Day 4 - Osaka

Here comes the 4th part of my #verenleeinJapan trip! This is the pic of Shibuya Crossing in the morning! On this day, We moved from Tokyo to Osaka.

Before we checked out of our apartment, we decided to stroll around Shibuya again to take a photo in front of the Hachiko statue and have lunch first!

I stayed in Shibuya for 4 days but just got the chance to take a pic in front of this Hachiko statue because it's always sooo crowded there! Especially on weekends! Your photo will be photobombed by many people who sit behind this statue and the queue is also no joke! Soooo many people gathered up to take photo with Hachiko. Therefore, don't go there on weekends , k!

I went there on Monday morning, so it's not crowded, no photobomb, and the result turned out good despite my sleepy face. So happy. Kyaaa~ ^^

By the way, this statue is located in front of the Hachiko exit (Shibuya Station)

My #OOTD:

• H! by henry holland colar sweater worn inside
• Hat c/o frontrowshop.com
• Forever21 sequin sweater
• Et Cetera tweed blazer
• Romwe plaid skirt
• Socks bought in Shinsaibashi Sanrio Store 5 years ago :p
• Creepers c/o @Grinitty
• Zara gold studded sling bag

After we took photos with Hachiko statue, we randomly entered a small restaurant in Shibuya. We ordered this set from the restaurant's vending machine (most of Japanese food chains provide vending machines for ordering purposes, so it's very easy to order food when we don't understand each other's language! ;'p). Anddd, many japanese food chains also have this kind of set menu which consists of one big portion of ramen and one small portion of gyudon + raw egg! Drinks are all freeeee!! Yummyy!! Itadakimasu!

In Dogenzaka, Shibuya (only few steps away from our apartment!) , there's a branch of Marugame Udon!! It's my fav udon restaurant in Jakarta, and I was excited to try the 'original' version in Japan. At first, I didn't know if it was Marugame Udon's restaurant since there's not any english sign, only in Japanese characters. But the menu's pics looked exactly the same as in Jakarta's, as well as what's inside as shown above, so I was sure it was MARUGAME UDON :3.

In case you are wondering, yes we ate 4 times a day + snacks there . We usually ordered 2 menus for 3 people and shared it together, and then moved to another restaurant to try another food! So... in other words, we tried to eat as many kinds of food as possible!

I ordered my fav mentai kamatama udon with raw egg on top of it and my parents ordered an either seasonal / new menu there(not available in Indonesia's branches), which was udon with tobiko toppings. I didn't know the english name of this menu T.T

I stopped  by at BIC Camera's shop in Shibuya and stumbled upon this very cute special edition of hello kitty instax camera. It's only Y 9880 (around IDR1millions++). Indonesian shops sell it for 2,5-3millions!. I didn't buy it tho... I don't even use my old instax anymore! Too lazy to buy the films ;(

Taadah! This was our tiny lil apartment that we rented in Dogenzaka, Shibuya ! Take a pic first before we left ! The bidet toilet seat was the best part in this apartment... Japanese hi-tech at its best!

Since there's not direct shinkansen from shibuya to shin-osaka station, I had to go to Shinagawa station first and change train.

(I bought the shinkansen ticket at Shibuya Station . It's quite easy to purchase the ticket.

1. Look for the JR limited express/ shinkansen ticket machine
2. Press the ENGLISH button
3. Then you can choose your destination, date/time of departure, and the station you want to get on (since you can't get on shinkansen from Shibuya, so they will accumulate the ticket of 1)Shibuya -> *choose either tokyo station / shinagawa station* . You'll use a regular jr train to go to shinagawa/tokyo station. PLUS 2)*tokyo stat./shinagawa* -> *your destination* (me=shin-osaka station).
4. Choose non-reserved / reserved seat. Non-reserved means free seating. No number on your ticket, so you'll be separated from each other ( not seated in the same row) if you're travelling in a group when the train is crowded. It's around Y 2000 cheaper than reserved seat.

Shinagawa station is very big and the staffs were very helpful to help us look for our departure tracks . Don't worry :)

The view from the shinkansen! I think this is a mountain in Nagoya (view from my dad's seat. which was on the right side). I didn't see the Mt. Fuji since I slept almost 3/4 of the trip >_< (we can see Mt.Fuji through the left side's window) and woke up when the train reached Nagoya (they made a few stops before stopping at Shin-osaka).

#shinkansen ride to Osaka 🇯🇵❤️

A video posted by Veren Lee 👸 (@verenleecious) on Dec 21, 2014 at 8:47pm PST

I arrived in Osaka at around 4pm . Our hotel was very close to Shin-Osaka station, but the surrounding's kinda quiet and I had to take the subway to go to the crowded area in Osaka (Namba & Shinsaibashi!).

Funny story , when we arrived at Shin-osaka station, we got out from the central gate to go to our hotel (as stated on the hotel's direction). But we still couldn't see where our hotel was, so we asked the police man who was in front of the gate.

He pointed at a building, which could be easily seen if we looked slightly in the 'up/above' direction. lol. felt so stupidd T_T. Then he showed us the way (he couldn't speak english, so he brought us until we saw the way that he meant), which was STAIRS *danggggg!!!* *how are we suspossed to carry our heaaavy luggages while going down the stairs?? no escalator??*.

So yeah.. we went down the stairs and my dad carried most of our luggages. sorry dad T_T

After we arrived at our hotel, we checked in and took a little rest, then went back to the station to go to Dotonbori!! And we figured out another exit/entrance from the station that had an ESCALATOR... Like.... Omg... (//_\\)

During peak hours, the subways are soo crowded and cramped! 

If you're wondering why I was holding a subway ticket when I got a suica card, it's because Suica card can only be used on JR trains. So, if you're taking a subway (usually the sign is in pink color), you have to purchase a Pasmo card (the color is white with pink fonts+subway icon!). I didn't take many subways, so I decided to just buy separate tickets.

To go to Dotonbori street, we took the subway to Namba station. Look at the beautiful illuminating light on the trees!

5 years ago when I first went to Japan, I went to Shinsaibashi, but I didn't go to Dotonbori although it's very close. I didn't know there's this food heaven street until many bloggers instagrammed their pics in Dotonbori which are about takoyaki, glico man, etc.
Back then, I only strolled Shinsaibashi for a while since it's already quite late and the stores were almost closed. Maybe that's why I didn't know Dotonbori since I didn't go till the end of the street! :(

Again, the wind was so crazily cold on that evening, but I still managed to queue (15mins?) to buy a portion of Takoyaki!!

It's totally OISHII~~! Even the octopus tasted yummy and chewy! :P'''''

We decided to have our tummy filled at SUSHI ZANMAI, Dotonbori, Osaka.
Price? It's slightly more expensive than food chains like yoshinoya / matsuya/ sukiya since it' not rice, but a big sushi restaurant.

Yummy + fresh sushi! I also ordered another plates of salmon sashimi and a bowl of crab soup which were delicious too!

The famous glico man sign!! I didn't know where it was at first. The kind waiter from Sushi Zanmai showed me the way!! *although it required me to do this pose first to show them since they didn't understand what I was saying. lol* Arigatou!! ;D

If the cam focused on the sign, my face'd turn dark. If the cam focused on my face, the sign'd turn so bright... -___-". *should've come there at noon*

After filling our hungry tummies, time to shop!! It's really just a few steps away from Dotonbori.
There's shinsaibashi station too. So if you don't want to visit Dotonbori (or want to shop first before you eat), you can get off at Shinsaibashi station rather than Namba station.

Crowded like cray

Went to Ceci McBee's boutique.. I'd been admiring this brand for so long already after seeing it from Vivi Magazine. The price range was around Y 3500 - 8000 for clothes. I'd rather buy this brand than Zara, if only this brand were available in Indonesia.

Beside Cecil McBee's boutique, there's this outlet store of many japanese brands. The fitting room was so prettyyyy.

Selfie with my new camera, EOS M2! (Bought from BIC Camera in Shibuya)

Find these bautiful bags in a beautiful boutique in Shinbashi. They're kind of expensive. Wanted to buy it at first, but then I thought it'd be too 'crowded' when it's worn together in an outfit. Only pretty for the eyes . heheh :D

Around 9pm, the stores started to close down, so we decided to go back to our hotel.
We took the same subway like the one we took to get there, but that evening, it wasn't direct.
At a station which I couldn't remember the name (around 2 stops away to Shin-osaka station), everyone started to get off the train. On the subway, there's not any english announcement unlike JR trains, so we were confused!!
Because we were the only persons left inside, we also got off. The train moved again with no passenger, dunno where it headed to.
At last, we waited for another train to come... fyuh... so confusing... yet funny and memorable... *at least to me and my parents. ROFL*

Style Darling 2nd Collection : Floral Skirt

This is my 2nd collection from my clothing line; @ShopStyleDarling . It consists of a floral skirt that comes in 2 colors. Blue and red as seen on this post!
In case you haven't known, I've been running this clothing line since last December together with my mom. You can check the first collection on instagram: @shopstyledarling.

My clothing line sells ready stock and made by order ready to wear clothes.
We love floral and batik prints so much. We always select the best fabric that also comes with comfy linings fabric!

You can wear our collections for informal - semi formal occassion and they can be easily mix-matched with everything u want! :)

Lastly, we also accept custom made order. You can custom the length and the size you want incase your body measurement doesn't match our sizing chart! Order now and check @shopstyledarling ;)

Day 3 : Fujiko F Fujio (Doraemon) Museum - Kawasaki

It's time for my favorite childhood character, DORAEMON!! I just knew that there's Fujiko F Fujio Museum that exists in Japan around 1 year ago after many people posted it on instagram / their blogs about their visit to this museum. Then I really wanted to go to this place and did a lot of research about the access and what I can see in that place. So, on my 3rd day in Japan, I and my parents went to FUJIKO F FUJIO MUSEUM in Kawasaki city~~! xD

Doraemon bus in front of Noborito Station that took us to Fujiko F Fujio museum.

My OOTD:

• Varsity jacket bought in Bangkok
• "Cute Outfit Day" sweater from forever21 Japan
• Denim shirt from Pull & bear
• Skirt from forever21 Japan
• Socks from forever21
• Boots from forever21 Japan
• Bag from Zara
• Bowler hat & tights.. I forget where I bought them :(
• Earrings from Shibuya109 mall
• Sunglasses from Kate Spade

If you want to go to Doraemon (Fujiko F Fujio) Museum, you must (can ONLY) purchase the ticket at LAWSON (a convenience store) before the day you want to go to the museum. The museum is really crowded although there are 4 different entrance time. (10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00).

How to buy the ticket?

• Find any LAWSON store
• Ask the shop assistant to help you to purchase FUJIKO F FUJIO Museum ticket since the machine only has Japanese language
• Choose the time you want (I originally wanted to take the 12:00 one, but it's SOLD OUT! Luckily I got the 14:00 one). So I remind you again, to purchase the ticket at least 2 days in advance.
• Lawson's shop assistant will purchase the tix for you (Y1000/person) !
• Remember, you are strictly not allowed to be late!! (Japanese are very punctual. Everytime I match up the train's departure time from the schedule and the actual time, it's always exactly the same!)

How to get there?

• I stayed at Shibuya, and there's not any direct train to Noborito station. The easiest station to go to Noborito station is Shinjuku station.
• So from Shibuya station, I took the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku Station.
• After I arrived at Shinjuku station, I looked for the "Odakyu Odawara Line" enterance and bought the ticket to Noborito Station. The fee is Y250 (one way) and you can see the info of the train timetables/fee from hyperdia.com (since it's a subway/metro/not  train from JR line, I couldn't use my suica card).
• Then I just waited and got on the train until I arrived at Noborito station.
• Once I was in Noborito Station, I looked for the bus stop and the doraemon bus will take us directly to the museum and also from museum to the station again ;)

• Top left: In a supermarket at the exit of Noborito Station, I found these super cute 'Frozen' tsumtsum gogo no kocha!
• Top right: My breakfast at Shinjuku Station . Yummy soba and curry rice!!
• Bottom left: Expensive yet very beautiful flowers at a florist in Shinjuku Station.
• Bottom right: I've shared this on IG.. When I was in the station's toilet.. I remembered this "MIIKO" moment where she accidentally threw her train ticket into the loo.. Lol.. I couldn't help to take a pic and sorry if it's gross xD #onlyMIIKOfansunderstandthismoment

Kawasaki city's much more quiet than Tokyo. There were not many tall buildings there. 

I and my parents arrived early, so we had spare time to walk around the street before our enterance time. It felt so peaceful . And the houses looked like Nobita and his friends' houses ^0^.

We arrived at 12pm (We were scared we'd take the wrong train / exit , then we'd miss our time, so we came really early. lol), which is why we took so manyyy photos during our spare time in front of the museum... Hahahaha xD

It's prohibited to take any photo inside the museum. But let me give you some hints, inside the museum, there are many histories about Fujiko F Fujio's life, Fujiko F fujio's working room, his favorite things, the characters he made, and also some famous stories from Doraemon / P-man. Each visitor will be given an audio guide(english/japanese/chinese). Every time there's a number sign, we just need to press the number and the audio guide will explain us  about the things we're looking at!

We couldn't take any pic at the exhibition room, but we can take as many pics as we want at the park (which is located at the rooftop of this museum). Look at the beautiful trees :)





We took a quick rest and ate these gigantic & SWEEETTT strawberries that my mom bought at the supermarket!








"I feel you, Nobita..." lol xD









There's also a photobooth in Fujiko F Fujio Museum! Are all japanese photobooths this good?

• Top left: Mini tickets to watch a short doraemon movie 
• Top right: Doraemon button inside the doraemon bus!
• Bottom left: Miniatures of Doraemon, dorami, and the musicians?.. I remember the episode where there are these mini dolls but I forget what we call them... T.T
• Bottom right: Even in the museum's super clean toilet, there's this cute piece of Doraemon's comic!

Now.. It's time to fill our tummy at the doraemon cafe!! The queue was (I think it has always been..) VERY LONG till we had to take numbers and waited for 1 hour. We'd come that far, so it'd be a stupid decision if we missed this cafe, so we spent our time by watching the doraemon short movie first! (I think the movie is only around 20-30 minutes long)

I've heard that the food there is delicious and it's totally TRUE! These were our orders:



French toast (MEMORY BREAD!!) with green tea ice cream. (p.s: can I bring the plate home? T.T)



Super yummy spaghetti with bacon!

Hot coffee latte with doraemon face on it. We can't request the characer on the top, so I felt so lucky to get this doraemon face on it... :D

Baling - baling bambu!!





Before the exit, there's a gift shop. It's not as big as I expected and the stuffs weren't that much too. But I believe the miniatures are very high quality and great ;D



 I couldn't help but to purchase this cookie in a doraemon case.. Do you remember this case? In the "Stand By Me" movie, Doraemon asked Nobita to open this case whenever he really needed Doraemon :')













Anyone wants to hear Giant's voice in a full album???!?

Super CUTE japanese kid with rosy cheeks! She was shopping and putting everything into her basket and got angry once her parents put everything back out of the basket.. lol. So smart!!

Y 61.560 = more than IDR 6millions... The size is around 50cm tall. T__T



CLICK THE VIDEO to see the Doraemon cafe's menus!!

After we went back to shibuya, we went to have dinner at HAN NO DAIDOKORO. It's a Japanese-korean yakiniku restaurant which is very close to our apartment!! I knew this place from tripadvisor.com and totally SATISFIED with the food there!

I thought the place'd be so crowded since people said we had to queue , but luckily there's not any queue on that day.

The kobe beef was really amazing.. It's so pricey but it's worth it. You can't call yourself you've been in Japan if you haven't tried their beef! We also had sundubu jiggae which was the most delicious sundubu jiggae ever and makgeolli (rice wine) to heal our body after dealing with cold weather... xD.
HAPPY TUMMYYY indeed!!
***
See you in next post! Feel free to ask me on instagram @verenleecious #verenleeinJapan or email me regarding my trip in Japan / to Fujiko f Fujio Museum :)