TRIP REPORT – 15 day in KANSAI (Osaka, Nara, Kobe), TESHIMA + NAOSHIMA ART ISLANDS, KYUSHU (Fukuoka, Mt Aso, Takachiho Gorge, Kurokawa Onsen, Beppu, Yufuin, Kokura)

My partner and I were in Japan around the first half of October and thought to share our experience on the trip in case it’s useful to anyone!We started and ended our trip in Osaka and visited the non-Kansai areas in the order listed in the title.**About us:**

* Late 30s, average fitness, lived in Osaka for a couple of years but haven’t been to Japan in more than a decade. First time to the Art Islands and Kyushu.
* I speak Japanese but am very rusty and my partner knows simple words (esp food-related) and phrases
* Interested in food, shopping (esp kawaii stuff), anime/game merch
* No interest in hiking or theme parks; limited interest in museums/temples /shrines as we’ve seen loads in the past
* The aim of this trip was to take things relatively easy and enjoy being back in Japan, though we still covered fair ground in Kyushu

# TRIP SUMMARY

* **Highlights (sights)**: Mt Aso and Aso-Kujo National Park; our ryokan Oyado Noshiyu in Kurokawa Onsen, Hello Kitty shinkansen
* **Highlights (food)**: Akaushi don at Mt Aso, Gyukatsu Motomura, warm cheesecake from Milch in Yufuin, cream puff from Patisserie Roku in Kurokawa Onsen
* **Let downs**: Beppu, Fukuoka
* **Pleasant surprises**: Yufuin, Kokura

# GENERAL COMMENTS

* **Mobile data:** Ubigi 10GB E-SIM and Sakura Mobile unlimited data physical SIM. No issues with activating and had good coverage throughout. I was the main navigator and 10GB was loads, but I don’t stream/watch videos
* **JR Pass:** 14-day pass as the calculator suggested we’ll have small savings based on initial plans and we decided to get it to stop having to think about how much transport costs will eventually add up to. It turned out to give us flexibility to hop in and out of stations and change our plans at will so it worked well for us.
* **Subway**: when required we bought tickets from the ticket machine – it’s really simple and easy to use and the machines offer English interface. I’m not sure why many on the Japan travel subs make it out to be such a hassle.
* **Driving**: We rented a car for 3 days for \~£200 from Toyota Rental; picked up in Kumamoto and dropped off in Beppu. More reflections on driving in Japan at the end.
* **Luggage**: we each had a normal backpack, plus 1 large + 1 small suitcase between us. We also had foldable bags which we’d used to store our shopping but on hindsight we should’ve brought 2 large suitcases so we could’ve bought more.
* **Luggage forwarding**: this made no sense based on our itinerary. Moving about with our two wheeled cases was no issue – all stations have escalators and lifts (you may need to walk further down the platform) and all our hotels offer luggage storage services. Travelling on trains and subways with luggage was no issue either – it’s no different from being a tourist in a country where luggage forwarding services do not exist. We used coin lockers just once in Beppu and it cost 1300¥.
* **Money**: card is accepted practically everywhere in Osaka/Kansai but less so elsewhere. Generally speaking, most restaurants/coffee chains and all combinis accept card but temples/shrines do not. We decided to go cash-based for Kyushu after arriving in Fukuoka where a bakery chain informed us they were cash-only. We withdrew cash from 7-11 arms using our Chase bank card which has no additional charges for foreign currency transactions.
* **Food**: apart from a handful of places, we mostly ate wherever was handy. We snacked a fair amount and most meals were less than ¥4,000 for 2. Breakfast was usually a coffee from one of the many chains and a bun from a Japanese bakery (sometimes bought the night before), or stuff from a conbini if stuck.
* **Step count**: we averaged 20k steps a day, which is lower than most partly due to the few days on Teshima (cycling on e-bikes) and Mt Aso/Takachiho/Kurokawa where most of our steps were up and down slopes. Probably because of our lower step count, we only had sore feet but nothing more serious. I had 2 pairs of shoes which I rotated between and my partner had just 1 pair – both of us wore trainers.

# OSAKA – DAYS 1, 2, 3

* Arrived in KIX around 9am, there were no queues at the Sakura mobile counter and about 2 or 3 ahead of us in line to pick up the JR Pass.
* Dropped off bags at **Hearton Hotel Kita Umeda**: ¥21,000 for 2 nights.

Food highlights:

* Conveyor belt sushi at **Sushiro** Chayamachi outlet – really good raw stuff but I wouldn’t recommend their cooked items
* Okonomiyaki and yakisoba from **Fugetsu** (it’s our favourite though not it’s not one of the most popular outlets)
* Cake and coffee from **HARBS** \- my favourite cake place, huge slices of cake or pies with delicious fresh cream between ¥800 – ¥1100. Their mille crepe filled with fresh cream and fruits is one of their best sellers.

Sights/shopping:

* We didn’t do much as we wanted to visit some of our favourite places plus shop
* Explored the Umeda area – Hankyu sanban gai, Yodobashi Camera, DAIMARU (Nintendo, Pokemon and Capcom stores), LUCUA. So many new buildings and malls have come up since and the underground area is even more vast and complex than before. I would’ve loved to spend a week just figuring out this maze.
* Kamigata Ukiyoe Museum – quite small and only interesting if you’re keen on kabuki-themed ukiyoe .Might be worth it for the wood block printing experience at an additional charge which we didn’t go for.
* Walked from the museum down the Ebisubashisuji shopping street to Den Den Town, then got a subway from Ebisucho (Shin-sekai) for some food.
* More shopping down Shinsaibashisuji (Parco – Ghibli store, Capcom store, Tokyu Hands)Some Taiko no Tatsujin here and there

TIPS:

* **LUCUA** is right above JR Osaka station and we found it easier to orient from LUCUA rather than from one of the many subway lines
* Hands is more well known but **LoFt** in Chayamachi is where to go to stock up on stationary and cards. It’s several floors of goodies with no crowds and the upper levels have anime/character merch too.
* Umeda area has better shopping, more food and relatively fewer crowds than Namba/Shinsaibashi in our opinion

# TESHIMA – DAY 4

* Departed Osaka for Uno on Day 3 evening to arrive in Uno around 8pm – I wasn’t comfortable with the transfer timings to risk the journey on Day 4 morning (and wasn’t keen to wake up at stupid o’clock either)
* Overnight in **Uno Port Inn** \- at ¥13,800 for a night it was the most expensive accommodation after our ryokan but with the tiniest room, but we made it work with our luggage by having blatant disregard for fire safety. Its location and friendly staff made up for the small room though
* Left our luggage overnight at a charge on Day 4 morning and departed for Teshima on the 8.40am ferry with essentials and a change of clothes

Food:

* Yummy motsunabe at the izakaya **Doraya** next door to Uno Port Inn
* The most delicious battered fish + veg set lunch at **Shima Kitchen** on Teshima – vegetables had never tasted so good, and they should bottle and sell the sweet chilli sauce atop their fried items. Served with soup, rice, pickles, salad – I’ve never eaten this much veggies this happily. Highly recommended.

Sights:

* Upon arriving on Teshima, we picked up our pre-booked electric bikes from **NPO豊島PPプロジェクト** and basically had a great time just cycling around the gorgeous island and checking out the artElectric bikes are a must if cycling – lots of steep hills and traversing the island means going up and down and up and down..
* **Teshima Art Museum** \- 10/10, fascinating exhibit, must visit
* Needle Factory – 4/10, the exterior was more interesting than the main exhibit
* **Teshima Yokoo House** \- 9/10, loved the garden and glass floor
* Particles in the Air (free) – 8/10, beautiful spot and great views
* No one wins – Multibasket (free) – 7/10 lots of fun
* Teshima Rice Field project (free) – 10/10, utterly stunning this time of year
* Place for Sea Dreamers (free) – 6/10, great views along the way but the art itself was okay
* Departed for Teshima on the 15:10 ferry to Naoshima Honmura port

# NAOSHIMA – DAY 5

Overnight in **Episode1** \- comfortable and spacious lodgings with a kitchenette but had to phone the owner from my UK number before he arrived with check in procedures. No shops nearby, just an okonomiyaki place and ramen/izakaya eatery. ¥11,000 for one night

Sights:

* Tried but failed to enter Minamidera Art House Project on Day 4 afternoon – didn’t realise it was a timed ticket (you can’t choose the time) and extremely popular. We eventually saw Go’o Shrine (7/10 but not easy to find) and Kadoya (5/10, trust the Google reviews)
* Arrived at Kusama’s yellow pumpkin around 7.30am – hardly anyone about and we a relaxed, tranquil morning strolling and viewing the outdoor art exhibits on the Benesse House Museum grounds
* Entered Benesse House Museum upon its opening at 8.30am – 7/10, some interesting pieces but not a priority
* Loads of time to spare – took some photos outside the Lee Ufan Museum and had a leisurely stroll to Chichu Art Museum for our 10am entry as nothing else was open
* Chichu Art Museum – the museum itself is a mixed bag. The Walter Di Maria exhibit was beautiful, the 5 Monet paintings were okay (they’re not his best pieces imo) but the main James Turrell piece was SUPER COOL. To be honest I’m not sure this was worth the money and effort, especially as the day was structured around it
* Valley Museum – entry is included in Benesse House Museum admission and 2 pieces, one of which is a cool Kusama installation

I would’ve liked to spend more time exploring the Honmura area as the random street art were actually some of the more attractive and accessible pieces of art. We were so tired from the early start and relative lack of food options that we decided to leave an hour early on the 1.55pm ferry back to UnoBeing Shinkansen noobs we ended up booking seats on the slow Kodama train (will just get on non-reserved cars in future rather than trying to get reserved seats for our luggage) and arrived in Fukuoka later than originally planned.

# FUKUOKA – DAY 6

Stayed 2 nights in **Mars Garden Hotel**, ¥23,500 total.

Ventured to some of the sights recommended in a few blogs:

* Sumiyoshi Shrine – 6/10, it’s nice but not that impressive compared to other shrines we’ve seen elsewhere
* Rakuseien Garden – 5/10, tiny and not that great a garden
* Mangyoji – went due to promise of cats at shrine reception. 5/10, there was a cat but the temple itself looked imposing and didn’t seem interesting enough for us to venture in
* Kushida shrine – 8/10 for the close up of the super cool and towering Yamakasa float
* Ohori Garden – 10/10, utterly stunning Japanese garden, scenic at every turn
* Ohori Park – 8/10, lovely relaxed place for a walk
* Fukuoka Art Museum – 7/10, we went in for a Mecha Robot Exhibition which was less interesting than we thought it’d be (then again we’re not big fans of/ don’t know much about Mecha anime)
* Canal City Hakata light show – 6/10, the normal light show is a bit lame but the special version (we caught the Gundam one) was something a bit different.

Food:

* Lunch at **Yoshizuka Unagi** \- 1hr queue when we took a ticket just before noon. Different from other unagi don as the grilled eel has crispy skin which we’ve never encountered.
* Dinner was ramen and yakitori at one of the yatai, which I think are wayyyyyyyyy overrated. The yakitori was nice but ramen was average, in a crowded setting and only very slightly cheaper than dining in a restaurant. The yatai also pale in comparison to street food in other parts of Asia, so we didn’t get the fuss over it

Fukuoka didn’t really do it for us unfortunately. It was a little spread out and didn’t seem all that interesting, though I know we didn’t venture further out to some of the sights like Fukuoka Tower or Dazaifu.

# MT ASO – DAY 7

Took the train from Fukuoka to Kumamoto to pick up our rental car, views were uneventful until we reached the Aso National Park.

We were able to go right up to the Nakadake crater – incredible view of the volcano though my partner found the sulphur smell a tad strong. Also took in views from the Kusaneri Viewpoint, said hello to Komezuka and went up Daikanbō Lookout.

The Akaushi beef don at the New Kusaneri eatery ranks way up there as one of the best meals of this entire trip. My partner’s katsu curry rice was good too but my bowl of rare beef slices served with a soft boiled egg and spicy miso is unforgettable.**\*deep breath\***Mt Aso and the Aso-Kuju National Park area are utterly stunning. Absolutely gorgeous views all around, loved the beautiful cedars (I think that’s what they are), every twist and turn in the road was so scenic. We’re not really the kind to rave about scenery but this region was something special, so special in fact that not only do we 1000% recommend visiting Aso, we would even love to return to just drive around, soak in the views, stay in a ryokan overlooking the mountains and check out some of the other sights spotted along the way. We could’ve spent more time on the mountain there but had to move on to check into our Takachiho accommodation in time.

# TAKACHIHO GORGE – DAY 8

* Overnight in **Kashi Besso Takachiho**, ¥8600 for an entire house that could fit 6 to 8 people. It was kitted out with anything you could want and located between the free Ohashi carpark and entrance to the Gorge walkway. Highly recommended
* The town is soooo dark and quiet at night, and the supermarket shut at 8pm so it was an early night for us
* On Day 8 we set off around 9am, which gave us plenty of time to stroll to down the pathway towards the rental boat area towards the gorge. NOTE: some carparks closer to the gorge were already full or almost full by 9.30am or 10am on a weekday.

Sights:

* **Takachiho Gorge** was beautiful (9/10) but Mt Aso is a tough act to follow, and I think blogs have overhyped this place a little. The rental row boats are definitely recommended for the view from the water but they were a little tricky to steer. We were at the gorge for about 3hrs including lunch, then decided to try to visit some things we skipped yesterday while on route to Kurokawa Onsen
* **Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine** \- 8/10, gorgeous setting beneath the tall trees with moss covered stone lanterns lining the path. It’s a slight taste of what Okunoin in Koya-san is like. Bewarned of lots of steps on a steep incline – it took us about 35 to 40min to go up and down, after the workout we had this morning and yesterday
* **Takamori Tree House** \- 10/10, fascinating and stunning structure which was apparently constructed to protect an ancient cedar tree

We also had some nagashi somen, hyuganatsu soft serve and soft, chewy walnut miso dango at the Takachiho Gorge area – they were delicious.

# KUROKAWA ONSEN – DAY 9

We arrived in Kurokawa Onsen slightly after 3pm, which was a great decision as our ryokan Oyado Noshiyu was utterly stunning:

* It’s more exclusive than the Booking.com description made it out to be
* Welcome refreshments of mochi and tea upon arrival
* Maximum guest capacity of 20, very tranquil and comfortably hushed inside
* Lots of seating areas within the ryokan and its compound to just relax and admire the gardens or the views
* Rooms were huge and had the most amazing bathroom
* Supremely comfy pyjamas, in addition to the yukata and happi (traditional outdoor ‘coat’)
* Mix of indoor and outdoor gender separated baths, and private outdoor baths that can be used with when available (no prior booking needed). We managed to hop around 4 of the 5 private outdoor baths even though it was too hot to properly enjoy onsen
* Delicious kaiseki dinner and traditional Japanese breakfast included for only ¥55,300 for a night.
* Highly recommended as it’s very foreigner friendly and the staff speak good English
* If we had more time we should’ve booked two nights to just enjoy the immensely comfortable accommodation

As for Kurokawa Onsen town itself:

* It’s tiny and there’s not much to see or do – we’d been to Arima Onsen in Hyogo which had a good number of shops and a couple of interesting museums, hence were a little surprised by Kurokawa
* The town is very quiet in the morning, so there’s not much do see or do after checking out at 11am. Would recommend to explore the town in the afternoon when it’s livelier (eg around 3.30pm to 4pm)
* The **Patisserie Roku** cream puff is seriously good (forget Shirohige Papa which is rather average) – what makes this stand out is the crispy puff exterior and the immensely rich, creamy filling. So good we had seconds.

We drove to **Hirano Dai** viewpoint after checking out on Day 9 and actually hiked for about an hour before heading on to Beppu. No idea what came over us then! Lovely views from the mountain.On route, we stopped by **Mizu no Ek**i, famed for its delicious spring water – people were actually loading up huge containers in the boot. We thought the water was nice (but not delicious) though the rest stop had an **incredible tofu stall** where we got some amazing hiyayakko and agedashi tofu.

# BEPPU AND YUFUIN – DAYS 10 AND 11

We stayed 2 nights in **Nishitetsu Resort Inn Beppu** (¥20,000 total), which has its own onsen bath. I only used it once (my partner twice) as the weather was far too hot to properly enjoy onsen.***YUFUIN – DAY 10***

We got on the public bus from Beppu to Yufuin with a bunch of tourists, then got herded off by the driver informing that an unscheduled express bus to Yufuin would be departing soon, and will arrive before his bus. It was all a bit confusing but we were led to the other side of the terminal and waited for a while to board the express bus – we got there in the end.YMMV for Yufuin but we absolutely loved it! It’s food/snacking heaven and we spent a great day wandering down to Kinrin Lake from the bus station, sampling food along the way. We also went to a shiba cafe, a Bengal cat cafe and a fish spa, which were all pretty fun (especially the fish spa).Food-wise we had:

* From **Milch** \- milk pudding (7/10) and warm cheesecake – the cheesecake is a 11/10, incredibly creamy and delicious. We wanted seconds but didn’t get the chance
* From **Kinsho** \- crab cream croquettes (7/10) and the original beef and potato croquette – the latter is 11/10, with an incredible flavour we had seconds
* Cucuchi croquettes – 5/10, didn’t realise it’s a sweets shop trying to cash in on the savoury trade
* Goemon taimaru (round taiyaki) – 5/10, there wasn’t as much filling as other taiyaki shops
* A slice of Goemon roll cake – 7/10, but needed it wait for it to thaw and it tasted okay
* Cremia soft serve – 8/10, as creamy as people describe but minused a point for poor cone integrity (my partner would disagree, he loved it)
* Grilled soft-shell prawns from a yakitori stand – 7/10, but it was a bit of a wait
* Pork and vegetable oyaki from **湯布院長寿畑湯の坪店** \- 8/10, I’ve never had an oyaki before but it was a lovely cross between a dumpling and a bao and the filling was delicious

The town quietens down around 4pm and we headed back to the bus station along with many other tourists.

***BEPPU – DAYS 9 AND 11***

Food:

* Toriten is Beppu’s speciality, but I’m not sure it’s my favourite type of fried chicken. We tried this at **Toyotsune Honten** near our hotel and their tempura don was absolutely delicious.
* Finally had some delicious ramen in Kyushu at **Tairiku Ramen**. They also had the thinnest gyōza skin – so good.
* I tried a literal onsen egg (hard boiled egg, boiled in a hot spring) but it was just a regular egg with a slight sulphuric tang. Not sure what I was expecting but it was alright.

Sights:

* On Day 9, we dad some time before the sights close and we weren’t returning the car till 7pm, so decided to drive to **Chi no Ike** (one of the hells) as public transport there is infrequent – 6/10, the red colouring is unique and it was cool to see the steam rising off the pool’s surface. There were nice photo ops but not much else.
* On Day 11 we visited 2 other hells: **Umi no Jigok**u was bigger than the others and had a nicely landscaped ‘park’ to walk around – 7/10, the gushing hot spring was impressive and the grounds were pretty
* The other hell was **Oniishi Bouzu**, just next to Umi no Jigoku. Oniishi Bouzu was my favourite – 8/10 for being quite special with its bubbling clay pools
* My favourite aspect of the hells were the foot baths available in each hell – great way to rest the feet and take in the onsen water

To be honest, Beppu was a bit of a let down. Yes the columns of steam rising around the Jigoku area were cool but the city itself is typical of seaside towns we’ve experienced: a bit spread out and slightly run down with overrated sights and sad-looking malls.We didn’t weren’t excited enough to attempt to get to the sand baths in this heat (heard it’s really busy with long queues) and didn’t want to do the other hells based on their Google reviews.So we decided to leave around noon on Day 11 for Kokura, our last stop in Kyushu, to try and get back to Osaka sooner than originally planned.

# KOKURA – DAY 11

I confess that Kokura was on the itinerary only because we wanted to break up the journey from Beppu back to Osaka, hence decided to do a stopover in Kokura. We ended up loving it – Kokura is vibrant, compact and walkable, with fun little details we spotted along the streets while being out and about. It reminded me of Osaka, which is probably why I liked it so much.We stayed overnight at **Toyoko Inn Kokura-eki Minami-guchi** (¥8,800) – it’s more budget-friendly than the other hotel chains and this was noticeable in the details, but nothing to complain about.

Sights:

* **Kokura Castle and Gardens** \- 9/10, one of the few places where you can see a torii gate in the same frame as a castle. The castle museum was rather interesting, with fun photo ops and games, and informative panels on its history. The castle and garden close at 8pm, so we visited the garden after sunset – our first ever experience apart from special illumination events in temple gardens. The shrine next to the castle was cool-looking too and you can drive through one of its gates in your car. There was a festival going on at the castle, and we managed to catch some impressive taiko performances too
* **Mojiko Retro** \- 8/10, just 15min away from Kokura by train. The port area was stunning in the dark with the western-style buildings from another era lit up beautifully. We could see an illuminated ferris wheel in the distance and even the JR station was retro in style. Shame it was dead quiet as literally nothing was open except an empty curry shop.
* **Aru Aru Mall** \- nice spot for anime/character merch. We also saw some super pro teenagers playing Taiko no Tatsujin at a mind-blowing speed

Food:

* Omurice and wafu hamburg from **Cheese Doria** \- 9/10, it was everything we wanted and we’ve no idea why these are impossible to find in England
* I hoofed down an incredible tray of warabi mochi with black sugar syrup from one of the street stalls at the castle – it was one of the most tender warabi mochi I’ve eaten
* Dinner at **Torikawa Takenoya** \- 9/10, the shio yakitori were delicious and I had the most bizarre egg-within-egg dish too: two half boiled eggs wrapped within a fluffy omelette. I love eggs (my partner doesn’t eat them) so of course I had to take on the challenge. It was definitely egg overload on this day

# OSAKA WITH DAY TRIPS TO NARA AND KOBE – DAYS 12 TO 15

We love Nara and Kobe and had been to each city several times before, but had to revisit for old time’s sake.***NARA – DAY 13***Much has been said about Nara, so I’ll be brief.Nara is not just about the deer. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the first capital of Japan, and continues to be an important Buddhist centre. Reducing it to just the deer – which are super cute and really fun too – is downplaying its historical, cultural and religious significance, and skipping it means missing out on the following sights amongst others:

* **Todaiji** \- houses one of Japan’s largest Buddha statues. It’s still awe-inspiring how huge the Buddha is, even after viewing it multiple times before. We even caught a special Buddhist procession, which I think was a commemorative service, and saw lots of monks in various ceremonial garb. The temple itself was decked out in special banners and decorations
* **Nigatsu-do** \- one of the important halls within the Todaiji grounds with a view across the city and pretty bronze lanterns. Admittedly the hordes of school kids marred the experience though
* **Isuien Garden** \- 9/10 and on the way to Todaiji. Larger than I’d expected and great scenery – there were already hints of browns here and there. The small pottery museum on the same grounds (entry included in garden admission) was informative
* **Yoshikien Garden** \- 9/10, next to Isuien (literally separated by a small drain and a bamboo fence). It’s quite large too and has lovely little nooks.Though not quite as pretty as Isuien, plus points given for being free to foreign visitors.

I couldn’t walk any more so we departed Nara after this and headed back to Osaka.***KOBE – DAY 14***

I’d been excitedly waiting for this day as we were going to ride the Hello Kitty Shinkansen!It was the most exhilarating 15min of the trip – we arrived on the platform \~30min before the train was due to arrive and were first in line. We waited between cars 1 and 2, and when we boarded we split up – my partner took photos of the kawaii car 2 while I ducked into the shop in car 1 to take photos, browse the merch and make some purchases.Our strategy paid off as I still had time to view and take pictures of car 2 (including posing for the photo op), but car 1 was packed when my partner had his turn to enter. Those two cars were full of cute details and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended for Hello Kitty lovers, though probably not worth a much longer ride due to the crowds.In Kobe itself, we visited the following:

* **Kobe Herb Garden** \- 8/10, not a must-see but it was cool up there on the mountain, there were hardly any crowds and it was such a relaxing, refined and lovely way to spend the morning. The herb garden still had loads of beautiful flowers this time of year and the air smelled incredible. We ate savarin (first time hearing about this delicious dessert) and lavender soft serve at the garden, and enjoyed the great views of Kobe from the garden as well as during the ropeway ride. We were originally planning to walk to the foot of the mountain to see the Nunobiki Falls, but I was tired and lazy so we took the ropeway back down instead.
* Walked from Ropeway station through **Kitanocho** down to **Sannomiya** \- I’d forgotten how ugly Sannomiya is as I’d always gone there for the shopping, but Kitanocho is still as pretty as I remember
* JR from Sannomiya to Kobe station, to get to **Mosaic/Harbourland** \- we love the views from there, and the shops in Mosaic.
* We discovered there were going to be fireworks that night, so had an unplanned Kobe beef course dinner at **Goti-Kura** in Mosaic to kill time. We cooked our own beef on a hot plate – lovely food in a near empty restaurant. Stoked to get to have Akaushi, Miyazaki and Kobe beef on this trip!
* The **Meriken fireworks** started at 6.30pm – our view from Mosaic was partially blocked by the hotel in front of us, but it was still a lovely and unexpected experience to (almost) conclude our Japan trip.

We departed Kobe after the fireworks back to Osaka.

**OSAKA – DAYS 12 TO 15**

Our time in Osaka was a combination of revisiting our favourite places, doing final shopping before we depart and just doing other fun activities, including spending more than 3hrs at Round One in Umeda (after our Kobe trip) playing all sorts of arcade games, claw machines and purikura.We stayed in **Hearton Hotel Nishi Umeda** for 3 nights (¥32,000).Food highlights:

* **Gyukatsu Motomura** \- 11/10, the hype is real and we both thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We went around 8.15pm on a Sun and waited about 30min
* **Ebi burger** from McDonald’s – 10/10, I’ve no idea why this isn’t available elsewhere. It’s great quality for a fast-food joint and utterly delicious. We shared one burger but had seconds another day at the airport
* Tantan/dandan noodles from **Chinmaya** at Nishinagahori – we used to eat there a lot and in the years away we’ve never been able to find dandan noodles that tasted like theirs

On our final day, we’d done everything we wanted and saw all we wanted to see, hence decided to play tourist and went to the following:

* Quick stop at Yodobashi Camera to look for kawaii rice cookers (there were none)
* Passed through Kuromon Market and had my \*first ever\* bad meal in Osaka: overcooked scallops on a skewer from 鮮魚道楽大酒場. Spotted a Hokkaido souvenir store (Hokkaido Monogatari) and bought the exclusive and elusive Hokkaido-limited and extremely delicious Rokkatei Marusei Butter, so all was not lost.
* Back to Denden Town for more browsing
* Over to Tennoji for lunch at Sushiro again
* Up the Abeno Harukas observatory – great day for the views, though I have an inkling that Umeda Sky Building is more enjoyable due to the open-air area. It’s too long ago so we’ll just have to return on our next trip to verify this hunch.
* Trip to Osaka Castle for the photo op since we had the time and were close by
* Back to Umeda area, milled around before deciding to pick up our bags early and head to the airport via limousine bus (I was exhausted by then and the rush hour crowds were too much for me)

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post – it has been very cathartic writing this – and I hope this will be useful to others!