Japan - Spa World & Shinsekai

Day 5 - 16 January 2019

Breakfast at Zundoya

Zundoya is opened 24 hours so if you need a very early breakfast, here is a place to go to. Even though our western breakfast on our official first day was quite delicious, somehow it feels more right to have a warm bowl of ramen or traditional Japanese food in the morning. I have no idea why we chose this day for a 24 hr place because actually started the day rather late.

As per many other places, they also use the vending machine food selection way. The machine has an English menu but it seemed more simplified, with the lack the value add-ons of ingredients. We ordered our ramens and two side dishes - Gyoza and fried rice.

The interior of the place is cosy and we got a big table for 2 person. Definitely great space for our bulky downjackets. Overall, the ramen is quite delicious and not overly thick or salty. The gyoza and fried rice are decently good too! You can mix the spicy pickles into the soup for the extra flavour.

Relaxing at Spa World 

We were going to our onsen session at Spa World today. It was planned right after USJ on purpose for our body to relax and rejuvenate. We stood at the vending machine for quite a while figuring out the various passes and prices (Ours: 1200 Yen per pax for an all day pass). When we finally entered the premises, the staff explained the process and  gave us each a piece of instructional guide. Also, we were given a wristband for us to charge to it if we made any purchases. This is quite similar to our jimjibang experience in Seoul.

From the carpeted floor onwards, no shoes were allowed. We had to place them in the shoe lockers provided. On level 1, there is a shop, the shoe lockers, self checkout counters, and a mini arcade. The instructional paper stated to put our valuables in the valuable lockers, which is quite confusing to me.

We just took everything with us and went up to our respective levels for each gender. There are two different themes for the levels, European and Asian. On odd months, the females get to experience the European area and the males get the Asian one.

I took quite a while just walking around and wondering what to do next. There are numerous bathroom lockers in there. Since it was not really the peak period, there were not many people for me to follow suit. When there are not many people naked in the changing area, you wonder if you are supposed to be naked from that very point. I could not actually find the towel and pink gown initially.

I locked up my stuff, covered myself with a small towel and walked on bravely.

It starts from an area where the water comes out from the side like a water fountain to wash off any dirt from the lower part of the body and feet. The first onsen I see is a pool of whitish water which consist of rice wine. That is called the "Ancient Rome".

The first thing to do is to head to the shower area for a good cleansing session. Unlike the jimjibang, Japan's onsen provides all the necessary bath and shower products. There is also toothbrush, shaver, shower cap and scrubbing cloth.

I tried all the onsen one by one. Some are quite hot and nice and some are just lukewarm types. There are also special flavoured ones like grape fruit or flowery scent. You can see the bag of herbs soaked inside the water, like as if we were in a pool of tea. There is one onsen that is outdoor so it was like cooling and hot at the same time as you enjoy the soak. To get to this particular one, you have to walk through the drink bar. Imagine yourself drinking and watching TV naked in a restaurant setting, how interesting.

Other than onsens, there are several saunas available. I did not managed to see the steam sauna or mud spa but tried the standard ones. You are supposed to get a rubber seat pad in and sit on it. The heat makes it so hard to breathe. I must say that the Japanese woman are so good at this!

I particularly liked the salt sauna where the area is filled with salt for you to rub over your body and skin. After which, you relax in the heat until the salt melts away. My skin felt painful as an effect of the salt treatment because of the dryness caused by the weather. The kind of pain is like those when you clean a mildly scraped skin with alcohol wipes. However, the skin does feel smooth after you wash the salt away outside!

We agreed to meet around 1.5 hours later. Thankfully, there was a clock inside the place so I can tell the time. Not washing off the goodness from the minerals, I just toweled dry and went up to the swimming pool area (Spapoo LOL). You should keep your valuables downstairs and just take the internal lift up to level 8 (different lift for males and females also). I wore the pink "pyjamas" provided over the swim suit. There are wooden cabinets upstairs to place the clothes before you dive into the water.

[We realised our sequence is so wrong. We should have went to the swimming pool first and then the onsen last! So that we don't wash off the good stuff from the onsen.]

The swimming pool is warm! It had to be. The inside is linked to the outside in which the pool is in open air. To climb from the pool to the jacuzzi requires some quick movements because it was so cold with the wind blowing!

While our tickets allowed us the usage of the pool, the slides were of additional charges. There are only two types of slides and they look so fun! You could opt for a one-time try (500 yen) or for unlimited times at 3 times the price (1500 yen). This means that you need to slide down more than 3 times to make it worthwhile. We managed around 6 to 7 times per person!

The first slide is more family style in which the big round float can take around 5 to 6 pax. However, if you go alone, you will not be able to take this. The staff will ask you which slide you would like to go for and provide the correct float. That is some workout of stairs climbing before the real fun. For the round one, we sat across each other, go down the totally covered slide and experience the "whoosh" in the 3 big round area within the slide. It's fun!

The next one is more scary looking. The steep drop of the slide and then you go all the way up depending on your weight. This is speedy and thrilling. I took this 3 times, once by myself and I screamed all the time. The slides are worth the try, although you can find more variety in real water parks at a fixed price. 

We headed back to our levels to change out of our swimming suit and went to the common area for some ice cream and food. Here's when I held on to the husband's phone and then forgot to return him before we went back to our levels to change. Poor him thought he has lost his phone and went up and down to search. Little did he know I was downstairs waiting for him to come down, hoping he could sense my telepathy message. In the end, he went back up to shower again.

Walking along Shinseikai

We thought Shinseikai would have many things to see. But it might be due to a weekday, quite a number of shops were closed and it was so boring. We settled our dinner at Kushikatsu Daruma Dobutsuenmae, with the angry-chef-holding-kushikatsu mascot. We did not realise it was the same brand that could be found at Dotonburi anyway.

While you may come out with your clothes smelling smokey, it is worth the try for Osaka's signature dish. We hear about tempura so often, but Kushi Katsu is of a breaded exterior. We ordered one of kushi katsu set which includes a variety of meat and vegetable skewers. I personally like the lotus root one which has that crunch in every bite. There is also fried cheese and mochi, how interesting. We were offered a complimentary bowl of beef tendon stew. I must say that it was so tender, the fats just melts in the mouth.

The kushi katsu is supposed to go with the sauce which you can only dip in once since it was for common sharing use. The sauce is vinegarish and complements fried food well. Raw cabbage are provided for people to scoop additional sauce should they require more. The cabbage is so fresh and crunchy that I just kept eating it because I like it. 

There is a mega  Don Quixote near the train station so do check it out.

Food and more food 

As we headed back to our area, we indulged in more food! Atchichi takoyaki (500 yen) is average tasting despite the queue and addictive song which keeps playing. Too hollow and soft.

And then we passed by a fruit shop and decided on the 500 yen white strawberry. Damn it's really good and sweet. (And it came with the nice packaging which I debated on whether to bring it back home due to space constraint. I thought I have left it in Japan, but the husband kept it for me lol.)

We had the dangos (500 yen) outside the karaoke room. Not sure why there is a long queue because it seems quite instant. Nevertheless, dangos are still quite nice and chewy. The soysauce one is quite weird at first, but I actually would eat it again.

And lastly, we tried the Osaka Ohsho gyoza. It is so delicious. Slightly crispy outer skin with flavourful and peppery filling. It is so affordable as well (260 yen). Definitely recommended!

Japan - Universal Studio Japan Osaka

Day 4 - 15 January 2019

Breakfast at the Hotel 

We had to reach USJ at 8.30am to join our special queue so there was no time for breakfast. Also, we were not too sure where will be opened so early in the morning. So at 6.30am, we came down to the hotel lounge area to have our 3 cup noodles.  These cup noodles are the special ones which can be found in 7 Eleven.

We are both ramen lovers and were so thrilled to know that the noodles of popular ramen chains come in paper containers. There is even real meat inside that is dried up at first! All three types are so amazing tasty. The noodles actually taste like the real thing. The dan dan mian can on the heavy side but it is really a decent meal. The soba noodles is chewy and quite appetitzing in the light broth. The Ippudo bowl is also delicious and moderately rich.

Of course, the real ramen would be better and the meat would be more real.

We left our hotel around 7.15am to the take the train down.

Universal Studio Japan 

To get to USJ, we took the train from JR Namba station to the Universal City JR station. Outside the station, you will see a street of shops and food store. The excitement starts building up right there as you see other people walking to the same destination.

We were guided by a staff to our location to queue after showing the wrist band. It was outside Studio West and some people were already in the queue. Thankfully, we were not too far back as well. They checked our tickets and then we went into the shop to continue waiting. The door would only open at the official opening time. However, we get to be at a corner as one of the first batch to enter, and we save the time of checking tickets with the main crowd.

Despite our advantage, it is quite tiring to run all the way to our Harry Potter ride. I was breathless and my throat felt dry in that cold weather. Harry potter land is quite a distance in. Many people were running and overtaking us.


Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey -

So our first ride was quite a favourite for me. Before the actual thing, you put your stuff in the lockers provided. Lockers like in the actual wizarding school, how cool. Then we go through the castle walk and see the portraits come alive.

You sit in a horizontal seat with your feet dangling before you set off for an exciting journey with the wizard and witch alongside you. The effects make it feel real and I felt like I was flying. I remember seeing some ghost/skulls/spiders, which was quite scary at first. It was closed up and your seat will turn upwards so it feels like the thing might just drop on you. Also, it's not often that you hear Harry and Hermione speaking in Japanese.

Even as we were the initial group of people to enter the park, many people overtook us and there was a little waiting time for this ride. See how popular the ride is. So do train up and run.


Flight of the Hippogriff -

Just beside the most popular ride, we have a mini roller coaster which ended quite quickly. I love this, not too thrilling but still thrilling at the same time. For me, at least. The cool air during the winter smacks your face and keeps you refreshed.

In the Harry Potter world, you must try the butter beer. We tried the hot one first, and it is like a hot caramel drink which is a little on the sweet side. The cold one is better for us, carbonated and caramel flavored too. You can have some nice selfies with the foam of the drink.


Jurassic Park; The ride -

Our next ride was at the Jurassic park, which I later found out is a water boat ride. Apparently, it should be a rather wet ride as quite a number of people were wearing poncho. For me, I was relatively water resistant from top to shoes so it was okay. The ride was fun, running away from the dinosaurs and plunging down the waterfall. We got our faces and hair wet, but it was not as bad as the first couple in front.

Backdraft -

This ride has to do with fire and it is not for everyone, especially if you don't want to wait. It had me wondering "is that all". The first station was an introduction and the show of a very old movie. Then we went to the next with a little fire show. I was starting to get impatient and then the real deal came. The place got on fire and it spreaded around, things were breaking down, the temperature was getting high. And at the last moment, my natural instinct got me to bent down a little because the ceiling was falling. It was quite a realistic fire show.


Minion Ride -

Oh no this other popular ride was at 60 mins wait time. However, we probably came out only 45 mins later. I like how we were entertained by the minion videos on the multiple screens as we joined the queue. Of course, it repeats itself after some time but that is a great idea. I believe there are several rooms for this ride. A group of us sat in a car and prepared for the ride. We were all training to be a minion. It is really fun, like we were in a fantasy world, bouncing and sliding around.

The Amazing Spiderman -

This is also one of the 4D kind of rides. Together with Spiderman, you go and save the world and fly across buildings with your web. This one has a 4D glasses to wear, which makes the experience more real.


Lunch at Finnagan's Bar Grill

We were debating on our lunch options - more atas versus fast food. It was lunch hour and everywhere probably will be packed. Atas option might be better and so we chose the nearest one from our last ride. It was a rainy day and being in the restaurant was comfortable and warm.

Our whole meal was delicious. The portion is not a lot, which might be good to continue with the next ride. The steak is so tender and flavourful. For the bread bowl, it did not look as yummy when I opened it up. Serving in a paper bowl probably lowers your expectation. But I was surprised. The tomato soup is just right and really appetizing.

If you want some beer without getting drunk, be sure to try their alcohol free beer. It taste 100% just like the normal beer. Quite interesting to me, but totally not my husband's cup of tea. He just does not like the beer taste after all, even though he is the one who wanted to try. There are also other colourful beers which you may wish to try.


Terminator -

Again, if you don't have the patience, skip this ride. There was a very long introduction when everyone gathered in a room and have an interaction session with the staff. I must say that the lady staff is very talented and enthusiastic in acting and building rapport, but the language will all be in Japanese. After around 15 minutes, we got into the theatre for the 3D and live show. I have no comments about this section, because I literally fell asleep.


Shrek's 4D Adventure -

The husband said we have watched it in USS before but I totally forgotten about it. It has been 7 years ago since our visit. It definitely is a fun 4D show especially for kids, but would be better in English for us.


Jaws - 

A boat ride with beautiful scenery. Depending on which side you are seated, a shark may come out of the water in close view. Thankfully, the sharks are fake and we all survived.

Hollywood Dream -

There is a hollywood dream and hollywood dream backdrop ride. I think the backdrop was closed during our visit. I waited for my husband while he conquered the ride himself. He said that it was quite an okay ride only, but the redeeming factor is the wonderful music that plays at your ears while you go at the fast speed. That is pretty unique.

The Flying Dinosaur -

The most anticipated ride of the day! Okay I was just feeling excited for the husband because I did not take it myself. It displayed a 45 mins wait time. However, the single rider lane was crazy quick. Suddenly, he messaged me that he was already going on the next ride. I was right below to take a video and our signal for each other was to make a heart. It was more fun for me to be a spectator than a rider.

The ride is really interesting because you will be elevated to a flying position through the ride. Thrill and fun level is there.

Our last two rides were the Harry Potter ride and the Flight of the Hippogriff again. While people were all queuing for the castle show, we get a "fast pass" for the rides. One advice by others on tackling rides is quite accurate. Target those popular rides around 1 hour before the park closure. You really can save the time from potential queues and entirely skip them near the end.

I think I anticipated a lot more for USJ. A lot of the rides are 4D types which may not be suitable for some people who get nauseous and giddy (aka as the husband) after that. Many warned about the peak hours and wait time for rides and advise on getting a fast pass. However, the fast pass is literally almost the cost of another ticket. For our visit on a Tuesday, it was so awesome and there was no significantly long wait time. Overall for a family trip, it has a good mix of cutesie stuff versus thrilling rides. But if you want ultimate family adventure, Disneyland would be better :P.

And by the way, the churros in USJ taste so damn good! Both the chocolate and cinnamon one are so amazing. They are crispy and chewy to the right level. We had 3 in the end, when we initially only bought 1.

Dinner at Mosburger

After a full day of amusement park, we settled our dinner at the Mosburger outside the street of shops. I missed that Mosburger from this particular outlet in Ginza so much!

Unfortunately, the fish burger is not the same! The bun and fish was not exceptionally crispy and it did not have fresh onions in it. I was extremely disappointed.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to eat our customised cup noodles. Wahaha so many cup noodles in a day. Mine was the seafood taste which is enhanced by the cheese flavour. My husband's was the curry flavour one which is quite thick.

When you have tasted the actual ramen in instant form, you suddenly feel like the other cup noodles become fake tasting.