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!