First stop on Japan tour! Shopping, food, subways … and whale sharks!

First stop on Japan tour! Shopping, food, subways … and whale sharks!

Hi everyone, welcome back to the channel. We’re the No-Fly Zone Nomads. We’re a retired Gen X Canadian couple who are slow traveling the world without stepping foot into an airport. Uh on our last video, we had just arrived in Japan from our Norwegian Cruise Line cruise. Our first morning in Japan when we woke up, we were pulling into Yokohama Harbor. We were greeted by the Yokohama Bay Bridge, uh, which was fantastic, be able to see that from our stateateroom balcony in our pajamas having coffee. That was a wonderful way to start our adventures. Uh, we continued on a few minutes later. We pulled into the harbor. Um, we started the disembarkcation process from the boat, but that’s going to be uh, uh, more detail was in our last video, so if you haven’t watched that yet, maybe rewind and go back. Um, so we finished off that morning though with our last breakfast on the boat and had stunning views of downtown Yokohama. Mount Fuji made this wonderful appearance, which is a glorious uh uh surprise. Uh, and then it was quickly off the boat and off to our first full stop, which was going to be Osaka. So, we left the train. Uh, called a left the train. We left the boat. Left the boat. Uh, I’ll edit that out later or maybe I won’t. That’s the funny part. Uh, we left the boat, called an Uber, and got a ride. All Ubers here are taxis as well, so you can use different platforms, but they’re all going to show up in little black taxis, which are adorable and efficient, and no hagglings required. They’re all the same price. It’s uh what you see is what you get, and it’s a nice nice surprise. The cab ride took us right to Shin Yokohama to catch the bullet train for Osaka. Um, very straightforward process. Uh again, signs and a lot of the the assistance provided is in English as well. Uh gentleman was very very helpful. Got us on the right train, the right direction. It’s actually a very straightforward system. We’ll talk about in future videos. It’s just numbers and colors. If you can remember those and east versus west, uh you’re going to be just fine. Um very helpful. Got on the high-speed train. Uh some tips for that when you’re when you’re booking it. When you’re going from Yokohama to Osaka, you’ll be heading by Mount Fuji, so you get an even better view if it’s a clear day. It doesn’t make that many appearances. I think apparently I read it only appears 52 days a year. So, it was wonderful for us to see it that one day we’re going to be there. Um, you can choose which side of the train, if there’s availability, you sit on. So, you can be on the Mount Fuji side or not on the Mount Fuji side. When we were there, all the Mount Fuji sides were taken, but it was a bit more cloud covered at that point in the day, so it didn’t really matter. But a pro tip is if you don’t get on the Mount Fuji side of the train if you’re heading west, um the bullet trains are beautiful. They’re fast. They’re gorgeous. The bathrooms have spoilers for all their bathrooms and gave us a wonderful view of what bathrooms in Japan are going to be like. But if you’re not on the Mount Fuji side, get up, go to the vestibule area in between the trains, which there are several bathrooms. Um and also in the vestibule, there’s this lovely window pointing towards Mount Fuji. So if you don’t have a Mount Fuji seat, you can still get some pictures of it. go to the vestibule and hang out there for a little while. Um, amazing, efficient, wonderful, relaxing first uh long transport in Japan, which super fast, which took us right into uh into Osaka where we hit uh again the station. Easy easy uh cab ride into the hotel, which was fantastic. Using Google Translate, that’s going to be your best friend. Um and using Google Maps, you know where you’re going. Just show that to the driver. They get it right away. They pop it in, you can go. Whether you’re using the Uber app, again, as we’ve learned in subsequent visits, just getting into the taxi stand and getting to the next available car is a great way of doing it. You don’t always have to use the apps to do this. Um, same price. Uh, you’re not going to get uh taken for a ride, a ride. Uh, no pun intended. Um, took us right out to our hotel. And Andrea, what was that like? Uh, it was really great. The uh hotel in Osaka was called the Elcient E LC I N T. This hotel we got free on points um for me getting a TD visa with Aeroplan points. So with Aeroplan kind of similar to the IHG program that the Americans have that we don’t really have access to because we don’t have the credit cards. With Aeroplan, there are certain hotels that if you book through the Aeroplan uh portal that you get your fourth night for free. So, we paid for three nights on points and then got our fourth night for free. And it was a really great deal even on the points. And so, I didn’t have huge expectations for what this hotel was going to be like because it was like the cheapest aeroplan one in Osaka, but it was really great. Um, when you get to the hotels in Japan, usually they will not even consider you checking in anytime before 3:00. That is check-in time and checkout is 11:00. Um, and but you can always drop off your bags. So, we just thought we’ll drop off our bags and we’ll go for a walk. And when we were um giving them our bags, the woman said, “You’re welcome to use the lounge while you wait.” Cuz we got there at 2:00. Uh, and we needed to wait an hour. And then I had remembered that when we looked it said we had access to the premium lounge. Didn’t really know what that meant. Uh but the lounge was great. Uh we went had there was coffee and water and snacks and stuff like that throughout the day. Um and then it was different at night which we’ll talk about. But yeah, so we hung out there and once we checked in uh we saw the room and so Japanese hotel rooms are very small which but this was perfectly adequate for what we needed. uh could use a little bit more clothing and suitcase storage, but uh luckily we’re traveling light these days, so it’s not as big a deal. Uh but yeah, it had a a small closet entrance. You take your shoes off when you walk into pretty much anywhere in Japan, so uh you walk they have slippers there waiting for you when you get there. Um there was a double Well, it was probably it’s it’s usually two twin beds pushed together, so it’s a is it a king? It’s close to a king, but it’s it’s at least a queen. Uh, but it’s a goodiz bed. Um, they all have USB plugs beside the beds. Um, this one had uh a great uh view of the city. Um, and really great blackout curtains, so sleeping in was or well, not that we sleep in anymore, but uh you could sleep in. Uh, and yeah, it was and had a desk area. And the bathrooms again are small. like the bathroom was probably not much bigger than the one we had on the boat or on the ship, but um they all have the Japanese bathtubs are shorter but deeper. So they’re, you know, it’s a bit of a like leg up over them, but they’re really nice. Uh bathrooms super efficient. The Japanese toilet again is just a a whole thing on its own. They’re amazing. Um they spoil you for the what the future’s going to hold in Southeast Asia, I’m sure. Uh but yeah, the hotel was great and uh I would totally recommend um that hotel. What did we do after we checked in? Right. So, we checked in and then after we unpacked, we went to Danti, which is a canal area that is famous for all of its lights and signs and restaurants and street food and boat rides. Um, so we took the uh that was our first time on the metro and Keith did a good job with Google Maps figuring it out. Um, because it it is a little bit overwhelming at first, but again, you just load if especially if you have a an iPhone, you just load a Suica card suic or there’s other brands, but they’re all they all work. And you start with a,000 yen, which is $9 Canadian. And you just basic you don’t even have to it’s you don’t even have to open it in your wallet. You just tap your phone with your phone like on but but asleep. Uh you just tap it on, tap it off. You’re charged by the distance you go. Could be easier. Um the trains come every like 3 minutes maybe. Um and you can transfer easily within the stations to other lines. super efficient metro. Um, and Osaka is the second biggest city in Japan, I believe. So, it’s a very large transit system, but we navigated it no problem. Felt like pros when we got off. It’s again, colors and numbers. Colors and numbers. Occasionally direction, but usually you’re on M17, you’re getting off at M23. Like, you just keep an eye out on the number of the station you’re pulling up to. Uh, Dante Bori was fun. Uh, we really liked it. Now, the day we arrived in Japan was culture day, so it was the Monday of a long weekend. Um, so we don’t know if that was why it was so busy or but there were lineups to other buildings that we saw on our way too. So, there were definitely events going on. Um, parts of the road have been closed off or we don’t know if it was a concert or what, but it was they were just opening it up when we were coming back. Um, but it’s really cool. Like the just the the 3D signs that stick out of the buildings that are showing you what they have. It’s famous for uh I can’t remember the name of them, but these little uh balls that have octopus in them that are fried in this little um pan. Uh we went to have well we weren’t sure what we wanted, but we were walking around looking at all the food and we were like, “Well, we’re in Japan. It’s our first night. We need to have sushi.” So we and I said, “Well, let’s see if we can find conveyor belt sushi.” And sure enough, Keith’s like, “Well, there’s one right there.” And we didn’t research it at all. We just walked into it. It was again a little overwhelming at first cuz you’re like, “Does anyone in here even speak English? Are we going to figure this out?” But they put you at two little stools. I love that they have at every restaurant, they have this little basket that they put for your for your coats and your bags. So your your purse or your backpack never goes on the floor. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s in a little basket that’s sort of put between you. So it’s it’s very secure and it’s just a lovely gesture and it’s just indicative of what everything is like here. Um it’s just another little touch that is, you know, super efficient, super thoughtful. uh clean because it it helps keep everything clean. Um anyway, the conveyor belt sushi was was very cool. Everything is order. So, it’s it’s going around um on a conveyor and there’s a little iPad that gives you instructions and it shows you what is on the plates if you can’t figure it out. So, the plates are the price is by the color of the plate. So, blue plates were one price, red plates were another price, gold plates were the expensive things. Um, but the iPad helped you determine like someone would go by and you’re like, “What is that?” Then it would help you figure that out. Uh, and then it says when you’re done, you push the button and someone comes over, they count your plates, they give you a piece of paper, and you go pay. And it was awesome. We were surprised when we walked out that there was a giant crowd in front of the restaurant. And what we didn’t realize is that we had chosen one of the very famous sushi uh conveyor belt sushi places in Donbury, which is because it’s a fish wholesaler and every night at a certain time, which we were, it just literally was the time we were walking out of the restaurant, they do um a blue fin tuna butchering basically. So, this enormous fish is in a glass uh it’s like the big glass window at the front of it and a guy is in there butchering it and this is how fresh what you were eating inside was. They they are a wholesaler so everything you were eating was fresh from that day. Um people like the first thing he did was he hacked off the the the tail and he brought it out for people to look at which was interesting because again you can see the structure of the of the bones of the fish and stuff but people were having their picture taken with the tail of the tuna which was really quite funny. Um you know he was inviting people out of the crowd to come have their picture taken with it. They’re very proud of these things. We were at another sushi restaurant just last night and they had just had tuna delivered which was massive and he invited us over to look at it um because they’re proud of these things like they’re amazing. So, and it also it just shows you how fresh what you’re eating is uh which was lovely. Uh we decided to walk back. So we uh were in so the area that runs north south I don’t know what direction it was but anyway opposite opposite to Dbori which runs east east west um was a covered um shopping district and there was a name for these which we will put up because I can’t remember what they’re called but uh and we had never been in one before and they’re awesome like it’s like a it’s like a mall um so it’s covered but the ends are open and And then there’s little side streets off of it and it has everything, shoes, clothes, food, uh, fruit stands. So, it’s like half market, half mall. Um, and we have come to find these in other cities we’ve been to as well. And they’re great because again, if it’s a drizzly day and you want to go for a walk uh, and not be in the weather, you can walk through these and find anything you’re looking for from lunch to shopping. And then when we got back that night, we realized that the lounges, first of all, are amazing. So when we first checked in, we hung out there. There’s like nibblies, there’s coffee, there’s soft drinks, uh there’s a donut wall. Uh yeah, like dangerous. Uh but there’s power as well. So for camping out and and and doing some video editing and doing some work, it’s a it’s a lovely lovely space. When you get back at night, the place was just hopping. We couldn’t quite figure it out. We walk in and it’s like a nightclub. It was like a nightclub and basically was a nightclub. Um the lounge, the premium lounge, which I think every any person staying there, so we’re all pre you all get to be premium soon as you book in. Um it’s uh the lounge changes a bit. So now it’s an open bar. Uh and by open bar, it means everything’s open. There’s no there’s no bartenders. They just put out bottles of scotch and bourbon and vodka and procco. That was Yeah. Procco and red wine and white wine and beer a whole and you just it’s whatever you want. It was crazy. As long as you drink it in the area, you’re welcome to as much as you want. Don’t try to take it out of the area cuz they don’t like you to do that. No. Um and there was and yeah, there were snacks there, too. There were olives and nuts and like just little nibbly stuff. But really interesting like they call it cocktail hour from like 5:30 to 7 and then from 7:00 to 9:00 we didn’t really see how it changed. Uh but then it was then it was bar time until 9:00 and then at 9:00 they kick everybody out. You got to go back to your room or go out. Um, but yeah, it was just it was really interesting to watch. Like you just had to show your key card and you were allowed to do to have whatever you wanted uh to if there was a seat in the lounge that was fine. If there wasn’t you were welcome to sit in the lobby of the hotel which also had really nice comfortable furniture. So the first night we sat out there um and again this was the first night that was this holiday. So there were a lot of people there but it was super fun. It was a great night which made the next morning a bit We hadn’t had a a few bevies like that in an evening for quite some time on the train and on the cruise. Uh um so the next day started maybe a little bit later. Um but it was uh another we wanted to get out bright and early so we headed out to our plan was to go to Osaka Castle. The cool thing with the castle as with a lot of places in in Japan is again you walk up to it, it’s just it blows your mind. It’s these these huge walls, this massive moat. There’s there’s boats, tour boats going through the moat. that large and that deep. Um, but you walk into this park and it’s all free. If you want to go into the at the very the nucleus of all this is the actual castle tower, which is stunning. And again, there’ll be some shots you’ll be seeing in a few moments on that. Uh, that’s a cost to go up to that. But again, as I’ve seen from other video uh YouTubers that we follow, you know, it’s the most beautiful parts. A lot of these areas are the outside. So if you go inside them, you sort of you don’t get to see the beauty on the outside anymore. Yes, there’s I’m sure there’s lots on the inside and and correct apologies for those that have been inside. And please share if you’ve got any uh comments on that. I’d love to hear about it. But we walk through the outside of it, which is all free, the exterior, which is a great big circle around it with beautiful gardens and statues. And it’s just this it’s an attraction, but it’s also a you know, school children were running around. So many places like this we went to where the the kids are running around in their uniforms from all ages from this big to to teenagers. So cute. They’re very cute uh and and very well behaved and organized. It’s it’s it’s amazing. Um soiety, but it’s it’s even to those like this is the perfect spot for like a field trip, right? Anyway, you’re you feel like you’re part of that. You’re part of this this the communities come together in these places. But just so we had a wonderful wonderful wonderful morning walking around this castle grounds. Um, from that we walked back to our place um to uh the uh shrine that was nearby as well too which um I’ll put the name again that will be up here. Um under construction a lot of rens were being done which is uh I’d love to come back and see what they’ve done to it but some of the some of the the buildings were still uh viewable so we we got some shots of that. So, um, unfortunately, we didn’t get to see all of it, but what we it does, as most of these places, leads on to one of these covered shopping districts again. So, uh, within steps of that, we found this. We thought, let’s go to a, uh, more of an authentic, uh, Japanese restaurant, no English. Let’s see how we do. And it was a little mom and pop shop. Uh, typical on the these little corners, uh, maybe seating for possibly 10 people, probably eight. get used to sitting at benches with people beside you. It’s fine. Uh it’s it’s it’s it’s amazing. Uh anyway, super friendly, lovely people. Um they had a little bit of English, but again, Google Translate, hold your phone up, put on the camera remote, it translates everything immediately for you. Um it don’t ever be afraid of it. Um, yeah, they don’t have English menus, but they all have pictures, which in Europe, I would avoid a place like the plague if it had pictures on the menu, but or out front. But here, everybody has and they’ve got the replicas of the food and but yeah, you just point and say one. So, great lunch. And then we uh headed back again to the hotel cuz we realized the lounge is really, really good. it becomes an the rooms are really small but when you sort of look at all the other amenities of hotels you will be spending time in them in in a again in a in a hotel in Canada you maybe don’t probably hang out in the lobby a lot you go to your room and the room is going to be your where you hunker down but in Japan the lobbies and the terraces and the the the the periphery space around your room you’re going to be using them so that’s something to consider when you’re when you’re uh when you’re booking your accommodations and then we again ventured out we were daring this time so let’s go to another little a restaurant and we found another lovely ramen shop. First true ramen in Japan. Um yeah, we just looked on Google Maps for I typed in ramen and was looking just sort of in our vicinity because we were didn’t want to walk too far and this place was wellrated and uh this was the first one with a vending machine system, right? You go in and it’s uh love this. It’s you go in the first thing you look for is the English button. Click on the English button and your world changes and it becomes like a video game and everything has the pricing on it. Uh the description is what it is and you sort of pick what you want and you tap and you pay. A little ticket walks out and you walk into the person who’s the funny thing is you get the ticket and then you turn around and the person you give the ticket to is right there watching you use the machine. But it’s just and they’re just there’s there’s no real help with the ordering of the food. They’re really there to help you work the machine, which is which is great. So it’s it’s more it’s no less restaurant at that point. More tech support. Uh then you get the ticket, you give them the ticket, and then the rest of the the night is easy because that everything that’s on that ticket is going to happen. Um and because you pay in advance, well, I mean there’s no tipping in Japan. This culture is not a tipping culture because good service is an expectation that they’re proud to give. Um, so it, so it’s more about like you pay upfront because when you’re done, get out. Like it’s not about lingering and you know, it’s just like, okay, that seat’s now for someone else. So, you know, thanks for coming in and you’ve paid. Bye. So, actually, I appreciate the efficiency of that as a as someone who worked in restaurants. You give them great you give you get up and say, “Oh, shicia, that was delicious.” Which is what they really want to hear. Uh, and then an arato for a thank you and get the hell out. Uh, and it’s it’s amazing because when you go by many of these places, um, when you first it was very daunting. So when you you look for the place with lineups, right? They’re going to be great. But then you see a lineup, I’m like, I don’t want to stand here waiting for the food out in the street. But because they’re so efficient, that line is going to move through pretty quickly. So it’s uh it’s just part of what you do because the lineup we don’t it isn’t necessarily for a seat. Sometimes it’s to use the machine. Yeah. Right. So we’ve sort of been figuring that out, too. is like, “Oh, there’s a long We were walking by a restaurant yesterday.” It’s like, “Well, that one’s got a really long lineup.” And we were hungry. But then I realized, “Oh, it just opened. They’re just in line to use the machine.” There was somebody like me probably at the front of the line looking at like you look at the restaurant, it’s like half empty, but some some some uh leadites at the front trying to figure out how to use the the machine. Um yeah, so that was another fabulous day at the castle. and then two incredible little tiny hole-in-the-wall shops that um that’s actually that’s a bad term for them. These were like amazing restaurants. They just seem like holes in the wall from the airport. They’re tiny compared to our restaurants is all that it is. So that was day two and the next day we had a much busier day uh when we crossed the city and yeah, we took the metro again um and we had to transfer this time. Uh so we took I think we did two metro lines. No. Yes. Yes, I think so. It feels like we did. Let’s say then, you don’t know, so it doesn’t matter. We definitely did. Yeah, we went down to the waterfront area. Uh, and what we didn’t know at the time is that this is also the cruise terminal, which will actually be back to this part of Osaka in December. Yeah, actually, no, the end of November when we’re getting on another cruise. Um, but it’s a it’s an interesting area. It has uh again lots of cute little streets and uh we went and just grabbed a coffee and some breakfast when we first got there and then you walk towards there’s a giant ferris wheel. There seems to be a ferris wheel in every s every port city. You’ll be seeing lots of pictures of um big ferris wheel and then uh Legoland is right beside the ferris wheel. So there was a giant giraffe made out of Lego. So there was tons of families walking around and and again like the they just have these vast areas where it you it’s crowded but you don’t feel like it because there’s just so much space um outside of these things and the lines are so well controlled and anyway but we walked past Legoland to go to the Osaka Aquarium because I had seen videos of um how impressive it is. They have whale sharks, which is insane. Um, and yeah, and so we uh walked up. We had forgotten to buy tickets ahead of time, but it just there’s a sign there that shows you how to do it on your phone. Scan this QR code, buy your tickets. Um, they’re timed tickets, so we were there about 10 to 11 and we were in the 11 to 11:15 group. Um, and yeah, they just basically they change the time on the sign so you know which timing group is going in next and you line up and you go in and they they they space it throughout the entire from getting your ticket to going in to going through the exhibit. There is like some of it’s very physically controlled and others it’s just the way the design it’s you’re not like crammed in. They they have these little there’s someone going into it. There’s like there’s someone at the bottom of the escalator like bunch of people went up. Let’s we’re going to wait 30 seconds and let them and then that 30 second gap sort of sits with you the entire experience. It’s just it was really well done. They they know their stuff. Yeah, you are actually walking around sort of this central tank where the whale sharks and the other kinds of sharks are in there. Um and all the different kinds of rays and that and uh so you do basically end up seeing the same tank from multiple angles. Um, but then on all the outside walls is all of the different uh like the crabs were crazy. They were like you just realize how much they’re giant spiders basically when you see them interacting with other things. Uh but yeah, no, we really enjoyed it. And then um after we left the aquarium, so we took the metro back to our area. So we had probably killed, you know, it was midafter afternoon at this point. We hadn’t had lunch yet. So yeah, we went and uh got off the metro at a different station. We’re walking from a different direction towards our hotel and sort of went into the back alley of similar to where we’d found the first ramen shop and found another one. And uh just these two young guys, maybe like 20, um rocking out uh making food and we were the only I think there was one other person in the place. barely spoke any English, but they were so friendly and just everybody here they they the service is just it’s what they do, right? Like I mean they’re very proud of what they do. They want to hear you slurp your noodles. Uh they want to be told that the food is delicious and it is like it’s we haven’t had a bad thing, which is where we’re going to leave this video now. Um hopefully you found some of this informative. Thank you again for all those who have commented on our past videos, sharing your experiences, asking some questions. Um, and a few that have taken some of the uh our our our information and put it into action and are going to be sharing the same experiences in the future. Love that. If if any of this is helpful, that’s why we’re doing it. So, um, we’ll be seeing you soon from Coobe. It’s hard. We’re we’re in Hiroshima right now and we’re trying to remember Osaka and meanwhile we still got to do a Coobe video. So, we’re getting there again. And for that reason, my next plug, follow us on Instagram and Facebook is where our dailies are being updated with some of the snapshots uh and some uh little tidbits of what’s happening on a more current uh uh scale. So, thanks again for watching. Uh like if you did, subscribe if you haven’t, and we’ll see you on the next one. Bye bye.

Our first video in a multi-part series chronicling our 22 nights in Japan as we travel from Osaka, to Kobe, to Hiroshima, to Kyoto, to Tokyo, and then to Kawasaki … before cruising to Singapore.

We are retired GenX Canadians who are setting off to slow-travel the world without setting foot in an airport. Join us on our journey and share in our adventure.

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