Today had a day trip to Osaka planned. The train ride did not go as planned by any means. I’m still learning how the train system works in Japan and the JR Line that I boarded this morning was the correct line to get to Osaka, but the particular train I boarded only went as far as Uji!
I didn’t realize my mistake until we stopped at the Uji station for about 10 minutes, afterwards we started heading back to Kyoto! I hopped off at the next train stop, caught the next train and double checked it was bound for Osaka, I lost about 20 minutes on that one. Thankfully, my jet lag had forced me awake at 5am, and I was already on my way to Osaka by 6 am. With my early start, I made it to my first stop with ample time to spare.
In Osaka I hopped on another train to make the ride over to Universal Studios Japan. I have visited Universal several times in Florida, but that location does not contain Super Nintendo World. Stopping by a small cafe in the shopping area in front of the park and had a delicious pastry with eggs and some type of peppercorn ranch like sauce. I was in line for the park 1 hour before the opening time of 9am. The staff opened the door about 30 minutes before the scheduled opening time and people were running to get to their favorite attractions. I was rather shocked to see a woman sprinting with her child in a stroller to make it to Super Nintendo World before a timed entry pass was required!
A brisk walk got me to Super Nintendo World (SNW) before a timed entry ticket was required. SNW was like stepping into a video game. It felt like much of it was modeled after the N64 version of Super Mario and that instantly got me started down nostalgia lane. I picked up a Yoshi themed Power Up band at one of the stands and started looking for interactive blocks to play with. I was tapping on the block with no success and I must have looked very confused. A worker came over and despite the language barrier, he let me know I really had to bash the blocks. Apprehensively, I walloped on the bottom of a block and it worked! A swift hit played a coin sound just like in the game, and I was instantly hooked. I spent a few hours checking out the different parts of SNW and collecting coin blocks as I went along.
After SNW I took a quick look at the Hogwarts part of the park, but it seemed like a toned-down version of the one we have in Florida and I didn’t want to waste too much time seeing things I could see at home. On the walk out of the park, I noticed some great “Engrish” on one of the mailboxes and snapped a quick picture. It looks like OCR was used on a low-quality image.
My next stop was Osaka Castle. The building was absolutely huge and I can only imagine how frigid it would be inside without heat. It was unfortunate that photos were not allowed inside the castle, especially since many of the wall paintings were reproductions with the originals being in a museum. The floor boards had a distinctive squeak to them I assumed was intentional, but one of the plaque showed that it was simply a side effect of the type of nails used to hold down the boards.
I had reservations at the Pokémon Cafe in Osaka for that evening. I hiked over to the location for it on Google Maps and on the way, walked through what I would describe as an alleyway strip mall. Store after store lined the alleyway, with some of the alleyway being covered but still feeling more open than an arcade. The pants I had been wearing had pilled up on me and were causing some serious chaffing issues. I braved a health and beauty store to pick up some AD Ointment and I felt completely lost. I had to Google “Japanese Diaper Rash Cream” and show a picture to a store clerk, and they showed me to the right area.
Looking for the entrance or any reference to the cafe, I realized it was inside a larger building. I did not realize initially, but I was walking into a giant department store (we would call them malls). Daimaru was HUGE! The Pokémon Cafe was on the 7th floor, and I had about an hour to explore. The escalators taking me up and down levels instantly reminded me of Earth Bound and the department store in that game, I could definitely feel the Japanese influence.
Pokémon Cafe was fun, but honestly, I was too tired and too chaffed at that point to really enjoy myself. I just wanted to get back to the hotel and rest for the evening. I enjoyed some food at the cafe, and the decorations were very cute. I left before Pikachu came out and did their little dance, but at that point getting back was more important to me. The train ride back to Kyoto was uneventful, and this time I made sure to double check the destination of the train before boarding this time.
In the hotel I washed up and slathered on some much needed rash cream. Being clean and pain free instantly made me feel more happy than I had been most of the afternoon. I met a couple in the hotel common area that had already been in Japan for a week. We chatted about what we had done and what was left on our itineraries before I called it a night and went to bed at an early 9:30pm.
