Just An Ordinary Girl

Photo By: Elin Chow 

On the sixth day of our 9D8N Japan trip, we checked out of our Airbnb apartment in Kyoto and took the train from Kyoto Station to Osaka. The fastest and cheapest way to get from Kyoto Station to Osaka Station is by the JR Special Rapid train on the JR Kyoto Line. The one way fare is 570 Yen and takes about 28 minutes. You can also take the Local and Rapid trains on the JR Kyoto Line, but it will take a little more time because they stop at more stations.

We took the Special Rapid train to Osaka Station. The train was very crowded even during non-peak hours. Please note that there are no dedicated luggage racks on these trains for you to put your luggage. So you have to hold on to them during the entire journey to Osaka, which was really a challenge on a crowded train.

We alighted at Osaka Station (also known as Umeda Station) in Osaka. At Osaka Station, we walked to Umeda Station and transferred to the Subway Midosuji Line to Osaka-Namba Station. Our plan for the day was to visit the Osaka Expo 70' Commemorative Park (Banpaku Kinen Koen) to see the cherry blossoms. But since it was too early for us to check in our Airbnb apartment, we decided to leave our luggage at Yamato Transport Service counter at OCAT.  It costs 500 Yen per luggage.

Osaka Expo 70' Commemorative Park

Located 30 minutes north of Osaka City Center, Osaka Expo 70' Commemorative Park is large public park built on site of the Japan World Exposition from 1970, which is known to be the first World Exposition held in Asia. Over 75 pavilions were exhibited at the World Expo to show off the wonders of the world's countries and cutting edge corporations.

After the completion of the World Expo, most of the pavilions were removed and spacious grounds were converted to Expo 70' Commemorative Park with wide lawns and plazas lined by flowering plants and trees. It is also home to 5,000 cherry trees, which makes the park one of the most popular cherry blossoms viewing spot in Osaka.


The Expo 70' Commemorative Park is located right next to Bampaku-Kinen-Koen Station and can be easily reached by train from Central Osaka. From Osaka Namba Station, take the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line to Senri-Chuo Station. At Senri-Chuo Station, transfer to Osaka Monorail to Bampaku-Kinen-Koen Station. The journey will take about 51 minutes and costs 670 Yen per way.

The Expo 70' Commemorative Park is just a 5 minutes walk from Bampaku-Kinen-Koean Station via a footbridge. Located just opposite the Park's main gate is Expocity, which is known as one of the largest shopping and entertainment complex in the Japan.

It comprises of a massive 3 storey indoor shopping complex with over 300 stores, offering fashion, luxury items, cosmetics, household goods and sport equipment from a variety of Japanese and international brands. Other entertainment facilities also include an Interactive Aquazoo, Nifrel, 109 Imax Cinema and the tallest ferris wheel in Japan. It is a great place to spend a day for families, especially if you have young children.



Entrance fee to the Expo 70' Commemorative Park is 250 Yen for adult and 70 Yen for children. The park is open daily from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm, except Wednesday (except during cherry blossoms and autumn leaf seasons). During cherry blossoms season, the hour operation will be extended to 9.00 pm.  Please note that the park will be closed from December 28 to January 1.


Passing through the ticket gate, we were instantly greeted by the Tower of Sun. There are several other sculptures and artworks scattered around the park, but the Tower of Sun at the main entrance is biggest and most famous one. The bizarre structure is 70 metre tall and is the iconic symbol of the park, created by artist Taro Okamoto. In fact, you will be able to see it once you exit Bampaku-Kinen-Koen Station.

On the tower, you will see red lightning flashes and three faces on its front and back, representing past, present and future.




The 264 hectares of grounds features large open spaces and lawns which are dotted with artworks and seasonal flowers display, making it a popular destination for enjoying nature. Surprisingly, the park was not crazily crowded when we visited, probably because it is located a little further outside Osaka, away from the main tourist area. In fact, there were hardly any foreign tourists in the park and most of the visitors were locals.

You can enjoy beautiful seasonal flowers no matter when you visit. We were extremely pleased to see that the tulips were in full bloom at the time when we visited. They were so beautiful!



The park is quiet and serene, making it a great place to escape from the noisy city. You can easily spend half a day strolling around the park and enjoying the nature. It is delightful to stroll through with something to see at every corner.

Alternatively, you can bring a bento box with you and enjoy a picnic on the spacious grass grounds while enjoying the beautiful blossoming flowers. The grounds are very open and uncrowded, with plenty of space for you to run around, kick a ball or throw a frisbee around. Just a perfect place for an outing with your family and friends.


You will also find a playground for children featuring a giant slide. Standing at 12 metres tall with a total length of 30 metres, kids will definitely love playing here.


The park is also home to a number of museums such as the National Museum of Ethnology, the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum and Expo'70 Pavilion. The Expo'70 Pavilion is a one of the few former pavilion that was preserved from the World Expo. It was originally known as the Steel Pavilion before it was renovated and re-opened in 2010 to the public as a museum to commemorate the 40th anniversary of World Expo'70. Admission fee is 200 Yen for adults and free for children.



Not far from the Expo'70 Pavilion, you will find a market selling different kinds of ceramics and pottery items. There were a few food stalls selling snacks as well.


Walking to the center of the park, you will find the Dream Pond where you can rent a swan shaped pedal boat and paddle around.




There are over 5,000 cherry trees of nine different varieties planted all across the park, with most of them concentrated around the southeastern plaza. From late March to early April every year, the park transformed into a breathtaking sea of pink as the cherry trees bloom, which also makes it one of the few cherry blossoms viewing site to be chosen as one of the "100 Most Famous Cherry Blossoms Viewing Locations in Japan".

Most of the cherry trees have reached full bloom and that was certainly the highlight of our visit. We really enjoy walking on the wide paved path underneath the cherry blossoms in Spring. It was a pretty spectacular sight and unsurprisingly, you will find this area more crowded than the rest of park. You will lots of locals enjoying their picnic under the trees.

In this area, you will also find a number of random food stands selling various street food, so you will never go hungry. The cherry trees will also be illuminated at night during the peak blooming season.




Overall, the Expo 70' Commemorative Park is a great value for money. It is huge and you can easily spend an entire day here if you wish to explore all the attractions in the park. We did not managed to see the whole park because we only spent 4 hours here.



Leaving the park, we took the train back to Osaka-Namba Station. It was late afternoon and we were already very hungry. After walking around, we decided to have our lunch at a Tempura chain called Ebinoya. There are a few branches in Osaka and we visited their Namba Park branch.


Price: 1,058 Yen

The restaurant serves a great variety of tempura set meals which usually comes with rice or soba noodles and Japanese clam soup. Food was terrific! The tempura were freshly fried upon order and they were really light, crispy and not greasy at all. I love the dipping sauce as well. It goes really well with the tempura.

Service was also quick and price was fairly affordable. I think this was one of the best tempura lunch we had in Japan so far.

After lunch, we collected our luggage from Yamato Transport Service counter at OCAT before heading to check in our Airbnb apartment located near Namba Parks. It is located in a residential area, off the main road, away from the noisy traffic.


Our one bedroom studio apartment was pretty spacious by Japanese standard. Modernly furnished, it was well-equipped with everything that you will possibly need for a comfortable stay. The door opens to a long hallway leading to the living area, and to the right, you will find a separate toilet and bathroom.


The high-tech toilet is equipped with a washlet that comes with a sensor, which is able to detect our presence and automatically lifts the toilet cover up without touching. Toilet seat is also heated so we do not have to worry about the unbearable cold.


The bathroom consists of a changing room which is equipped with a sink and washing machine and an actual bathroom that comes with a shower and a small soaking tub. Shower gel and shampoo are provided as well.



The main room serves as a living, dining and bedroom. The living area comes with a comes with sofa, small table and a balcony. Next to the living area is the kitchenette and sleeping area. The kitchenette is simply a counter with a sink and cabinets along the wall. There was no stove provided for cooking since you will be sleeping in the same room. I believe no one would like to stay in a room that smell of food. But basic cutleries and utensils are provided so that we can buy some food back to eat. There is a refrigerator as well for us to keep our drinks chilled.
The sleeping area comes with a large comfortable double bed. It does not have a built in closet but it was not necessary for us.

This was by far one of my most favorite Airbnb apartment we had stayed in Japan. The location was great and it was really clean and quiet. We also like that it is fitted with digital lock so we do not have to carry the keys around with us.

After taking a short rest, we walked to Dotonbori for food and shopping. It has been three years since we last came here and we were surprised that so much have changed over the years. Dotonbori is still jam packed with restaurants and shops, but we find many of them were repetitive. Even so, it was still crazily crowded with tourists.


While strolling down the street, we noticed that there were quite a number of stalls and restaurants that specialize in Kobe Beef. We decided to try out Wanomiya Kobe Beef, which offers A5 grade Kobe Beef in different cuts. A5 is the highest grade of wagyu you can get in Japan, so naturally, it is the most expensive too.

Price: 2,800Yen

We ordered the tender red meat and got a small plate of it with about 6-8 pieces. It was served with a dipping sauce, which goes absolutely well with the meat. The meat was amazingly delicious with a melt-in mouth texture. We would definitely buy another plate of it if the price is not so expensive.


We had our dinner at an Izakaya named Daikichi. The restaurant is pretty small and has an open kitchen behind the counter. We were seated at a cramped table at the entrance.

The restaurant has an English menu with some photos. Some items on the menu are incorrectly or strangely translated to English, but at least, you will roughly know what you are ordering. The restaurant serves a variety of small dishes and price is pretty affordable. We spent 2,200 Yen for 5 small dishes. The good thing is you can try a lot of different dishes at the same time.

Price: 200 Yen each

For drink, we ordered Oolong tea. Well, most of the Japanese will order alcohol at an Izakaya. After all, it is a Japanese-style pub meant for after-work drinking.


We ordered a plate of Sashimi to try. It was served with soy sauce, wasabi paste and seaweed. The Sashimi was very fresh and melt in mouth.

Price: 450 Yen

To fill our stomach, we ordered stir fried noodles. You can choose whether you like it sweet or salty. We chose salty because we are not a fan of sweet sauce. But it was too salty to eat and we struggled to finish all of it.

Price: 400 Yen

The stir fry scallops was also salty and we had a hard time trying to finish the entire plate of it too. It seems that Izakaya food is usually more salty because it is meant to go well with beer or wine.

Price: 120 Yen each

We ordered fried chicken on skewer too because I am craving for fried food. The chicken was perfectly fried and well seasoned but a little oily.
Price: 330 Yen

We also had clam soup with sake broth to warm our body up in the cold weather. This was really nice. It was fresh and flavorful.

Price: 2,700 Yen

After dinner, we walked aimlessly around the street; went into one of the supermarket and just happened to see these strawberries on sale. I bought these immediately because I have been wanting to try these pretty and large Japanese strawberries out.


The white strawberries taste like heaven! It smell very sweet and the skin is very soft and juicy. But the sweetness is not too overpowering or candylike. Instead it leaves a fresh aftertaste.

The light pink ones are slightly less sweet but the skin is very soft like the white ones as well. I actually love the pink ones more than the white ones because of its light sweetness

The red ones, on the other hand, are sour sweet and not as soft as the white or pink ones.


If you are interested to know more about our trip, you may want to check out our 9D8N Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka Trip Itinerary + Overview for the list of attractions that we had visited during our 9 days in Japan. For anyone planning your first trip to Japan but have no idea where to start, you should read my "How To Plan A Trip To Japan" post.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates on my 9 days adventures in Japan! You might also want to check My Wanderlust page for some of my other travel adventures.