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2014-04-19

Japan Trip Day 02, Universal Studios Japan!

Day 02 Plan

- Visit Universal Studios Japan
- Highlight: One Piece Restaurant, One Piece Premier Show!

Since my friend and I were fans of One Piece and USJ had special shows for OP, we HAD to make a reservation for the restaurant and buy tickets for the show - even though it's in full Japanese. Our plan was to sit whatever rides we could > go to our restaurant reservation > continue rides > One Piece premier show.

Otaku Alert: There's a Jump Store along Universal City Walk towards USJ so do check it out!

One warning: the wait is reallyyyyyyyy long for each ride, we waited about 2 hours for the Spiderman ride. If you're the type who really likes rides (since i totally hate them all), I think it would be wise to invest in a express pass since you're going already anyway, and the queue is wayyyyyyy shorter!

Since our highlight was the show and restaurant, let me blog about that first before I talk about the theme park itself, lol. I think this post will get too lengthy so let's put a read more here (i hope it works, I've never used it before)

Behind Cut:

1. One Piece Premier Show / Restaurant Whatnot
2. USJ tickets whatnot
3. Photos and Park whatnot

(you can tell my priorities)

うん。


Japan Trip Day 01, Osaka Dotonbori - Fun at Night

Most people know I went on a trip with my uni friend to Japan for about 11 days, Apr 2 to Apr 12. It was really enjoyable, Japan is a really beautiful and nice place. I didn't take too many photos since I didn't bring my own camera (lazy) but I'll definitely go back there again one day and act like a proper tourist and take photos like crazy.

I'm gonna try blogging Day by Day so that it's easier to refer to and hopefully provide a "itinerary" for anyone who's planning to visit places that we went.

Day 01 

Our Plan: 
- Land in Tokyo, take Shinkasen to Osaka
- Roam around Dontobori, visit the famous Gulico man.

When we arrived in Tokyo, we sent our Tokyo luggage to our 2nd hotel since we're heading down to Osaka first and then coming back up later. Bought our JR passes and then started our long journey towards Osaka. It was a pity we were rushing for time and didn't manage to buy nice bento at the Tokyo station before we boarded the shinkansen, but the trains itself do sell snacks and bento anyway, so you won't starve.





We stayed at APA Hotel Namba-Shinsabashi which was pretty accessible from the JR Namba station (in fact, the subway as well) and walkable distance to the Dontobori, Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade area. The rooms are really small, but then again, Japan being Japan, their Hotel rooms are relatively smaller so deal with it. It's a pretty comfortable and cosy hotel, though they had really limited TV channel choices. After checking in, we took a walk around the area and took some photos while we hunted for food.







We had Okonomiyaki for dinner from this place and it was really yummy. Pity that we didn't get to stay and eat in the shop, I really wanted to try cooking the Okonomiyaki myself and stuff. That'd be an experience! Most shops along this street opens till late, so you don't have to worry that you'd starve!





It was also pretty interesting that they have a lot of people on the streets trying to pull customers in - restaurants, karaokes, bars, etc. It's pretty new since we don't get that quite a lot in Singapore, but it was really common there and they tend to put those cute girls and better looking guys out to bring customers in lol. It was pretty cold still, so it must have been hard on them D:

Anyway, Day 1 was a pretty short day since we're heading to Universal Studios Japan the next day, so we rested early and all ready for our One Piece show the next day! Here's some other photos of the area around the hotel in the day time!