(｡◕‿◕｡): Day 6: Kinkakuji + Namba

It took about 40 minutes to travel from our hotel to Kinkakuji.

It was only about 10am when we reached but the place was packed with tourists! Most of them were not even foreigners but people visiting from other parts of Japan.

I think they came to view the impressive autumn foliage.

The golden pavilion, beautifully reflected in the large pond.

Yay managed to get a picture with barely anyone else in the shot. Believe me, it was no easy feat.

More maple leaves.

A quaint little tea house just outside, next to the souvenir shop.

Dining under the beautiful maple leaves was the perfect way to conclude our visit to the iconic temple.

Matcha and a small sweet.

Close up in the snack. It had tiny gold flakes on it. I didn't even notice there was so much detail on it at first, thought it was just a small white cube.

Next we took the shinkansen to Osaka. You don't really have to use the shinkansen to get there, but we had the Japan Rail Pass, so might as well make full use of it.

Kani Doraku. The giant moving crab on the sign board is one of the first things that come to mind when I think of Osaka.

Inside the restaurant. The waitresses were dressed in kimonos. The pot at the side was for the shells of the crabs.

Crab chopsticks holder

My order...

...and my mum's.

A short while later, we received our first dish. I love crabs!

Crab sashimi.

A salad with some crab in it.

Crab chawanmushi. This is the first time I'm having chawanmushi in Japan and I love it!

Crab tempura. This was really good.

I love how all the utensils are crab themed as well.

Crab gratin! This was my favourite dish, crab and cheese, two of my greatest loves, combined in a mini hot plate.

Rice.

One of the waitresses could speak fluent Mandarin. She told us we could mix the rice with some of the soup from a little kettle which they set on the table. One of the ways to eat the rice. I happily took a big bite and nearly choked. Turned out it was some wasabi flavoured soup! T_T

More soup O_O Thankfully this was just some miso soup.

Sushi. This was really good, too.

Desert. The waitress whisked the matcha right in front of us before pouring it onto the ice cream.

A Harry Potter poster above the H&M store. I wasn't expecting to find a H&M store in Osaka but I was glad I stumbled across it. The prices were quite reasonable, not a lot more expensive than in Europe I believe.

Some Japanese school girls getting their picture taken with the Glico running man.

Being silly.

Some samples of dog food in Pet Paradise in Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade. I believe they're free? Also while I was there, I saw a girl making her dog try on Christmas costumes, it was adorable!

There was a Cecil McBee outlet store right above the regular store in Shinsaibashi and it offered some good deals. The selection was not as good as the ones in the regular store but still worth buying. Definitely check it out if you're a fan.

Also there was a sale for these socks at nearly all the pharmacies in Osaka. They were going for about ¥1500 each.

551 Horai buns. I think these are really popular in Osaka. I saw many people carrying bags with their logo, even in Kyoto. Got these babies from Daimaru's basement.

Off to find the famous takoyaki store in Amerika-muya. We passed by the Apple store on the way, there was a crowd gathered as there was a band performing there.

Found it! We found a spot in the park and settled down to eat. There were many young people sitting around there as well. We saw two Caucasian guys trying to pick up 2 girls under the pretense of asking for directions lol.