Beautiful Days in Japan - Osaka Romanesque 1

I think I'm going to start a series of "Beautiful Days in Japan" posts,  since I want to document my happy happy time travelling in Japan. I would've organized it in chronological order, but since I went to the Kansai area for the past 2 summers (2010 and 2011), there are a lot of places I went to on both trips. It would be kind of redundant to post those places twice. Well in those cases, I will probably combine the two experiences in one post. Also, there are just too many pictures so I gotta do it one day (or one place) at a time.

These posts are by no means in any order /laughs/.

To begin, I will start of by introducing a song by Kanjani8, the j-pop group that got me obsessed with Japan.
All seven members of Kanjani8, or Eito/エイト (eight), originated from Kansai. Although Kansai people are often perceived at loud and rude, Eito has always been proud of their origin, and they even have several songs dedicated to their Kansai pride.

The song I'm going to talk about is Osaka Romanesque (大阪ロマネスク）,which deeply expresses their love to their home. In the song, a few places in Kansai (Osaka and Kobe) are mentioned, and while I was travelling in Kansai, I felt like I was mentally checking off the places in the song as I visit them.

"あの日の僕らは迷っていた
意地とかはってさ傷つけあって
駆け出した君の背中が消えた梅田駅..."♫

The first place mentioned in the song was 梅田駅(Umeda station). In my 2010 trip, I met up with Angel at Umeda (specifically at the station /laughs/). We grabbed lunch at Hep Five, a mall that mainly targets young people (teens and young adults). We had udon, and then took some プリクラ (sticker photos). We walked into a few stores but didn't buy much.We procceeded to another mall called 'EST' nearby. I didn't buy anything there, since I was still overwhelmed with everything, and I was under the impression that nothing will fit me... I'm not a typical skinny Asian afterall (´ω｀。). I had a lot of fun watching Angel try on clothes though. Everything was so cute :)

The infamous Hep Five whale installation

EST - mall for cheaper fashion goods

Angel left for her yoga session after shopping at EST, and I returned to Hep Five to explore a bit more on my own. I also had another mission in Umeda. I needed to find the legendary Rilakkuma Store! I had the address, so I was just walking everywhere looking for it. First I needed to find Hankyuu Sanban Gai （阪急三番街）, where the store is said to be located. It didn't take long to find it, and I just had to walk around a bit more to figure out the exact location. I felt like I was in heaven when I reached the store!

roaming around in Umeda, trying to find the Rilakkuma Store

so many bears ❤

you'll be greeted by these cuties when you get to the store :)

I was a happy girl when I left that store with my bag of Rilakkuma goods. o(*⌒―⌒*)oにこっ♪

I returned to the store the following year (2011) for another Rilakkuma goods haul. This time I went with my parents so I didn't have a lot of time to shop. I just tried to grab everything I wanted as fast as I can. /laughs/

I also bought some things for my cousin this time cause she told me she likes them too.

Rilakkuma Store (2011)

For the 2011 trip, after shopping at Rilakkuma store, my dad wanted to find a cafe to sit down. He couldn't walk for long due to his health conditions. So I picked a place for me to get lunch and for my parents to eat dessert (they ate a late breakfast while I was getting ready at the hotel). I picked omurice again even though I had it just the day before.

omurice with hamburger patty

This one turned out to be more "western style", which was what I had in mind when I think about Omurice. The one I had the day before was more "japanese style", which was still good, just different from what I expected. More on it later.

Mom and dad had dessert; mom wanted shaved ice (カキ氷) while dad wanted icecream with waffles. Shaved ice wasn't on the menu but it was shown at the front of the cafe. My mom, who didn't know Japanese, tried to copy down the name on the tag next to the shaved ice display that she wanted so I can order for her. I successfully ordered it for her but turns out she copied the wrong one. The one she wanted was red but she gave me the name of the blue one. Haha oh well~

Mom's kakigori

dad's waffle. yum ❤

After the meal, I headed over to Hep Five - my parents followed me there - but after a while they got bored and left (not before they paid for me at Beams though /laughs/). I had plans to go to Kyocera Dome (more on it later) to buy Arashi concert goods later in the afternoon so I shopped at Hep Five until then. Bought some on sale pieces (they were a bargain!) at a clothing store and roamed 'round the Disney store - I had to control myself not to buy things there (oh it was so hard). I bought some really cute socks at  a 315yen store, and headed to Kyocera Dome at around 4pm.

There are a few more places for the Osaka Romanesque mini series (and even more Beautiful Days in Japan posts) coming up, so stay tuned!