, surprise surprise...food! We love snacks that you can't find in Singapore. Edamame bean Pretz! Calpis sweets! Sake Kit Kat! Green tea Cream Collon! So kitschy and so fun. There's no one shop that sells everything cheaper, you'll need to compare. We went to Daikoku at Shinsaibashi which carries both food and cosmetics. The prices there are quite reasonable.

Vending Machines

Ah, the thrill of Japanese vending machines! They sell anything from beer to hot food to umbrellas. What really amazed me though was that they can be found anywhere. Driving must be thirsty business in Japan because there was a vending machine at the entrance of virtually every carpark we passed. Once, we were waiting for the traffic light to change at a traffic junction and there, on the island in the middle of nowhere, was a vending machine.  

Andre was very fascinated by drinks he'd never heard of before. Who knew Coke could be a health drink?

He tried this one that quickly became a favourite - Fanta Kiwi!

English Signs

Finally, Japan wouldn't be Japan without their idiosyncratic use of the English language. I was very tickled by many of their signages.

Delicious hormone therapy

Japanese lifts are very kind - they never put you down.

It sells clothes.

There IS such a word but it probably isn't what they mean.

Okaaay.

Sometimes, it's really just gibberish.

And that's a wrap! Japan is one of my favourite holiday destinations - it's unusual and strange but in a comforting way, like a good friend with a quirky personality. It's a land of contradictions. The people are reserved but warm. The latest technological advancements co-exist easily with century-old traditions and customs. People can don kimonos one day and manga outfits the next.

And of course, the food is simply to die for. If you've never visited the land of the rising sun, I recommend you do so soon.

Arigato gozaimasu!

Seeking zen at a bamboo forest and Fushimi-Inari shrine

Day 4 (Tue, 26 September 2017)

This day, we took a day trip to Arashiyama, to see the famed bamboo forest. It's only a 15-minute train ride from Kyoto station. But first, a little about our lunch plans. In my research, I'd come across this famous beef place called Otsuka at Arashiyama. It serves wagyu steaks as well as the legendary Murasawa beef, which is supposedly the ultimate wagyu beef named after the producer. Only 80 cows a year are produced and Otsuka serves it at prices that will not bankrupt your bank account. Some of my friends recommended yakiniku restaurants in Osaka but we prefer our beef cooked for us, so we decided that our splurge meal on Japanese beef would be on steak.

Otsuka only opens for lunch from 11am to 2.30pm five days a week. I'd tried making reservations but was told they didn't have any the day we planned a visit. So we did the typical kiasu Singaporean thing when it comes to food - we strategised. When we tell people we're going to Kyoto/Osaka mainly to eat, people laugh. Why? We take our food very seriously.

We arrived at Arashiyama at 10am, an hour before the restaurant opened. To get to Otsuka, exit from the south gate of the JR Saga-Arashiyama station, turn right and walk down a small lane next to the train museum. After about 5 minutes, you will reach this sign next to a small road.

Otsuka is the last house down the lane. We wrote our names on the wait list placed outside the restaurant (at 10.10am, we weren't even the first, another person was more kiasu than we were!) Then we headed out to the bamboo forest which was very close by.

The bamboo forest is simply magical. The fresh scent added to the ethereal quality of the place. Definitely well worth a visit. We saw some clueless tourists haplessly trying to drag their luggage bags up the cobbled path of the bamboo forest. Please don't do that - you're just killing yourself (and your bags).

Just before 11am, we went back to Otsuka to claim our spot. By then, the waiting area outside had almost filled up and more than 10 parties had written their names on the list.

On the dot at 11am, a waitress came out to call the first party. We were next. The restaurant is tiny, with only four tables and some bar seating. This means that if you don't have reservations or didn't leave your name early, you're likely to have to wait for more than an hour and I've heard that they sometimes run out of choice cuts early.

We ordered four sets:

Short plate beef set

Wagyu A4 sirloin steak

Flat iron steak

Murasawa sirloin steak (grade 5)

Close up of Murasawa steak

Our verdict? We've never tasted steak like this ever. The Murasawa steak was so fatty and tender it melted in your mouth. The flat iron steak was a surprise - it was the fattiest of the lot and like slicing through butter. The short plate beef set was ordered by Lesley-Anne because she's not a huge fan of beef and didn't want to splurge on what she calls "hunks of meat". But the beef turned out to be so super tender and the marinade very, very tasty. Fantastic value for money. Note: If you like steaks for the beefy taste, you might actually not be used to higher grade wagyus, as the taste is less intense. But we enjoyed the experience tremendously - definitely something to try when in Japan.

When we left the restaurant, Otsuka was only seating party no. 9 (who was already waiting when the restaurant opened) and the waiting area was full. So follow my tip and go early!

Stomachs full, we went to the Tenryu-ji temple. You will come across an entrance to the temple in the bamboo forest but we realised later that there is another entrance on the way to the Togetsukyo Bridge, so you don't have to go back through the bamboo forest to visit the temple.

We paid Y500 each to visit only the temple grounds, not the buildings. The gardens are very beautiful. I wish we could have seen them in autumn, they must be stunning.

A panoramic view

Dragon at the dragon gate

After the temple, time for ice cream! There's a popular shop at the entrance of the bamboo forest selling soft serve matcha ice cream for Y350 but we bought from an elderly man in a less commercial shop just across the road for only Y200. Support the elderly lah.

The last place we visited at Arashiyama was the Togetsukyo Bridge. It stretches across the Katsura River, where many people were playing or relaxing. Very scenic.

Initially, we only had Arashiyama planned for the day, but we ended our visit quite early in the day, so decided to also go to the famous Fushimi-Inari shrine. It's known, of course, for its iconic orange torii gates which wind up the mountain.

The hike up the full trail of torii gates is about 4km. If you're as unfit as I am, that's a terribly daunting prospect and you're likely to walk just two or three sections before returning back down. The thing is, the lower sections tend to be jam packed with equally unfit people, so getting a nice photo without being photo bombed is a challenge in itself. The higher you go, the fewer people, the nicer the pics (duh).

Tip: the first stretch of torii gates start on the right hand side of a temple. On the left hand side however, there is a short track up the mountain. This is for people to take a short cut down the trail without having to retrace their steps the entire way. So if you take that track up, you'll reach the end of the second section of the torii gates within 5 minutes or less, and you can start your trek upwards from there, bypassing the initial crowded sections. You're welcome.

After a full day of sight-seeing, we returned to Kyoto station for dinner (more food!) and decided to try Katsukura, a katsu (pork cutlet) restaurant with good reviews. It's located on the 11th floor of Kyoto station, which is a food row.

Here, you grind your own sesame seeds in a bowl to create the sauce for your katsu.

Lesley-Anne and I are not fans of pork, so we opted for prawns instead. Very generous portions.

Katsu and crab croquette

Potato croquette

You get unlimited refills of barley rice, salad and miso soup. More importantly, the batter is excellent - crunchy and not too heavy. A good choice if you're a fan of katsu.

Ni deep in Kyoto

Day 3 (Mon, 25 September 2017)

This day, we headed out bright and not-so-early to Nishiki Market. This was going to be our brunch spot. We had a strategy - try lots of stuff until we were stuffed. Nishiki Market is an easy 5-minute walk from Shijo station.

The market is basically one street of about 500m, with stalls on both sides selling anything from fresh seafood and snacks to fruit and vegetables, flowers and souvenirs. There's so much to see, it took us about 2 hours just to complete our round of the market.

One of the first things we ate at the market was a soy bean cream croquette. We weren't expecting much since this was one of the first few stalls we came to (you know the old wives' tale - better quality and bargains further in!).

Boy, were we wrong. The croquette was absolutely divine - so smooth, creamy and tasty. It's possibly the best croquette we've ever tasted and leaves regular potato croquettes in the dust. We went back and bought four more.

Some other things we tried: grilled eel and eel tempura from a stall that specialised in conger pike eel.

Thick, fluffy rolled omelette. This is the savoury version, not the sweet type you tend to get on your sushi.

Octopus stuffed with a quail egg.

Grilled scallop in butter sauce that the stallholder sears on the spot. This was another item so delicious that we returned for another.

Crispy rice cracker that comes in a multitude of flavours.

Andre ordered a grape mochi that didn't look like much, but it actually contained two whole grapes! It was so sweet and succulent that he had to have another.

A couple of things to note: first, eating at Nishiki Market is not cheap once you add up the costs for all the small bites of food, so be prepared. You probably won't get full unless you're prepared to spend a lot, but it's a great opportunity to try lots of different food.

Two, when buying street food, you might be used to eating it on the go but in Japan, it's polite to eat what you buy next to or in the stall you bought it from, finishing it before moving on. Most of the stalls only have a little space inside or on the side with a couple of makeshift chairs. Enough to sit down for a little while and enjoy your snack.

After so much eating, we decided to imbibe in a little culture by going to Nijo-jo Castle. If you have your Kansai One Pass ICOCA card, you pay only Y500 instead of Y600 for the entry ticket. Built in 1603 during the Edo Period, it served as a home and office for the shogun.

What I found fascinating about the palace were the nightingale floors, named because they "sang" like birds when you stepped on them due to the way the nails were placed. According to Andre, he said the floors were built this way to prevent assassins from sneaking past the floors to their targets at night. It really did sound like birds singing! Photography is not allowed in the palace. This is outside the palace.

The castle grounds are very picturesque. I can imagine how pretty it must be during autumn when the leaves change colour. Unfortunately for us, it was still summer so it got rather warm and there wasn't much shade except at the rest areas.

We were pretty tired after walking the castle grounds, so we took a cab back to the hotel.

Tip: if you're a family of four, it may make more sense to take a cab instead of a train, especially for short distances. The fare for our trip from Nijo-jo Castle to RIHGA Royal Hotel was Y1,500 (about S$18). If we had taken a train to Kyoto statioin, it would have cost us Y1,040, so it's just a little less. 

After a couple of hours' rest at the hotel, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Kyoto station for dinner, which was at Edogawa, an eel restaurant. The restaurant is located on the south west side of the station.

Since they specialise in eel, we ordered eel - four sets of it.

If you want our honest opinion, the eel was good, but it didn't taste very different from the ones you can get back home in Singapore. Nevertheless, it was a tasty meal.

After that, we went to Isetan to hunt for some fruit. There's a huge Isetan in Kyoto station - 11 floors with two basement levels of food. We quickly discovered that fruit is crazy expensive in Japan. Most fruit is sold singly, even bananas. An apple for Y200 (about S$2.50)! It must cost a bomb trying to get two servings of fruit here.

We decided to splurge on some massive high end black grapes at Y980 a punnet.

I've never bought grapes so precious that they come bubble-wrapped! They're large and very sweet, with a wine-like quality.

We also bought a pack of three Chinese pears, so large that we could share one among the four of us.

A cheaper alternative to Isetan supermarket is Harves, located at the south west side of Kyoto station, ground floor. It offers fruit, dairy, drinks, snacks, even a small selection of ready-to-eat food at reasonable prices. Kyoto station really is a great place to stay close to - you can find anything here.