Day 1
We touched down at Kansai International Airport after 5 hours flight journey, picked up our luggage and went straight to a telecommunication centre to buy a portable wifi. It costs 4500 yen which is quite expensive as we're only going to stay for 8 days so we decided to split among us three.
We also bought an unlimited 5-day pass for Nankai train and subway and Universal Studio Japan immediately at the tourist counter before making our way to our airbnb house at Tambaguchi. My first time being on The Land of The Rising Sun during it's winter season, I was shivering so badly and could hardly adapt fast. With my shaky body and trembling hands, we walked for another 1.5 KM to reach our small crib.
Upon checking in, we hastily looked for the heater and hot blanket to immediately warm the whole house. We were literally freezing with our numb hands and everything that we touch feels like slicing through our skin- even when we're already in the house but yeah, our heater took a lot of time to get heated up. The first day was all about exploring so that night, we went out to walk around the area and to 7eleven for dinner.
Day 2
Our first journey was about to be so amaaaaazing. No morning was early for us to wake up for a train ride to Nara Deer Park in which we could even make time to get new friend from Miami. He's a freelance artist who is on a solo vacation to Kyoto and Tokyo for 2 weeks before heading back to work. We talked about a lot of things including his fascinating experience going to other places in the world and he even said that me and my sister look like twins! I can't recall his name because it was a bit peculiar but I do feel miserable for losing contact with this wonderful man.
Back to the story, we reached the park when the sun was shining so nicely and winter wind are blowing quite gently and that's when we knew that the deers that we've been anticipating to meet are EVERYWHERE IN NARA ! At first, we thought the deers would be staying at one place probably within the parameter of fence but we were wrong. They are indeed harmless but my first approach with them weren't really sweet - they sniffed my body and grabbed anything in my coat pocket with their mouth and swallow them straight down their throat and that time, it was my tissue. Can you imagine how freaking scared I was? But all was good. They are so cute. There were several stalls selling cookies that the deers love for 100 yen so we can feed the deers while walking around the park to other attraction sites like some of the temples and museums. A friendly warning here: feeding a deer would draw attention from other deer as well so you might end up getting swarmed by 10 deers at one time so I think it's better to feed a solo deer rather than a group of them.
While in the park, we walked into Todaiji temple and its museum. It was my first time stepping into a temple solely to appreciate their culture and practice. I get to learn a few things from my observations but it would've been a better experience to have english translations for every sculpture and architecture displayed in the temple :')
After having our home-cooked lunch on a public bench, we continued our journey to Harukas 300- an observatory roof garden on top of the skycrapper, Abeno Harukas in which we gained a wide view of developmental area of Osaka City. The view was stunning and on top of all, entry to that place is free. I bet if winter weren't too freezing, I would 100% sure to stay there for more beautiful photos.
It gets dark earlier during winter- 5PM. During the evening, we went to Nipponbashi Den Den Town where the anime geeks assemble for their favourite anime items such as figurines, comics and games, before heading to Dotonbori after that. Dotonbori is basically a place for night walk with vendors selling hot Takoyaki, udon and other Osaka hot menu for tourists.
