Japan Day 1 - Narita to Osaka | The Baker in Me ~ Bake, Baking, Baked.

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After 4-plus years of Japanese study and a 7-hour flight, I landed in the land of the rising sun, with fervour to conquer this long desired destination of mine (only to find out later that I still have a long way to go...)

First we took the Narita Express to Shinagawa (品川)...

Then we took the Shinkansen (新幹線) to Osaka. It was a 3-hour ride there on the second fastest train, which was what was allowed on our rail pass. Below is a pic of a similar one we took - the 700 series.

Inside the Shinkansen train...

Some country pics along the way.

And finally, after years of watching Japan Hour, I finally had my train station lunch box (駅弁当). There was a wide variety of selection, and I chose one with rice rolls and oden.

By the time we checked into the hotel, it was almost late afternoon. We walked around Osaka and visited the Umeda Sky Building briefly. Din take much pics. Finally we had dinner at this ramen place which was supposedly number 1 as choses on some TV program. I chose a cold ramen - something we dun find in Singapore. Essentially, it was pretty much eaten like soba. The noodles was the ramen kind, but served cold. You dip them into the warm soup which is actually the usual ramen stock.

Followed by desserts at another place nearby called Amaji Chabo. I had mochi red bean served with a bowl of green tea. Actually I wanted to try the green tea more. It was not usual ones you drink. I think it was more of the kind that in chado (茶道) where they take a bamboo brush to create foamy bubbles in the tea. It tasted a little more bitter than the usual kind, but it was great and refreshing.

We shopped at Uniqlo. Have never stepped into the Singapore outlet so far, but based on online prices, Japan's cheaper than locally. Look how cool and service oriented they are! It was raining and they actually put a rain cover over your paper bag.