December 13th, 2023

Day 10

Today I will head back to Osaka. After waking up, I took a shower, and headed to the breakfast buffet.

It was pretty good, but the selection is not very varied.

Breakfast Verdict:

★★★☆☆

After breakfast, it was time for me to go back to Osaka. The train ride was uneventful, and since I had plenty of time to purchase a reserved-seat ticket, the conductor never came to me. Although the overhead storage bin/shelf is extremely shallow, so when I was sitting by myself in my row, I put my luggage next to me at the window seat. When an older guy came to me who bought the window seat ticket, I had to put my luggage on the shelf. Took some work.

I had 2 objectives today. First, I will visit the Ultraman World M78 store in Osaka that I didn’t know existed. Second, since my brother in law loves luxury watches, I will go visit Audemars Piguet store and the Rolex store for him.

My first stop, my hotel. Normally a Japanese hotel would never exceed 18 meters squared per normal room. When I looked on the listing for a hotel that is close to the Namba station, this one came up, and its regular room had a whopping 32 meters squared size. That is twice as big as a normal Japanese hotel. It’s not even that much more expensive, so I had to book this one to see what’s up.

Hotel name: Hotel Kanade Osaka Namba

Address: 1-1-3 Motomachi

Price: 434.12 RMB (61 USD)

Verdict: ★★★☆☆

My first impression: this hotel is old. Everything about this hotel shows its age; the floors, the decor, the elevator, the front desk; everything is old. I wanted to leave my stuff at the front desk, but the staff told me that I can check-in right now, which was rather a surprise. So I took the room card, which is just a flimsy piece of plastic paper, and got up to the room through the old elevator. Oh the hotel is sooooo old.

When I opened the door to my hotel room, though, I was extremely surprised. In my mind, when you open the door to your hotel room, you will be greeted with a bed. Most Japanese hotels avoid this problem by setting up a narrow walkway between the door and the bedroom so you don’t see the bedroom right away. This one though, this one is completely different.

I didn’t take a video of the hotel room, but I really should’ve. In Asian cultures, every house has a “front entrance”, or “front reception”, where you leave your shoes and change into slippers. This hotel room had one of those. It blew my freakin’ mind. The toilet, the bathroom, and the bedroom are all separated by three doors, which means that you actually have a walkway between these separate rooms. The bedroom is also very large; you could dance in there if you wanted to. I’m not gonna dance there. Just saying.

One thing I remembered very clearly is that I couldn’t get the toilet to flush. I know this hotel is old; I just didn’t know how old. No matter what I do to the lever, it just wouldn’t budge and it won’t flush. I went to the front desk and asked for a solution, and she told me to push on the lever really hard. Lol. That was the only thing I didn’t do because I didn’t want to break it. I went upstairs and tried again with force, and it flushed. Lol.

So after flushing (finally), I left for the Ultraman M78 World shop. When I was at Kobe at Day 3, I saw one of the M78 World shops. After doing some research online, I found out that they have one at Shinsaibashi Suji, so of course I must pay a visit.

Ultraman, as a series, has been my all time favorite. The first Ultraman that I watched was Ultraman Tiga when I was at age 6. At age 10, I took Japanese lessons because of Ultraman, although that failed miserably. So yes, Ultraman was the reason why I learned Japanese in the first place, and is the reason why I love Japanese culture more than I should.

China also has a love-hate relationship with Ultraman; because Ultraman has many fight scenes, some ill-minded Chinese parents blames Ultraman for their kids being violent. Anyways, because of those idiots, some scenes in Ultraman Tiga were cut, and I hate those fucking idiots so much.

Anyways, since the Ultraman series was so popular among kids, when you grow up, you’re bound to stop watching, or you will be called “juvenile”. I loved Ultraman all the way until I started high school. I specifically remember a Taiwanese kid called Leo, who mocked my preference of Ultraman. I asked him what his favorite stuff is, and he wouldn’t dare to say it back. What a little cunt. But yeah, as time grows, there’s this sentiment that you have to cut back from these perceived “juvenile” and “immature” stuff, and so, I did.

However, my nephew, loves Ultraman. He watched all the new ones; and to make sure that I can actually understand what he’s talking about, I started to watch the new ones. Now, as a grown adult, I must say, I love Ultraman! I am not ashamed of my preference; anyone who dares to mock my love of Ultraman can just go bite the curb. I am this serious. The Ultraman series, surely aimed at school kids, is constantly projecting positive messages to those kids who are still learning.

It’s not just about the fight scenes. Ultraman can only be present for 3 minutes; so for the rest of the show, it has always been the story of the people. If I am to get into this subject, it will take too long to finish. I will put up a separate blog post on this subject.

So anyways, I got to the store! How exciting! I walked around, saw every merchandise, and I wanted to buy everything. I grabbed a couple of merchandise, and the one of the super nice employees gave me a basket to carry everything. While I was selecting, I chatted with that employee, and explained that Ultraman was the reason why I learned Japanese. I think you really have to love Ultraman to want to work there every day, and once he heard that I speak Japanese because of Ultraman, he was moved inside as well. Lol.

There was a Chinese couple who spoke English to the employee. The husband asked in Chinese how many Ultramans are there in total, and the wife translated that into English for him. The employee spoke 0 English, and after he ran back to get the store’s iPad, Google Translate didn’t work. I translated for him. That was fun.

As I was picking out stuff that I want to buy for me myself and for my nephew, I had a horrible realization that I can’t buy anything too big. I am going to Koyasan tomorrow and is coming back the next day. But I’ve already put so many stuff into the basket, so I took out the heaviest stuff, and checked out the lighter stuff.

The employee who helped me check out was a girl, a very Kawaii one. She told me that I am 300 Yen short to get a free Ultraman toy. So I told her to hold it for me, and went back to the merchandise selection. One employee handed me a Ultraman bandaid, which just so happens to be 300 Yen. What a life saver. In the end, the girl employee asked for my passport and gave me the tax-free thing for tourists. That’s the first time I’ve taken my passport out for non-hotel-related stuff. I told the girl employee that I will be back to buy more stuff once I am back in Osaka. Remember her.

After visiting Ultraman M78 World, since the shop is located in a department store building, I decided to get lunch from the same building. There wasn’t anything special, but since I wanted to try everything in Japan, I chose the deep-fried pork cutlet shop. The shop offers “black pigs”, which seems to be a special premium kinda pig, just sounds racist lol.

When I got in and started to inspect the menu, other than the usual deep fried pork cutlets which is a staple of the Japanese cuisine, there is a “teppan” one where it is again pan fried on a hot plate. That seemed interesting and since I’ve never had it before, I ordered that one.

Soon the food arrived. Listen to that sizzling!

This is the food set. It is indeed very different compared to the normal deep fried cutlets; I just don’t know if it’s for the better or for worst. First of all, it is certainly more entertaining when first served. The steam coming from the cutlet itself, and later, from the sauce that the waiter poured onto the plate was very entertaining. The steam, however, made the pork surface very wet. The major selling point of normal cutlet is that the surface texture is very crunchy; but since the steam engulfed the entire meat of this hot plate one, the surface is no longer crunchy. I certainly don’t really care about the crunchiness, but that sounds it will matter to a lot of people.

The cabbage, on the other hand, was cooked to the point that I would like it to be. Normal cabbage served with the normal cutlet will always be raw. I never quite understood why people like to eat raw cabbage, but it is definitely edible. This time, however, since the pork was served on a hot plate, the cabbage was too; and it was placed under the pork, so by the time I eat, the cabbage was fully cooked and was dipped in the pork’s sauce. It was very delicious. Overall, I enjoyed the food today.

Restaurant Verdict:

★★★★☆

It was time for me to go check out luxury watches for my brother in law. I’ve checked for him in both America and in Korea, so I was kinda certain that none will be there for him in Japan as well; but since he asked, I might as well go ask for him.

I first hit up the Audemars Piguet store. It was difficult to find. For reasons unknown to me, when following Google Map’s guidance to the AP store that I’ve walked passed on Day 1, it took me to a completely different location inside the Shinsaibashi Suji. I had to find the AP store through memory, in a completely new city that I’ve only been for 3 days. I did find it, though. So good memory, Brian.

Walked passed someone singing. Didn’t know who they were, but they can’t be too famous, or else why would they sing in the streets? There were crowds though, so what do I know.

Walked passed this Ramen place. I think this was one of the ramen stores that was used in the RGG games.

Anyways, I got to the AP store. I don’t buy myself anything close to the price that these Swiss watch retailers charge for, so of course I don’t know what to expect when stepping into the store. When I stepped in, I asked for the watch models that my brother in law wanted. The staff was very quick to tell me that none of these are in stock. I asked him what is in stock, he then showed me a book of the models that he said clearly was “in stock”. I asked if I could take pictures of the watch models on the book, he said no. He also told me that I can’t buy the watch for someone else, and it must be for myself. Wink wink.

Anyways, the AP store was a bust. There was still some time for me to go hit up the Rolex store before needing to go to the station and check out the show at Kosei. I decided to eat something, but not too much, so I picked the wagyu stick that I had on Day 2.

It’s not the best choice. I still doubt that they used Wagyu. Can’t taste anything Wagyu from the wagyu stick. Still, it was still protein from beef. Not from the best beef, of course.

Next, I went to the Rolex store inside the Takahashi Department Store. It took me a while to get to the department store, and it took me a while to find the Rolex store in the department store. Not only does the department store have multiple floors, it also had a connecting bridge that actually takes you to a different building called “Swiss Hotel”. So yes, the Rolex store is located in the “Swiss Hotel”, not Takashima Department Store. But you get in through Takashima Department Store. Very stupid indeed.

Anyways, I got there, lined up, and when it was my turn to get into the store, I just got in. By then, I didn’t know the special rules with luxury watch shopping. I always thought that it is a “if in stock, pay, and get what you want” kinda deal. No, with luxury watches, you must build a foundation and a relationship with the specific employee, and if they like you enough, they will “award” you with the chance to buy the watch.

I didn’t know all that shit before, so when I got in, I just asked for the specific watch models that my brother in law wanted. The employee asked me to wait a bit for her to go back to the storage room to check. After about 2-3 minutes, she came back, saying there’s none available. I then asked if I can just buy a Rolex from their store without a prior purchase history, she said yes. With that information in mind, I left.

After calling my brother in law and reported this information, we concluded that there must be some in stock, because she did go back to the storage room to check stock availability. Next time I will ask if anything is in stock. Spoiler alert: there’s none.

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