Airline
If you are
flying from KL like us, you can fly either MAS or AirAsia. I chose to fly MAS
because the fare was reasonable and besides, I could redeem my Enrich points
for el niño’s ticket. You still need to pay the airport taxes though and
Kansai’s tax is high because the departure tax is incorporated in the ticket.
Accommodation
I wouldn’t
have minded staying at a capsule hotel but the ones I found online at first were
only for males. Anyway, I reckoned it’d be awkward performing prayers if we
stayed at a capsule hotel - I don’t like people staring at me when I perform
prayers - not to mention that we’d definitely be staying at different levels
(if there’s one for females). Not so convenient when I needed to coordinate
times when el niño. So capsule hotel is out.
When I did my
search, I noticed that there were less hotel rooms available by the day (it was
apparently peak season). Oh, there were hotel rooms but it became necessary to
focus on the possible areas to stay in. So I took out the Osaka map I picked at
the previous MATTA Fair and decided the area around Osaka station looked
central enough. I didn’t fancy spending too much time commuting which you would
need to do if you stay at the outskirts of the city. And being the third largest
city in Japan, there would be a lot of commuters meaning fuller trains and
greater chance of losing el niño in the stations. A further quick search
revealed that Osaka station is adjacent to Umeda station, itself a major
transportation hub. OK, so Kita area it was then (the area around Osaka or
Umeda stations).
Next, I
looked for hotels in Kita area which provide WiFi. Most hotels provide wired
Internet but I wanted WiFi. Most hotels provide breakfast at an additional cost
but breakfast didn’t matter to me, not when we couldn’t eat most of what would
be served anyway. So, after all these considerations, I finally booked Osaka Tokyu Inn. I was slightly discouraged by the comments given (most comments are
about how small the rooms are) but as it turned out, we were extremely
satisfied with the hotel. Our room was comfortably large enough for both of us
and the bathroom, while compact, didn’t cause us to knock ourselves against the
walls. I brought a small suitcase anyway but as it turned out, a large suitcase
wouldn’t have had taken too much extra space or caused us discomfort over the
space it took.
Here are some
links to budget accommodation in Osaka: Osaka hostel guesthouse and Ten Hostel Osaka in Kita-ku, Osaka Guesthouse Koma and capsule hotel Asahi Plaza Shinsaibashi.
Food
Now, in
Japan, it’s not easy to find restaurants that serve food that you can consider
halal or kosher. I think it’s even more difficult to be a vegetarian there. You
can’t simply eat ramen or udon or soba at your fancy because it may be served in
meat broth or even tonkotsu (pork broth). There are some Indian restaurants but
they are few and far between and you may not necessarily be able to find them
when you need them. And while there are some vegetarian restaurants, again,
they are few and far between and may not be available when you need them.
So, if you
are on some dietary restrictions (halal or kosher or vegetarian), what you can
do is go to the many convenience stores and buy your food there. And there are
plenty of those convenience stores: Sunkus, FamilyMart, 7-11, Lawson, Daily Yamazaki,
etc. You can buy salad, packed bento, onigiri (these may not necessarily be
vegetarian as most contain seafood), or even instant noodles and you can ask at
the counter for hot water for your instant noodle or microwave to heat up your
food. Convenience stores in Japan provide an affordable economical, tasty and
sensible alternatives even if you are not on a budget (though in Japan, of
course you would inevitably be as most things are prohibitively priced!).
I also
brought over a large loaf of bread, a smaller loaf of Gardenia butterscotch bread,
some instant noodles, instant porridge, instant soup and even fruits. I also
packed canned tuna and anchovies but we ran out of bread by the third day and
the bread loaves they sell there come in very thick slices. One slice of their
bread is as thick as two slices of ours. So any one loaf contains anywhere
between three to five or six slices only. And the slices are too thick for
sandwich.
There are the
usual Western fast food restaurants like McDonald’s of course (I didn’t notice
Burger King but then again, I wasn’t looking for it) but I don’t eat McDonald's
and I certainly didn’t travel to Osaka only to break my vow not to eat McDonald’s
ever again.
Visa
Application
Japan has
imposed strict visa requirement since my last trip there and it has been in
place for some years now. In addition to filling in the visa form and providing
the obligatory photograph, you need to furnish a few other documents, including
a letter from your bank certifying your bank account balances (to vouch for
your creditworthiness and that you have sufficient money for your stay there),
a letter from your employer on your company’s letterhead certifying you're an
employee of good standing, a schedule of your itinerary there, and for me,
because I would be travelling with my nephew, birth certificates of myself, my
sister and himself to certify that he is indeed my nephew. Yes, birth
certificates and not identity cards. I called the embassy a few times to
confirm this and each time, I was given the same answer. For more information,
check this site. You can also download the visa application and itinerary forms
there.
Itinerary
As I needed
to provide an itinerary for my visa application, I had to make a quick research
on the places to go. I couldn’t find any travel book on Osaka at Kinokuniya (plenty
on Kyoto) but there are a few sites (besides Wikitravel). I also found out
about the 2-day Osaka unlimited ticket and the free entry and discounts it
provide which gave me an idea of places to go.
I also found
that I could make trips to Kyoto and Kobe. I looked at the bus options then the
train options before I found that Hankyu Railway provides a 2-day tourist pass (and you
don’t have to travel on consecutive days) at a reasonable price.
Money Matters
I changed
money after budgeting for the 2-day unlimited passes, the Hankyu train fares,
the limousine bus fares from the airport to the city and back, the Universal
Studios tickets and meals for both of us. The exchange rate then was RM3.75 for
every ¥100. I used my card to pay for our hotel stay and was delighted to find
that despite using my card, the exchange was favourable, at RM3.68 for ¥100.
(Note: the Japanese Yen has further depreciated since and it is now about
RM3.40 for ¥100).
Others
As for other
trips, I went after printing maps of the area around the hotel, finding out
prayer times and nearby vegetarian restaurants (we didn’t go to any in the
end), vitamin pills (including Panadol soluble for el niño - because he has
difficulty swallowing pills), airport limo bus times and like I mentioned
before, some food.
I hope the
above has been helpful if you’re planning a trip to Osaka specifically or
another destination in Japan.
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