Just living my life as a dreamer.: Beautiful Days in Japan

Time for another Japan post!
This is the last of the Osaka Romanesque series, in which I will talk about Namba (難波・なんば) and Kobe (神戸).
However, there will be more Japan posts to come!

You can read part one here: http://ilivelikethis.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-in-japan-osaka-romanesque-1.html

and part two here: http://ilivelikethis.blogspot.ca/2011/12/beautiful-days-in-japan-osaka.html

難波の庭園好きだったね
二人ではしゃいだ観覧車から
神戸まで見えたあの日が続くと信じてた...

I haven't really been sightseeing in Namba nor Kobe in my last two trips, but I stayed in Namba because it's really convenient.
Namba is a district located in the southern part of Osaka. It also includes Shinsaibashi and Doutonbori featured in my last Japan post (part 2 of Osaka Romanesque)
Many major train and subway lines pass through Namba, which is why I always choose to find accommodation in this area. Also, there's train service from the airport straight to Namba, so it's super quick and easy! LOVE IT!

Nankai Namba station & Takashimaya Department Store

南海電鉄ホーム - Nankai train platform (train goes to the Rinku outlet and airport)

四天王ラーメン Ramen shop near the Namba station #sweetjesusface.jpg

There's many cool places in Namba that's worth exploring.

Den Den Town (Kansai's version of Akihabara, for electronics and anime fanatics) - although I haven't been there myself, my travel guide books told me that there's a lot of electronic stores, and a Mandarake (a chain anime/manga store) there. I've been to Mandarake in Amerika-mura and in Shibuya (Tokyo) and they were awesome! There's also lots of JE related goods like uchiwa, live tour pamphlet, tour goods, and pictures. I always have fun digging through that section.

Takashimaya (department store) - my mom loves shopping at the sales section, just digging for good deals. She got some makeup pouches and hankerchiefs for herself and as souvenirs.

My fav. part was the food section, which is in the basement. There are so many different stalls selling sushi, ALL kinds of salad, croquette, bentos...you name it. One time, we bought lots of food from the basement of Takashimaya and we had an epic meal in our hotel room. #megusta

potato croquette

daddy chose this sushi set for me even though he doesn't eat raw fish <3

Namba Walk is an underground shopping district that is connected to the Namba station. One time I missed my own exit because my attention was on the shopping district exit /laughs/. I ended up shopping there for a little while before heading back to the hotel.

Another interesting place worth visiting is the 千日前道具屋筋商店街 (sen-nichi-mae prop street). Ever been to Japanese restaurants where they have those yummy looking food models on display? You can most likely find them on this street! Even if you don't own a restaurant, you might be able to find some weird/funny things as souvenirs for your friends and family.

There are more places in Namba that I haven't been to, but I will definitely check them out when I go there again.

The final place that concludes this series is Kobe.

I've only been there for an afternoon+evening. I met up with Angel there during my trip in 2010, and had the time of my life there!

Although I didn't sightsee, I did everything I wanted to do in Japan in that afternoon/evening.

First, we went to karaoke - my first time in Japan! Although we only went for a short while (about an hour), Angel let me sing more since she has way more opportunities to do it. I got to sing most of the songs I wanted and I was super satisfied.

Then we went shopping! Although I had been shopping a lot in Osaka too, it's always nice to shop with a buddy. Angel called that street "The Cursed Street" because she and her friends always end up spending money there. Of course, we also did a little damage that day. It was hard to resist when things were on sale!

a recent picture of me with a top i got that day.

When the stores started to close down, we took a quick look at China town.

cute panda vending machine

I'm not really a fan of the overly stereotypical decors of China town, so I didn't really take pictures (except for the above two).

We went to have dinner afterwards. We decided to go to a yakitori place which ended up being Torikizoku. I was super excited because it is owned by my favourite favourite man (Okura-kun from kanjani8)'s family and I have always wanted to try it! It was fate because Angel probably didn't do it on purpose, but she made my dream come true! The food was really yummy, and many ikemen (good-looking)servers. #eyecandy

We had fun time catching up and enjoying nice food + drinks.