Category: Land of the Rising Sun – Japan

Shop All You Want at Shinsaibashi & Dotonburi, Osaka

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Shop All You Want at Shinsaibashi & Dotonburi, Osaka

Back again to my Osaka trip post. Wonder how long it will take for me to finish hahaha… It’s almost summer and this happened last summer *LOL*


Well.. I guess if you are in Osaka, Shinsaibashi and Dotonburi are places you will definitely visit. In fact, just stop at Shinsaibashi or Dotonburi station when you take the subway and you can walk around these two areas, you don’t even need to take another ride to go to Shinsaibashi or Dotonburi, you just need to cross the road.


Ths is the place to shop, shop, shop till your heart contend especially for things like skincare, cosmetics, and fashion. Food too! We didn’t try the food at the shops here, just shopped. We had our dinner at a convenience store on our way back to our hotel.


As you can see the Glico man is here! It’s one of the most-photographed billboard in Japan or maybe the world. The area has so many digital billboards and very entertaining to watch hahaha…


There’s a river cruise at this area too. At night, the place is lit up, very colourful.


Most come here for shopping for sure. The place is forever so packed with tourists! The drugstores are packed too! So many of them around, competition is stiff between the stores and so many offers, we actually spent 4 hours shopping hahaha!!

There you go… Let’s see where we go next after this post. Stay tuned!

Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan

Hotel WBF Kitasemba East, Osaka | Served Us Free Ramen!!

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Hotel WBF Kitasemba East, Osaka | Served Us Free Ramen!!

If you are wondering where to stay in Osaka, you can check out Hotel WBF Kitasemba East(2-6-8 Awajimachi, Chuo, Umeda, Osaka, Japan, 541-0047). I won’t say it is a cheap place to stay(price range between RM250-RM350 in general based on various OTAs listing), just happened that we stayed there when they just opened for business(summer 2018) so we managed to get a cheaper rate and we were sharing. Hence, it was within our budget. This is a 3-star hotel.


I won’t say it is very convenient(compare with the place we stayed in Shinsekai), no tourist attractions nearby, quite hard to locate but what’s more can you ask for when you have a budget to take care of? At least it’s new, modern, comfortable, and en-suite. Just a bit more walk needed to reach the hotel from Kitahama Subway Station(580m).


Room is small(what do you expect from Japan? hahaha…) but well-equipped. Quite comfortable. Free Wi-Fi provided. There were even pyjamas for us! I didn’t wear haha… Too big for me and kind of icky la…

Oh, they even provide bottles of various popular Japanese brands shower gel, shampoo and conditioner next to the reception counter if you want to try them out. Feel free to get them for your use during your stay. We just used whatever in the room and they’re quite good, the brand was Pola. The shampoo and conditioner were great! Hair was so soft and easy to manage after using it.

Coffee and tea making facilities are provided and it’s stored inside the cupboard under the table.


There’s even air purifier machine and spray for your shoes to get rid of odour.


We wanted to bring the free smartphone out to use to navigate the city but we gave up *LOL* using our own phone with pocket WiFi was so much easier.

We were also given with lounge pass when we signed up the hotel’s membership programme. As a token of appreciation, we were given with a bottle of water, a packet of coffee and trial pack of skincare product(makeup remover, cleanser, toner, and moisturizer). Strangely, I didn’t take photo of it hmm… Too tired I guess.


You can access the dining area and savour the snacks and drinks in there.


Left: These sweets and snacks were provided in the dining area.
Right: Free ramen provided to guests nightly.


We were so excited with the free ramen served nightly at 9pm(I hope I recall the time correctly hahaha…). The ramen was really awesome! I’m not sure they still do that now though because this trip happened in August 2018 😀 We stayed there for 3 nights(or is it 4 night? Hahaha… Seriously I can’t remember anymore!!) Anyway, we had two different types of pork ramen as shown in this post. Different flavour each night but safe to say only two flavours available. It depends on your luck. Each guest is only entitled to one bowl.

We did not get the room with breakfast because of the price and heard that the choice wasn’t much too. We just settled our breakfast at nearby convenience stores.

Overall, the stay was pleasant. If you don’t mind the location, you can stay here. Staff were friendly and helpful and most can speak Mandarin because they are Chinese.

Check out the hotel rate or for other hotels in Osaka from Traveloka.

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Shabu Shabu On-Yasai (しゃぶしゃぶ温野菜) | My First Shabu Shabu in Japan

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Shabu Shabu On-Yasai (しゃぶしゃぶ温野菜) | My First Shabu Shabu in Japan

If not for our friends in Osaka, I don’t think we will even have much courage to try out the local eateries LOL! We are not that adventurous ;p


I love shabu shabu. When our friends in Osaka invited us for dinner with them, it was sure one exciting experience. One thing is that you do not have to worry about what to order hehehe… All you need to do is to just eat whatever they ordered for you 😀


My first shabu shabu experience is at Shabu Shabu On-Yasai (しゃぶしゃぶ温野菜). It’s all-you-can-eat shabu shabu establishment. They have branches all over Japan. I’m not sure which one we went, I was just following blindly. We met gathered at Umeda station though.


There were 6 of us so we ordered two different kind of broth. It’s was a satisfying meal. Don’t ask me how’s the taste *LOL* To me, it is good enough for me, how can one go wrong with shabu shabu? The most important thing is the freshness of the ingredients and they were fresh enough for me.


Various condiments were available for your shabu shabu, just mix it the way you like it to be.

Lastly, each get to choose a dessert to end the meal. Hmm… How much was the meal, I’m not sure hahah… The price was similar to what you are paying in Malaysia for 4-star or 5-star hotel buffet dinner per pax depending on the package you order.

It was a very satisfying dinner with our Japanese friends.

Food Porn, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan

Shinsekai, Osaka | Osaka Ebisu Hotel Surrounding Overview

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Shinsekai, Osaka | Osaka Ebisu Hotel Surrounding Overview

I went to Osaka last year in August. It was summer. Only start posting about it now!! Hahaha… Packing was easy, was traveled rather light. Just bring whatever you wear in Malaysia is good enough.

The first two nights, we stayed at Shinsekai area. Very near the Tsutenkaku Tower, Spa World Osaka, Shinsekai market and Janjan Yokocho.


Not only that, the place we stayed was not far away from Ebisucho metro station exit. Very convenient place called Osaka Ebisu Hotel(1-21-2 Ebisuhigashi Naniwa-ku, Osaka, Japan, 556-0002). You can consider this area if you come to Osaka. It’s definitely cheaper than many other areas and easy access to the metro station.


The place wasn’t packed with tourists though. Quite a contrast with other tourist spots in Osaka. It used to be a very happening place but seemed to be neglected. Then again, if you want to visit those places I mentioned above, this is the area where they located. Even the zoo too.


There are many fugu (blowfish) restaurants in Shinsekai. The most famous is Zubora. You definitely will not miss the fugu hanging up there. We didn’t try any of the eateries in this area except the convenience stores. How strange right? Hahaha… We didn’t have much plans planned out for this trip. We just went with the flow.


We just walked around the area without any aim. We came across Shinsekai Inari Shrine. Just popped in for a quick look.


Lastly, this is the night view of Shinsekai. Very colourful but without the crowd.

Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan

Convenience Stores in Japan

Posted on By sweet surrender 1 Comment on Convenience Stores in Japan

When it comes to Japan, the first thing that will come to my mind is its convenience stores. It is extremely convenient! You can find it everywhere! You don’t even need to worry about not having anything to eat or if you run out of some daily necessities. Not only that, paying bill, withdraw money, doing banking, printing, faxing and etc. are also part of the things you can do in there.


When I was in Japan last year in August, my first meal was gyoza that I bought from 7-Eleven. It was almost midnight when I reached the hotel. Was feeling kind of hungry and my travel companion suggested to go to the nearest convenience store to buy food. They will heat the food up for you.


All these food here in this post were almost our everyday meals *LOL* Very affordable and delicious. You don’t even need to go to a restaurant for food. If you are travel with tight budget, you can be assured that the convenience stores in Japan will not let you go hungry. So many choices to choose from.


The major convenience store brands in Japan are 7-Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart. You can find them everywhere! We spent a lot of time in these shops too because there were so much to see in there. Just looking at the instant noodles and snacks varieties was enough to make us went “wow, wow, wow”.

It’s a must-go when you are in Japan and it’s going to help those who like to enjoy Japan without burning a big hole in their pockets.

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Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan