Down to my last Japanagon post (I will miss this!).

Almost done with my Japan posts, and almost ready for my next trip! For a moment, napaisip ako if this impulsive flight is a good idea, but after creating the itinerary last night, excited na ako and namiss ko na agad mag travel! What to use as Singapore personal hashtag kaya, haha! Hindi na siya fit like #Taiwanagon and #Japanagon! :D

Anyway, this post is dedicated to Shinjuku.

I left my Ate at Ginza after she painfully toured me for hours at what she called "the biggest Uniqlo". I LOVE the brand so much, but that time I was already feeling antsy-anxious for my first commute alone in Tokyo. I was going to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka!

We had less than 48 hours to explore Tokyo before our flight to Manila, when Ate recommended that we had to go to Harajuku because fashion. More than having a blog, and even before blogging, my life (cliche man) revolves around style and clothes. 

In Harajuku is the 400m long Takeshita Street. This pedestrian-only, narrow lane in Harajuku is lined with mostly independent stores and restaurants. This is where the Tokyo youth go to shop and hangout -- thus it can be called the center of Tokyo's teen culture.

I've been lagging with my Japan (Japanagon) posts and I have so many reasons up my sleeve. These include work-related posts that needed to be accomplished first, or the many photos from the trip I had to sort through before making the post -- which takes a lot of my time!

Anyway, I am expecting another travel soon, so I have to finish all these Japanagon this week. I know the cherry blossoms had long vanished to make way for summer (and even summer is almost concluding!), but let me take you back on that beautiful Spring day for just this one last time...

I left Osaka with a broken heart. I was trying to just look forward, look ahead on our next stops, but I can't seem to leave our place just yet. Anyway, my plans is to go back for the other things and places in this city in 2 or 3 years, super bitin pa ako I had to drag myself outside and leave this door. I was thinking of our daily Lawson breakfasts when we left. :p

I'm on a roll! Hahaha, I've been blogging the whole day habang may time. Lol. So aside from Nara, another side trip that you can add to your itinerary if you're in Osaka is Kobe. It is located between a sea and mountain range, making Kobe such a beautiful, cold, but very photogenic place.


But first, my usual Lawson breakfast - tried their chocolate donut, Cheeza (yummy blue cheese-flavored cheap biscuit), and brewed coffee.

On our 4th day in Japan, it was our first time to go outside Osaka for a side trip to its neighbor city: Nara. We rode this train (Kintetsu Nara Line from Namba Station), which of course arrived on time.

March 22, 2015, Osaka, Japan

My Ate and I didn't really go to Japan mainly for the cherry blossom season, or the food trip and shopping, our first and common agenda was actually to go to the Universal Studios Japan's Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Both Potterheads, late last year we decided to pikit-mata save up for this trip just so we can finally immerse in this world we've long been dreaming to see and feel for a long long time.

Surprise! I did took out my SLR during my Japan trip after all, haha! I was able to capture a few "quality" OOTD with a camera (and not just my iPhone) during our first day of tour. It was during our first sighting of Cherry Blossom Trees at the Osaka Castle Park vicinity, so I immediately stood next to it and handed Ate my cam sapilitan. Haha. I can't blame her, though. Sa totoo lang, bilib na ako sa mga nakaka OOTD pa during their travels. I often just let my mind wander for a change, and see the world without a camera lens in between my eyes and the view. But seeing these better photos makes me regret just using my iPhone for the whole trip, oh well. Hindi na masama. I am a blogger anyway, not a photographer (dami sinabi! Hahaha!).

There are so many things that I admire about the Japanese people in general. When Gervin, during our long night walk in Shinjuku and halfway through my Japanagon adventures, asked me what I think of the Japanese people... my top of mind was that they are so sooo polite. The night when I got back from the trip, the family had dinner in Rockwell and we were a bit early. I entered different stores and suddenly missed the Japanese people's automatic "irrashaimase!" or "ohayō gozaimasu!" greetings whenever I enter or exit a boutique, or pay for something. Nakaka-LSS a!


Dotonbori, our area in Osaka during our first 6 nights in Japan.

I am super excited to post about my Japan trip, but it's so hard to organize all the photos, finish my Easter wedding client projects, while attending a Holy Week recollection in the morning! But I decided earlier on that I will make time for this, while still fresh! 

Everything's so interesting in this trip, it's probably one of my most favorite and babalikan ko talagang bansa. My Ate and I stayed in Japan for around 12 days, but the first and last days nakalaan lang talaga for the flights. So technically, this post is dedicated for our Day Zero in Japan (the start of a blog series)...