###**Part 2 – Days 7 – 12 (Osaka, Hiroshima, Kamakura, and Tokyo)**
[Previous Post:](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/y0vq5w/trip_report_part_1_18_days_in_september_2022/?) ERFS Information, arrival in Tokyo, Kanazawa, and Kyoto!
[Next Post:](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/y0vs27/trip_report_18_days_in_september_2022_tokyo/?) Kawaguchiko, Hakone and Tokyo!
Our Shenanigans continue! With the ERFS not being cancelled, and the heat of a Kyoto summer past us how will the rest of our trip fare? Well, sadly, the heat was NOT past us, like at all. Japanese summers… yikes.
**Day 7 – Osaka (Accommodation – [Hotel Granvia Osaka](https://www.hotelgranviaosaka.jp/en/))**
We did not want to leave our cozy little home in Kyoto! But I’d secretly booked this hotel location without my partner knowing we were going here at all. Parts of the trip he was apprised of, but large part of it were a surprise, and this room was one of them. Why? On our first trip to Japan together, he’d spotted the building coming out of Osaka station, and mused what the view must be like from up there. He loves taking cityscape photography, so [Umeda Sky/Kuchu Teien](https://www.skybldg.co.jp/en/) was already on my list, but I had to outdo myself juust a bit.
So, off to the 28th floor we went. He was immediately suspicious when he saw the special elevators, and I denied knowing anything other than it being a hotel… until we walked into our room and he got his surprise of a gorgeous view of Osaka.
After we’d dropped off our bags, and grabbed a quick drink at the 7-11 on the main station level (hey, you gotta save money somehow), we took some time to reacquaint ourselves with the [Umeda area](https://umeda-sc.jp/en/) again. Once, a former Japanese coworker of mine told me “Japan is beautiful, but Osaka is for shopping” and she was not wrong. We decided after the heat of Kyoto, a day indoors in the A/C was just what our old and weary bodies ordered. I may have spent a bit too much at a nearby art supply store, and we had to sadly part with the idea of bringing home futon for our bedroom since shipping to Canada still seems to be suspended at this time. Maybe next year?
After another stop back at the hotel for a quick shower x 2 and change of clothes, we headed to the Observatory for sundown and photos. A snack at the cafe in the building, and a slow wander back to the hotel before deciding to have dinner at one of the restaurants in the building – [Shizuku.](https://www.hotelgranviaosaka.jp/en/dining/casual-japanese-shizuku/) For about 7,000 per person you can get a lovely kaiseki meal in an atmospheric dining room, with excellent service. I could honestly kaiseki every night in Japan, the concept of having small dishes, all suited to a theme of seasonal food, and in a nicely appointed room is literal heaven to us both.
Another quick stop at the Seven for snacks and it was off to the room.. to snap as many photos of Osaka from on-high as possible. He was in his element, and I’m glad he enjoyed himself as much as he did.
**Day 8 – Hiroshima Daytrip (Accommodation – [Hotel Granvia Osaka](https://www.hotelgranviaosaka.jp/en/))**
I have never been to Hiroshima before. I know, I know, but it’s never been high on my list of places to visit, even when Miyajima was open. It always seemed like part of a future Kyushu trip to me.
Well, in the early stages of planning, my partner had mentioned that not only was he disappointed we missed out on it last time, he REALLY wanted to go this time because of [Okonomimura.](http://www.okonomimura.jp/foreign/english.html)
For those of you who don’t know, it’s an area of the city that specializes in Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, which is made with noodles and a thin batter, unlike Osaka style. We’d done Osaka style on our last trip (and I swear it’s still in my belly somewhere – it’s a VERY heavy meal if you’re not accustomed to it), so he was excited to give Hiroshima style a try and settle, for himself, which one was The Best In Japan.
**(Personal thoughts below! Have you tried them both? Did you prefer Osaka style, or Hiroshima style?)**
I had also never been to the Peace Museum or the Peace Park, and had read the story of Sadako Sasaki as a child and wanted to see the statue for myself, so the next morning we made our way to Hiroshima via bullet train.
We were still waking relatively early, so getting up for a 9am departure wasn’t too bad but we dilly-dallyed too much when picking out snacks and lunch for the train, and almost missed not only our train TO Shin-Osaka station, but the Shinkansen itself to Hiroshima. A good lesson in time management for us both.
Does Hiroshima make a good daytrip? I previously, without having gone, would have said no. It seems like there’s a lot to do, and an easy way to miss a lot of great things is by overplanning and underpreparing.
(You see where this is going, right?)
We definitely could have done Hiroshima at a more relaxed pace if we’d spent an overnight there. However, when the initial plans were done, we figured the most important parts were the Peace Museum and Park, Okonomiyaki, and Shukkeien Garden, which was on our way back to the station. Easy peasy.
Except that we (again) didn’t really account for the heat. It made walking uncomfortable, and even though Hiroshima has a great transit system of buses, we still had to do all of the Peace Park, plus [Hiroshima Castle](https://www.rijo-castle.jp/) (which was close to the park, and my partner hadn’t been), and the garden on foot. By this point, I had my UV umbrella to keep the direct sun off, but that was about all it was good for. If Japan could just… make public showers in the summer, that would be so helpful….
That being said, by the end of the day, even though I was exhausted and super-sweaty, it was worth it. Hiroshima is a nice little city, and I do hope to return again to spend some time in Miyajima and exploring the… yep, shopping areas in the downtown. I *think* they have a Hotel Granvia chain there too…
**Day 9 – Osaka (Accommodation – [Hotel Granvia Osaka](https://www.hotelgranviaosaka.jp/en/))**
Morning of our last full Osaka day dawned with my partner throwing the curtain open to catch the sunrise. Thanks, honey.
(The pictures ARE really lovely, but the effect from my side of the bed was akin to welder’s flash, I swear…)
Today we knew we wanted to head to Dotonbori and Namba for some takoyaki and another round of okonomiyaki. Yesterday’s experience with Hiroshima style had merely whetted my partner’s appetite for more, and while I definitely wanted to sit this one out, he wanted to push himself to have Osaka style as well and finally declare a personal victor.
(He didn’t. We got all the way down there later that evening and he just stood outside of the restaurant we found and realized… he couldn’t do it. It was good the last time we’d had it but… his heart belongs to Hiroshima style okonomiyaki now, and it will not stray. Never again. Sorry Osaka. Instead, he put a bunch of balls in his mouth. Octopus balls.)
Given that it was our last full day in Osaka I wasn’t going to let the Japanese Economy go unsupported another minute, so I grabbed some cash and my credit card and went to make a fool of myself at the nearby mall for a couple of hours.
After spending the evening at Dotonbori, we ended up back at a nearby sushi restaurant for second dinner (third lunch? Who knows anymore) where I again embarrassed myself on sake and conversation with some locals. It was grand.
**Day 10 – Kamakura Daytrip (Accommodation – [Hyatt Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills](https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/japan/andaz-tokyo-toranomon-hills/tyoaz))**
Whoa, that hangover though.
Thankfully, Sober Amy had shipped the luggage out the day before with Yamato Transport to our hotel in Tokyo. Smart!
Learning a lesson from our trip to Hiroshima we got up quite early, grabbed some breakfast and iced coffees, and headed directly to Shin-Osaka station for our trip to Kamakura. We had some excellent views of Fuji on the way out, and I was able to nap away a bit of my hangover before we ended up at Shinagawa Station, where we locked up the rest of our bags before our transfer to the Yokosuka Line and onwards to Kamakura!
Now, we’d intended for this day to be a visit of this gorgeous little seaside town that we felt we didn’t spend enough time in on our last trip in 2018. We also were headed here for the [Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3102.html) festival of [Yabusame,](https://www.gltjp.com/en/article/item/11902/) or Horseback Archery. It happens a few times a year at this shrine, and I thought it would be a really cool thing to witness, as well as giving us more time in Kamakura before going back to Tokyo. Kamakura itself has an [important place in samurai history in Japan,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura) and we always find it to be a great little visit thanks to the shops, the temples and shines, and of course, the beach.
On arrival at the Shrine, it certainly *looked* like a festival was occurring. There were tons of people milling around, drums and shamisen were being accompanied by a flute, there were food and drink booths open as well – but we didn’t see anything set up for the horses or archery.
The Shrine had recently built a museum on the grounds, and that museum had a [cafe.](https://www.hachimangu.or.jp/en/activity/facility/shop.html) As the beach weather was hot and sunny, we ducked into the cafe for another round of iced drinks and a brunch meal while we tried to sort out where the archery was *actually* happening. (Note to those who may go to the cafe for brunch – the French Toast and 5-Spice Maple Syrup is INCREDIBLE and definitely sized to share as well.)
Nothing specific was coming up on the Town Website, or even the Shrine English website for instructions for seating for Yabusame. No location change had been announced either. While we were seated and waiting for the meal to arrive, my partner (who has better Japanese skills than I do) caught a conversation from some older folks behind us, indicating that the archery part had actually been cancelled this year – and it sounded like it was on rather short notice. Dangit.
That gave us the freedom to continue exploring Kamakura at our own pace, and we spent more time shopping (surprise), eating (had my first proper Kakigori at a little cafe on the shopping street by the station), and of course wandering in the water at the beach. Unfortunately, by the time we figured out the archery hadn’t been moved to another location (as there was clearly no setup at the Shrine – but we had hope!), it was a bit hot and late in the day to begin heading to other locations, as we’d intended to be back in Tokyo for our hotel checkin at 5pm.
**Note to all entering travelers – we had a couple of places in Kamakura that refused to serve us as they did not have any english speaking staff at the time. Kamakura wasn’t the only place we encountered this, it happened in just about every city we stopped in at least once. Please, *please*, be patient with places you are visiting once the borders open as lots of businesses are not fully staffed, or may not have ANY english speaking staff on hand and may turn you away as a result. If this happens, please just move on to the next location, and don’t take it personally.**
I had opted to tell my partner about the hotel we were staying at in Tokyo in advance because I’m REALLY bad at keeping secrets, and to encourage him to take his good camera with the wide angle lens for our trip so he could get some good photos of the view. He forgot the proper lens though, and was kinda kicking himself when we arrived and he saw the room we had, and the view it gave us over Tokyo at night.
The Hotel itself is really nice. [I’m glad I splurged for the night](https://www.hyatt.com/shop/tyoaz?roomTypeCode=2VDK&location=Andaz%20Tokyo%20Toranomon%20Hills&checkinDate=2022-11-16&checkoutDate=2022-11-17&rooms=1&adults=1&kids=0&rate=Standard), as the room, the bathroom (the BATHTUB, OMG), and the view were all unmatched. The staff all spoke excellent english, and the lounge and restaurant were gorgeous. The only thing I regret is not going to the bar for drinks and the night view, but I’d had other plans that sadly went terribly awry….
Being a fan of Kill Bill, I wanted to take him to Gonpachi for dinner as it wasn’t far from the hotel, and is known for inspiring the setting for the battle between The Bride and Gogo Yubari in the movie. “Food on sticks” is often the aim when he goes out on his own, so I thought this would be a great location to snack and drink the night away.
Well, it would [if we had made reservations.](https://gonpachi.jp/nishi-azabu/) For walk-ins, next availability was 10pm – roughly 3 hours from when we’d arrived, which was incredibly disappointing and a major miss on my part.
My partner was a little put out with the denial at Gonpachi, and we’d made another mistake in leaving the hotel without the pocket wifi, thinking we wouldn’t need to refer back to the internet or any translation apps for the night. That left us both hangry and wandering, and ending up at a Yoshinoya by the hotel instead. It came in a lot cheaper than Gonpachi, at least.
**Day 11 – Tokyo (Accommodation – [Tosei Hotel Cocone Kuramae](https://tosei-hotel.co.jp/asakusakuramae/))**
The next morning, I had purchased tickets for the [Sailor Moon Exhibit](https://sailormoon-museum.com/en/) at the nearby Roppongi Museum. My partner opted to take the wifi and go exploring the rest of Roppongi on his own while I had my teenage years revisited in hot pink and moon power. I really enjoyed the exhibits, my favourite part was the only room you can’t take photos of at all – the original images Naoko painted for the various Artbooks from the series. Every few weeks, the exhibit is changed over, and until November 6th, the 3 and 4th arcs of the series are being displayed. It’s really interesting to see the artwork as it was meant to be seen – there’s far more glitter and beads on some of these images than the scans pick up! I managed to curb my enthusiasm for the gift shop though, since our luggage was already crammed full.
Once we met up again and headed over to the hotel to check in, the focus became finding a restaurant that had yakitori. Still smarting from last night’s miss, we asked at the hotel if anyone in the area was noted for their food, and they gave us directions to one just on the other side of the street, where we had another great evening of “meat on sticks”, tuna sashimi, and beer. We finished off the night with ice cream, and a walk by the Sumida river for some cityscape photos.
**Day 12 – Tokyo (Accommodation – [Tosei Hotel Cocone Kuramae](https://tosei-hotel.co.jp/asakusakuramae/))**
At this point, we knew the typhoon was coming. Our last day in Tokyo was gearing up to be a rainy one, so we opted to re-arrange the original locations (Shibuya/Harajuku/Shin-Okubo) to stay out of the rain, and head to Nakano Broadway instead for the morning. We got to pore over vintage toys, new anime neither of us had ever heard of, and of course, stop at one of my favourite little cafes for cake and tea – Sakakoshi. It’s located inside Nakano Broadway, on the 2nd floor, and is a lovely, cozy little location staffed by two older ladies. It has a great selection of coffee, tea, juice, and sweets, and is a good place to take some time off your feet and just rest after a day of shopping.
Speaking of shopping – that’s pretty much where the rest of the day went. We took the train over to the Tokyo Skytree, and had the rest of our day there, eating, shopping, snacking, shopping, and eventually made our way back to the hotel to repack (yet again) and lock up the big bag with the front desk for our return in a few days.
Next stops are Mt Fuji and Hakone, and our final days in Tokyo for this trip before heading home!
###**Mistakes Were Made! – Second Edition**
Continuing on with my habit of exposing my own trip planning failures:
>- **Having Only 1 Pocket Wi-fi**: Given that we’d entered on the ERFS, and my impression was we needed to stay together as much as possible, I figured only having 1 Pocket Wi-fi would make sense for this trip only. Nope. Sure didn’t. On our Roppongi night out, another Pocket Wi-fi would have come in handy (we’d left ours behind largely because the battery was low, and we didn’t want to carry the whole charging setup with us the entire night) and we should have done 2 of them. Heed my warning – for safety, security, and proper mapping/translation purposes, 1 Pocket Wi-fi per adult is the best investment you will make on a trip if SIM cards are not your thing.
>- **Checking Restaurants For Reservations**: We were actually asked quite frequently if we had reservations. So much so that I should have realized after our first week that maybe I should review the websites of the other locations I wanted to take my partner to, just to confirm if reservations were available. I did not, and we missed out on Gonpachi as a result. At least Yoshinoya was able to take us in on short notice. 😉 Next time, I’ll ensure we make reservations for the locations we really know we want to experience.
>- **Not Double Checking Festival Information**: So, this one isn’t really likely to apply in the future, but we also made a mis-step here. We didn’t check the Japanese version of the Tsurugaoka website to see that the festival had been cancelled. If we had, we could have cut shorter our time at the Shrine, and made it to at least one or two other locations in Kamakura before heading back to Tokyo. Also, shopping was really beginning to become a problem as there were…
>- **Too Many Shopping Stops**: In the moment, yes, I always want to shop. I love souvenirs, I love trinkets, and I especially love finding things that I cannot easily get in Canada for a good price. In fact, my first trip was comprised of me buying a ton of art supplies (mostly COPIC markers), kitchenware (which my partner also enjoys), and some clothing when I found things that fit. I learned on that first trip that shipping items out are always a better idea – but Japan Post was not shipping regular parcel post overseas. This left me to buy another bag to stuff our clothes in, so I could make room for more souvenirs. Next time there will be less clothes, less shopping (or only very specific items maybe?), and more shipping overseas. Hopefully by [my next trip](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014.html) Japan Post will be back to normal, parcel-wise. Another regret: shopping also takes away time you can use to visit Museums and other indoor attractions – something I sometimes forget. I definitely could have gone to some non-shopping locations this time, but it was easy to default to malls and shopping streets instead. My partner ended up being a victim of my poor planning.
See you in the [next post!](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/y0vs27/trip_report_18_days_in_september_2022_tokyo/?)