Skylar's Travels: Yokoso! Japan Day 2

Universal Studio and Dotonbori

The next day was spent at Universal Studio. We had a small incident of the other 2 gals waking up late bcos they didnt hear the alarm clock for one hp, and the other hp was still on spore time (1 hour later than japan) *LOL* , and thus we set off 45 min later than planned.

We went to stroll in the vicinity while waiting for them.

Vending machines near our hotel. Throughout our time in Japan, we only saw vending machines selling drinks, food, ice-cream and cigarettes. We didnt see those selling scandalous stuff such as used underwear. We later heard from our tokyo friend that these vending machines are now banned in Japan, to our slight disappointment (we were just morbidly curious, that's all) ;p

There were also some sleazy photos of nude girls nearby, but we did not take photos of them of cos ;p

We bought some onigiri (aka rice cakes) from 7-11 to snack on. The variety of take-away food they have in the 7-11 is surprisingly good. They even have bento sets available.

The train to Universal City station, where Universal Studio is located.

There's an entertainment district on the way to Universal Studio from the station.

This appears to be some photo-taking studio. nice pictures of chio japanese girls outside.

A takopachi museum. we later went there to try some really nice takopachi that is very different from the ones we had at Osaka Castle the day before.

Us at some shop with the Universal Studio globe outside it.

A huge king kong sign:

The entrance to Universal Studio.

Charlie Brown.

Snoopy.

The famous Universal Studio globe. We also saw a similar one at Disneysea (Tokyo) later.

The entrance ticket costs 5,800 yen (~S$87). As the place closes at 6 pm, we quickly made our way in to take our first ride at the Spider-Man place.

But first, we spotted Betty Boop.

Woodpecker.

Popcorn stall:

Many shops line the street from the entrance

Universal studio theatre

Outside a restaurant there're some plastic food displays which is very common in Japan.

Outside the Spider-man ride.

The ride is one of the most interesting and fun ones we took in Universal Studio. It is a simulated ride that takes you through the rescue of the statue of liberty that was stolen by the villians in the spider-man series such as Doc Ock, Sandman, etc. It is so real that you feel like you're immersed in the movie and on board the vehicle being rescued by Spider-Man.

We wanted to take the Back to the Future ride, but to our surprise, the waiting time was 70 min and simply too long to waste, so we decide to move on to other rides.

We walked pass the centre water stage where there would be a Peter Pan show later at 230pm. The stage looked pretty impressive.

Next was Jurassic Park Ride.

The ride is one of the highlights in the theme park. It was however, not exactly up to our expectations.

The ride started off like a normal ride through the "innocent" part of Jurassic Park, with visitors riding a boat through the park with herbivorous dinosaurs grazing nearby. The ride then takes a dangerous turn into the prohibited area, with menacing velociraptors and other caniverous dinosaurs lurking. The last bit was the escape from T-Rex by jumping into the darkness from a height of 25.9m. I must admit they really got me there; T-Rex's mouth was right above when we fell. H/e, we felt kinda cheated as we expected more excitement towards the end.

In T-Rex's teeth:

We spotted these cute Japanese girls, and couldnt resist taking a photo of them as well.

Next was another highlight: JAWS ride

The familiar Amity town sign to JAWS fans.

JAWS also started out as an "innocent" ride on water until the menacing shark appears relentlessly to attack the visitors on board. The most interesting part was not the shark, but the entertaining performance given by the guide who was so animated and convincing that you really feel like you're in danger. Never mind that we didnt understand a single word of what he's saying since it's in Japanese. Of course, the electrocution of the shark whose burnt corpse that re-surfaced at the end would be a familiar sight that would more or less satisfy JAWS fans.

After the JAWS ride, we milled around abit before heading for lunch.

Pink Panther's Cafe:

Hello Kitty's Celebrity Shop.

For lunch, i had a Hamburg set with prawn and wedges, with curry sauce that cost me about 1,400 yen (~S$21). Rather pricey, but expected for a meal in a theme park. The food was pretty good for a restaurant in a theme park, tho i find the curry not spicy enough.

Snoopy drink.

After lunch, we walked around and spotted Shrek:

Sesame Street gang coming in a very colourful bus.

The show was mainly for kids, where the Sesame Street characters teach children the benefits of eating vegetables and fruits; we also saw two Sesame Street adult fans who had a whole collection of Sesame Street toys with them.

We went to watch the Terminator 3-D show. As i wasn't a fan of Terminator and have never watched any of the movies, i didnt particularly enjoy the show.

Next was the Peter Pan's Neverland show. As the show was in Japanese, we didnt understand much of what they talked about. H/e the singing and dancing was enough to entertain us. There were also fireworks and Peter Pan flying above us that made the show a highlight of the day.

We saw a Snoopy show nearby, and stopped to take some photos.

Next was the Back to the Future ride. The waiting time was scheduled to be about 60 min, but as it was the last ride we wanted to take for the day, we went ahead with it. Overall, this was the longest we've waited for a ride in Universal Studio. For other popular rides like Jurassic Park and JAWs, we only waited 10-15 min, which was considered pretty fast.

The Back to the Future ride was similar to the Spiderman ride whereby visitors are taken through the time-travel in a simulated ride through volcanoes, avalanche and even ice age and dinosaurs. H/e, it was kinda disappointing as we had expected more from this ride that sounded so promising. It might also have been bcos we waited so long for it, and had hoped more for it.

We milled around in the Snoopy area before heading for some souvenir shopping.

Overall Universal Studio Japan was pretty entertaining and had lots to offer for movie-goers and kids alike. H/e we enjoyed Disneysea more than we did Universal Studio (which you will read about in Day 5's post).

We left Universal Studio for our next destination: Dotonbori.

H/e, first, we decided to try some takopachi at the takopachi museum in the nearby vicinity (which we walked past in the morning).

There were at least 4-5 stalls selling the same food - takopachi. We wondered how they managed to survive the competition, with so many selling the same stuff. In the end, we decide to try the stall whose helpers called out to us shouting "Delicious! Delicious!".

We had two different kinds of takopachi: one with the usual mayonnaise, and the other with seaweed powder.

This was so much better than the ones we have in Spore, and also at Osaka Castle the day before. Unlike the doughy kind we have in Spore, the ones here have smooth and watery contents with great flavor. It is thus not difficult to eat the whole box of 8 pieces on your own as it does not fill you up that easily. It is also easy to make a mess of yourself eating these.

We left for Dotonbori thereafter. By the time we reached the train station near Dotonbori, it was almost dark. We decide to go for dinner instead, and skip Shinsaibashi, which was quite a distance away.

Dotonbori is an important landmark of the gastronomic city of Osaka. Locals and tourists alike roam the place for good food and drink (sake or beer).

To those who've been to Dotonbori, or who have gone to the Japanese food street in the new extension of Jurong Point, you would find these signages familiar.

The place was very happening and bustling with many Japanese milling about, eating and shopping, even tho it was a Monday night. We also saw alot of billboards here, and giant posters like Terminator 4 the movie poster.

The big octopus model reminds me of takopachi:

Us being silly in front of the Glico Man

(Originally installed in 1935, the giant neon athlete on a blue track is a symbol of Glico candy. The sign has been altered on several occasions to celebrate events such as the World Cup and to show support for the Osaka baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers.)

We had dinner at one of the Japanese restaurants, attracted by its colourful plastic displays outside:

Luckily there was an English menu provided. H/e we had to somewhat "guess" what food is in each picture, as the English menu does not have all pictures that are featured in their usual (Japanese) menu.

My dear's dinner, consisting of kitsune udon, sushi set and tempura. The kitsune was v good!:

For the rest of us, we had Kaiseki sets, which refers to traditional multi-course Japanese dinner, similar to Western haute cuisine. They consist of many small items like sashimi, chawanmushi, tempura, pumpkin, sweet prawn etc. It was very yummy :)

Joey and Zhenzhi's set (they had the same set):

My set:

Sweet prawn, with some vegetables and dunno-what nice stuff:

Salmon, mackerel and tamago (egg). No idea what are those sauces/condiments stuff at the side tho. they're kinda tasteless.

Sashimi:

The meal costs us about 2,000 yen each (~S$30). Mine was the most expensive, about 2,098 yen. A pretty good meal tho, and filling. And cheaper than if you patronize restaurants in Spore such as Kuriya Japanese restaurant.

Dotonbori river: