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Day 2

Got up at 6:30 a.m. and threw a load of laundry in the washer before breakfast. With a group of 8 it’s wise to do a load a day (thankfully  the vacation rental had a washer and an area to hang clothes outside on the roof top).

Cooked breakfast at home to save money. Brought the ingredients from Tamare  Grocery store. Super cheap ( compared to Hawaii prices) and fresh! The store opens at 9:00 a.m. (the one in the Dobutsuenmae shopping mall). You know the store is going to open soon because a horde of people begin to gather in front of the rolled up gates.

Since Tamare’s is located inside a mall (more like a covered street) there are no parking for cars. Instead there is bike parking. Many people in Japan don’t drive cars, and a lot of the homes don’t have garages or car ports, so a lot of people ride bikes, walk or take the rail system (train or subway) where ever they want to go. I was amazed by how well they ride their bikes in crowded areas without getting into an accident! (at least I didn’t see one while we were there). There were mom’s with little ones on the back and front of their bikes in seats skillfully making their way through crowds while the little ones watched the people and world go by. You know when a bike is coming because you’ll hear the bike bell giving you warning or the squealing of the breaks as they slow down or stop. There is usually a bike parking area at the exits to the train or subway. It’s rare to see a bike locked unless the person is going to be gone for a long period of time.

Our First Attraction 

After breakfast we were off to Osakako to the Tempozan Harbor Village. You know you’re getting close  when you see the HUGE Ferris wheel 🎡

Our  first stop was the Kaiyukan (Aquarium). We’d brought the Osaka Kaiyukan Pass and this allowed us to get into the aquarium for free, no standing in the long line to buy tickets. The aquarium has a huge tank that houses a whale shark, and other marine life from the deep ocean 🌊 with many smaller exhibits representing different oceans or bodies of water around the world.

They even had a display of the skeletal remains of a Megamouth.

They had a dolphin tank which was small and made me a little sad, because being from Hawaii, I’m used to seeing them and other sea life swimming free. However I believe that aquariums serve a purpose, they help to bring awareness, to teach us that there is a whole other world of life, filled with beauty beneath the waves that we must respect and take care of. At the end of the walk around the tank (at least 4 stories) is a touch tank wher you can touch a ray or small shark (those with no teeth). It was an interesting feeling. The rays felt like a wet inner tube and the shark felt like wet sand paper.

Restaurant Ganko 

After our visit to the aquarium, it was time for lunch. We walked over to the Tempozan market area where you can find the food court area on both the first and second floors. We chose to eat at Ganko on the second floor because it had something for everyone. It’s Japanese food, and they sat us in the tatami mat area. We had to remove our shoes (we’re used to this, we remove our shoes before entering a home in Hawaii) and place them in lockers. We ate a lot! We were a bit worried about the cost, but to our pleasant surprise it only cost $130 for the 8 of us! The service was good, the portions were good, and the food was ono (delicious)! Everyone left full and satisfied!

Other uses for the Osaka Kaiyukan pass.

Our daughter and her boyfriend went to the petting zoo on the second floor of the Tempozan market and showed them the Osaka Kaiyukan pass and was given a 100 yen discount. (She doesn’t remember the cost 😕)

The whole family got a 100 yen discount to ride the huge Ferris wheel 🎡 (general admission is 800 yen, ages 3 and up). You have to show the tickets in order to get the discount (if 8 people will ride then you need to show them 8 passes). As you go up you can see Universal Studios Japan across the bay.

It was a bit nerve racking being up so high, on a Ferris wheel, but the view was nice because it was a clear day and you could see far.

2nd Half of the day-Spa World

We left Tempozan Village around 4:30 (16:30) and headed back home to drop off our bags and grabbed our swim things and walked the 5-8 minutes to Spa World.

We got there around 5:45 (17:35) and the person at the customer service desk (who spoke a little English) informed us that the water park area wold be closing at 7:00 (19:00). After showing the people at the front desk your tickets (you purchase them from a vending machine), they inform you that there is no money exchanged in the area (except for the lockers), so you are given wrist bands with numbers on it and if you want to make a purchase you show the wrist bands to the person who notes it in a tablet or hold it to the item in the vending machine to make a purchase. These wrist bands are only given to the adults in the group and when you are ready to leave you go to the vending machine on the first floor to check out. You get your bill and an exit ticket for each person in your group.

Once you are checked in you are directed to the shoe locker area where you leave your shoes before heading to the dressing area. (This is standard practice at the onsen/bath houses). Next you go up in the main  elevator to your designated floor. This month the ladies were on the 6th floor, the Asian themed area where the lockers and baths (onsen, suanas, etc.) are located, while the guys were on the 4th floor where the theme was baths from Europe. They change bath themes every month. (Next month the ladies will be on the 4th floor and the guys on the 6th). Once changed you get on a different elevator to go to the 8th floor. These elevators don’t stop on the 6th floor if you’re on the 4th and visa versa.

The water park has two big slides, but you have to pay 500 yen per ride or get the 1500 yen wrist band for unlimited rides. They have an outside area with hot tubs and a river like area that goes around the hot tubs where you can swim or float on tubes. You can see the Tsutenkaku Tower from outside.

When they closed the water park area we headed to the onsen areas on our floor, designating a time to meet up again. The baths were vey relaxing, and you could get a massage (extra cost), or rest in one of the rest areas, one had a television. When you are done there’s three different areas to bathe. They provide body soap, shampoo, conditioner, scrub towel, and toothbrush (and razors in the guys area). In the change area they have a vanity room where they provide brushes, face lotion, hair spritzer, blow dryer, and hand lotion.

* note it is customary to drink milk after a visit to the onsen/bath house. There are vending machines in the locker area with milk, and other vending machines with other drinks.

The cost for 1 person is 2,400 yen (12 and up) for 3 hours, and 1,300 yen (under 12), from Monday to Friday.

We had a quick satisfying dinner there before heading home for a good nights rest!

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Day 1

AirAsia

We booked our flight from Honolulu to Kansai (KIX) Japan on AirAsia after our friends suggested we try it. They had used AirAsia and had no problems. It was half the cost of the next cheapest airline which was great! The original price was $129 one way, which came out to $258 RT. Our total for the RT came out to $350 because we added things on, the dinner going was one add on (we didn’t buy the dinner for the return flight thinking we’d eat before the flight and most likely be sleeping 😴 for most of the flight). They don’t have extra dinners if you decide you want one during the flight, but they do come round (3 times during the flight) with the snack cart (instant ramen, chips, candy, and drinks) if you do get hungry and want something to munch on. The dinner was small, but the taste was good. Luggage  was another add on, pre-pay or it’s $100+ per bag and if it’s over 20K (44lbs.) you have to pay extra for that too. They also weigh your carry on luggage 7K (15lbs.). We also got the “Hot Seat” (it has more leg room but the width of the seats are the same. The Hot Seats go fast so we ended up sitting all over the plane. Three of us were in the “Quiet Zone” ( children 10 and under not allowed in this area) behind the first class, one in the middle of the plane and the other four in the back of the plane. Think of AirAsia like a flight from back in the 80s, no video screens on the seats in front of you, or hand held devices to rent to watch movies or listen to music 🎼 or headphone slots in the arms of the chairs to listen to music 🎶, and you have to pay if you want a pillow or a blanket, we brought our own. “Just the bare necessities” as Baloo the bear would say. Which is how probably how the keep the cost for tickets low.

Check in was done by Hawaiian Airlines employees who they  contract the work out to. It was quick, considering there were 8 of us in our group.

Despite the bathrooms on the left side of the plane being out of commission, and the difficulty in understanding the stewardess and pilots due to their heavy accents it was a pleasant flight. The crew were cordial and we landed 35 minutes ahead of schedule.

At KIX (Kansai Airport)

Customs

was a breeze considering the last time we flew into Tokyo there was a long zig zagging line that took over an hour to get through. This time it was less than 30 minutes. It could be that our flight was the only one that landed at that time.

Luggage

The area was crowded but everyone waited patiently for their bags to roll out onto the belt. That was about another 20 minutes of waiting.

Money Exchange

We changed our money in Japan because it was a better exchange rate, 108 yen to the dollar 💵 Unfortunately you could only change $1,500. Thankfully we learned that you can go to the banks, most hotels, the major train 🚂 or subway 🚇 stations, and malls to change money. We just kept an eye out for them and noted where they were for later transactions. Just keep in mind that not all the machines have the same exchange rate. The first one We used the exchange rate was 104 yen per dollar while the second one was higher at 108 yen per dollar. Every yen counts!

Pocket WiFi and Line App

Before leaving for Japan another friend told us about the “Line” app. Most of the people in Japan use this app. that you down load and can talk, text, and face time people in Japan or the U.S. for free as long as you have a WiFi connection. When we landed in Kansai we turned off our data, picked up the two pocket WiFi units we had reserved before leaving for Japan, punched in the passwords and snap we were connected, enabling us to communicate with each other and our friends in Japan!

Rail Passes

The final thing we did at the airport was to buy the Osaka Kaiyukan Pass, and the 1 day Osaka Amazing Pass at the counter. It’s easy to find it has the posters of the different passes. You get unlimited access to the subway lines, and free or a discount into different attractions.

Next was finding the correct train to catch to our vacation rental . The workers are efficient and don’t shoot the breeze, they answer your question as quickly and politely as possible and are on to help the next customer.

With the help of the person at the JR Line who directed us to the Nankai line, and the Nankai clerk pointing us in the right direction we got onto the correct train headed to the Shin-Imamiya station. It helps that there is a different color for the different lines.

Once we were in Shin-Imamiya we followed google that lead us down the wrong street, so we had to turn around and head back to the beginning, stopping at a police box (about the size of a twenty by twenty room) to ask for directions. We showed the office the address of where we needed to go and he drew us a map with landmarks to guide us. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at our home for the next ten days!

Airbnb

Since our last trip to Japan (Tokyo) in 2014 there has been a lot of trouble with vacation rentals in Japan. New laws were implemented and Airbnb revised their policies.  Now when searching for vacation rentals they will usually have a picture showing that they are certified. That’s reassuring.

The vacation rental we stayed in was big enough for the 8 of us, with two toilets 🚽 one on the first floor and another on the third where the bedrooms were. The rooms were air conditioned, which was nice because it got hot in the evening. Our host was great with communication, and the house was near many attractions which we were eager to go and explore!