Japan Day 4-6: Harvest Hill (Osaka), Nara, Osaka Castle, Shibuya

I was super sick for the past week. Breathlessness, cough, flu and phlegm. But I'm recovering well, and here's part 2 of my Japan Trip!

Day 4-Harvest Hill

I think this is one of my favorite days in Japan(:

Harvest Hill is a lovely park/farm located in Osaka. It's a really nice and quiet place with beautiful scenery that you rarely see in the city. If you want to avoid the touristy places and just want to relax and bask in nature, definitely visit Harvest Hill! The weather was awesome on the day that we went, bright and sunny day with light breeze, super shiok. From our hotel in Osaka, we need to take 2 or 3 different trains and then take a shuttle bus at Izumigaoka Station.

We still had some time left before the next shuttle bus arrives, so we went to have some gyoza at Izumigaoka Station. It was not bad, but not as good as those at Man nen (see Japan trip part 1 here!)!

The bus to Harvest Hills comes every hour during the weekday. Not a lot of people visits the park during the weekday, so we were the only passengers. 

This was the view that greeted us when the bus arrived at the terminal. Blue sky, fluffy clouds. The little supermarket in the picture sells organic produce (some produced by the farm itself) and other groceries and necessities .

The Harvest Hill is just in the opposite direction of the supermarket. From the bus terminal, there's about 5-10min walk before we reach the actual Harvest Hill. But along the way, we could already see how beautiful the place was. Filled with greenery and plants, and you rarely see another human being around lol. Just super peaceful :)

The entrance fee in Harvest Hill was around SGD11-12, but we had to pay for some activities in the farm (eg. Go-Kart, animal food etc).




There's a souvenir shop at the entrance, and we got suck into it. Hahhaaa, I bought some kitty post-its and Raymond bought me a bouquet of flowers for our 2nd year. How sweet.



Actually Harvest Hill is a place for kids, Jap parents will bring their kids there to chill. But I really wanted to visit because they have farm animals and pretty flowers.



There was a guinea pig play room near the entrance, but we didn't want to pay 300Yen per pax to play with guinea pigs. So went down the route and opted for ARCHERY.



I SUCKED at it :( But the bow was actually quite heavy for me. If it was the right size/weight I think I can do a better job! Raymond did pretty well though. We paid 300Yen or 400Yen per pax for 10 arrows. A little expensive, but it was fun!

After we're done, we couldn't resist trying out Go-Kart as well! It was just beside the archery booth. I've never done Go-Kart before, so I was pretty excited. Cost us 700Yen per pax.

Raymond's Kart

Virgin Go-Karting Experience

I think one should learn about the simple mechanics of a car before attempting go-kart. Especially if you're in a foreign land. So the instructor was explaining to me (in Jap) on how to ride the go-kart. The right pedal was the accelerator and the left pedal was the brake. I thought the right pedal was the 'power' meaning that I need to step on it in order for the go-kart to work. So once the instructor let me off, I ZAM the accelerator and crashed straight into over the tires. Luckily for me, it was a dead end instead of a slope, if not I think the car would've gone further. #neardeathexperience.

I just want to apologize to the go-kart crew cos I think I damaged one of their go-karts.

Anw, they were quite nice about it and put me into another one of the go-kart (honestly, if I had a customer like that, I'll ban her from driving). After that I had a phobia already, didn't dare to use too much force on the accelerator. But I don't mind trying go-karting again!! Next time I'll be brave and go faster, think I'm not scared already.

Oh and we met this cute Jap kid after go-karting! Haha, he was wandering along a slope by himself (his parents sat at the top of the slope) so we went over to him, and he held my finger!!! So precious.

Sheep on the farm! I think they milk the sheep and sell their milk. Anw, they also make lamb meat out of the sheep-.- There's a small processing 'factory' with large windows, so you can see the workers processing the meat.

Of course we had to feed the Sheep! That's one of the activities that I look forward to. There's a vending machine there, just pop in 100yen and you get a palm size biscuit. We rationed the biscuit pretty well, fed quite a few sheeps. I like to feed the smaller ones cos they look so poor thing. I was feeding the smaller sheep in the first picture, and the sheep beside it was giving me the grudging look.

Rest Time!

After our break, we came across the best milk ice cream in Osaka. No joke. It tastes sooo different from our normal milk ice cream. Don't even know if its cow milk or sheep milk. Once thing for sure, it's home-made milk ice cream, and I think they got the milk from the farms on Harvest Hill. I'm so bad at describing the taste of milk, but trust me, it's delicious.

What sorcery is this?!

Nah, don't care, just EAT!

Harvest Hill also has a section with seasonal flowers and plants. They change up the flowers periodically. Every few months, you get different flowers. This time round it was just bright red and pink flowers, super summery. It was stunning. 

The next time round they're going to have PASTEL FLOWERS!!! I think that'll be so nice and super romantic. Just love my pastels. Actually pastels are totally spring colours, love it more than bright reds and pinks. Regardless, it was still a beautiful sight to behold.

Our final attraction was the rabbit petting area!! One of the main reasons why I wanted to visit Harvest Hills. PET ALL THE RABBITS>< 

The rabbits there were all quite chillax one. Not the super enthusiastic, hopping around kind.

Cute Jap Kids

Before we left, we went to the supermarket and we bought this.

Taste similar to the milk ice cream! I usually don't drink milk cos I can't stand the creamy, milky taste. But i like this! Its lighter than normal milk, don't have that heavy creamy feeling, but still very fragrant. 

Our anniversary dinner was at a restaurant near the Osaka station. It's a teppanyaki-style restaurant. All the food we ordered was placed on the iron griddle, mainly to keep warm since they were already cooked. The price was pretty reasonable as well-less than S$15 per pax I think!

We loved it so much that we brought Su and Marvin there the next day! The Okonomiyaki (top left) was AWESOME. Our avocado spaghetti was interesting, but not too special.

Lastly, my haul of the day!!!

Shopped at Salut! at HEP5 for the first time, and we knew we will be going back again.

More about salut! hère

Raymond's haul at Salut!

Starbucks Osaka card!

Day 5-Nara, Osaka Castle

Bought this milk pudding at the Nara station. I don't think I can go back to normal milk after Harvest hill:(

We went to the famous Nara Park! The main attraction there for us was the free-roaming deers. There were hundreds of them.

There were some shrines and museum as well, but they didn't really interest us.

The baby deers were super cute!! This is one of my favorite. Some of the deers will walk away after realizing you don't have food, but this one just stayed there and let us pet him/her. Oh and you can see deer shit in this photo. It's sprinkled everywhere on the ground.

The deers are quite sensitive to anything that sounds like food. Raymond was carrying a paper bag (with my half-eaten pudding lol) and when you scrunch the bag, it makes a crunching noise that is similar to the sound of deer cracker when we break them.
You can see the deers focusing their attention on a distant object (the paper bag) that sounds like food.



The deers were just lazing around, chilling...pretty calm and harmless. But they can become quite aggressive if they know you have food! Not aggressive as in they will attack you, but they will surround you, and some of them will use their horns to nudge you for food. That can be pretty overwhelming. Su and Marvin experienced that first-hand after they bought deer crackers.

There's a huge pond in the park as well, with plenty of giant koi fish in it. Cannot see them from the picture, but there's really ALOT of fishes.




We had lunch near Nara station, and we went to the Osaka Castle after that! Had to pay an entrance fee to get in. Inside the castle, there's 6-storey of exhibitions, drawings, some artifacts related to the castle, as well as illustrations about the olden days war and warriors.




This giant garfield kitty was the centre of attraction at the castle. It looks like it's a 100year old and it's twice the size of a normal kitty.



A mini highlight of the day was when we saw some fluffy dogs chilling on the sidewalk. Their owners brought them out for a walk and they were just taking a break there. SO FREAKING CUTE. The owners were so nice to let us play with them :)
Su likes the white one and I like the poodle.






The pictures look as though they were unwilling to let us carry them. But I swear they were having fun! The poodle loved me so much, it kept coming back to me! Dogs are extremely affectionate and cuddly-a stark contrast to cats. But cats will always have a special place in my heart.

Some lovely flowers near the castle

True enough, we visited HEP5 again after dinner, and got sucked into Salut! once more. This time with Marvin and Su in tow.

Salut! Haul

Poor Raymond, we forgot to bring the chair with us when we were leaving Osaka. So his chair is still at Hotel Kinki. Good thing is I accidentally took their face towel-.- so i guess an eye for an eye OR a towel for a chair.

Day 6-Shibuya

Next morning, we took the bullet train back to Tokyo and checked in at Anne hostel in Asakusabashi.

Coffee Tiramisu Frappe!

Gyoza for brunch on the train

We were stalked by a French dude when we got off the train station!!! Actually he saw us referring to our map and somehow deduced that we're going to Anne Hostel. He was heading to the same place, but he lost his map, so he asked Su (Su has a friendly face) if he could join us! 

Anne Hostel

I wouldn't recommend the hostel though. 

Firstly, the Asakusabashi station is not very tourist/handicap friendly. They don't have escalators or elevator at the train station, so we had to lug our heavy luggage up and down the stairs (many thanks to Raymond and Marvin for helping me!). Asakusabashi is around 20min train ride away from the popular Harajuku and Shibuya, so the traveling time back and forth is at least 40min (excluding the 10min walk from the hostel to the station). I think I'll try to get accommodation somewhere near Harajuku/Shibuya next time.

The hostel itself was a little disappointing as well. Marvin's room reeked of urine, and our room had mosquitoes at night.

Complaints aside, I think the staff there were super helpful and friendly! Plus they speak really good English, much better than the staff at Hotel Kinki.

Ironically, the main reason why we chose Anne Hostel was because of the free breakfast, but we didn't even have 1 breakfast at the hostel. Mainly because it's alway very crowded in the morning, and we wanted something better than just toast and jam.

Since Asakusabashi didn't really had much to offer, we headed down to SHIBUYA for late lunch.

Shibuya Crossing

We did some research before hand and decided to try out this sushi restaurant called UOBEI.

Yes, it's a subsidiary of GENKI SUSHI (also a cheaper alternative)! Almost everything is priced at 105yen (S$1.30) per plate! We tried the real Genki Sushi on another day and found out that they have a different variety of food and a slightly higher price point.

UOBEI has a similar operating system as Genki Sushi. Order through the iPad and wait for the food to be delivered on the 'train tracks'.

Each person received a tag like this with the seat number. At the end of the meal, just take this tag to the cashier and pay for the meal! I think each of us paid an average of S$7-8 for a very filling lunch.

Oh I tried Ginger Ale for the first time and I love it! How come we don't have it in Singapore:( And somehow the sodas in Japan are a lot more gassy and flavorful!

I've always wanted to visit a cat cafe, so I did a bit of research and found Hapineko Cafe in Shibuya! It's located near UOBEI Sushi and Shibuya 109, was pretty convenient for us. They have a website with clear directions on how to get there as well!

Gosh kitties are the epitome of indifference. But I can't stop LOVING them. The cats at Hapineko are like most cats, slightly snobby and aloof. Just by looking at their coat, you can see that they're very well cared for.

When the cat cafes first started sprouting out, there were some critics who were saying that these kitties are the equivalent of bar girls/hostesses. I completely disagree. A hostesses HAS to entertain the guests because they're the customers and they paid for the service. A kitty in a cat cafe on the other hand, can choose to turn her back/walk away and totally ignore the customer. The cafe we went to even has a little tunnel for the kitties who wish to avoid human contact.

We paid for a 30min session with the cats and that cost us about 1200Yen (S$15) inclusive of a beverage and some snacks.



For the first 10min, we tried many ways to get close to the cats, but most of them will just ignore us or turn away. Alas, there's only 1 way to grab the attention of the kitties-CAT TREATS. Cost us 100Yen for a bowl, but it was worth it.

The cat treats will get you from this:

Lonely human

To THIS:

I smell food! Food Food Food...

Fine, just one picture.

There were some aggressive cats as well. But still cute~

Gimme my snack, bitch!

I think we stayed up to the 40min mark. Owner was so nice, she didn't charge us for the extra 10min.

I think the black cat looks like a DSLR in this picture. Oh, and look at the kitty behind Raymond, sneaked into the picture with a perfect pose. Cutie pie.

The trip to Hapineko was so fun! I think everyone enjoyed it a lot. We were still full from sushi, so we went to walk around Shibuya for awhile. I think we went to a Don Quijote and Forty Hands!

Bags of shopping

Next up was dinner at ICHIRAN ramen!

ICHIRAN is a ramen chain that is very popular in Japan. It allows customization, and customers can customize the base of soup, the ingredients and even the firmness of the noodles! The customers order through a vending machine (can be a little intimidating for foreigners, but it's actually quite easy to understand), get a receipt and wait for a seat. 

The seating arrangement is quite unique. There's no round table/group seating, just rows of seats with dividers between each seats. Imagine sitting at the bar, but there's wooden dividers between you and the other customers, so that you can have your privacy. There's also a little curtain at the table, where the staff will collect the receipts and serve the ramen.

Overall, I think it's one of the best ramen I've had in Japan. I think the flexibility to customize has a really huge impact. I know what I like best, therefore by indicating the firmness of noodle I want, the saltiness, the soup base etc, I'm already signaling to the chef and telling him/her my expectations. Because they know roughly what are my expectations, they have a better chance of making a bowl of ramen that suits my personal taste, and not just one that caters to the majority, but satisfies none.  

Shibuya crossing at night

And I cannot complete my post without my haul of the day.

Japanese are really super helpful. I was at the Hada Labo section and was confused by all the different packaging. They have 3 different packaging for the toners and moisturizers! So I randomly went up to a girl with "Hi, do you speak English?" lol, was so happy when she replied "A little!" She was very kind, tried to use google translation, hand gestures and all. Turns out the different packaging meant 'light, normal and strong' (according to the girl). I suppose she meant light hydration, normal hydration and intense hydration. 

Green tea haulage

Realized this post is full of FLUFFY animals, and there will probably be more furry creatures in my next post as well. Cuteness overload in Japan! But no one is complaining, cos people love animals.