First of all, let’s talk about “fifteens”! This is a kind of sweet in Northern Ireland.
It’s called “fifteens” because almost each ingredient needs 15 stuff.
How simple. 😂
“almost each ingredient needs 15 stuff” means that it requires 15 marshmallows, 15 glacé cherries in addition to 15 digestive biscuits. Additionally, you need a bit more extra ingredients to make fifteens. You can find fifteens’ recipes online very easily like BBC’s webpage.
I want to try to make fifteens some day, so once I make them, I will upload a picture of them on my social media channels and this blog. (I’m not sure if I can obtain cherry stuff in Estonia…)
2. Champ
Secondly “champ” is Northern Irish mashed potatoes.
It’s different from ordinary mashed potatoes because champ contains green onions.
It is good (although I’m usually not a big fan of mashed potato because I don’t have to chew a lot).
It’s not actually clearly visible because of gravy sauce.
On the day tour in Northern Ireland by Viator which I participated in, you will have an opportunity to have some lunch in a town called Ballintoy, where you can have champ. The restaurant’s name is “The Fullerton Arms”.
3. Soda bread
Soda bread can be an implication of Ireland. In fact people in the Republic of Ireland also eat soda bread.
The recipe is fairly easy, and the ingredients are simple too, but often the recipes require buttermilk.
Is it butter or milk.
That’s what I often want to say. (I know it is a product called “buttermilk”.)
In Estonia, it is hard to find unflavoured buttermilk. It is called “hapendatud piimatood” or “petipiim” in Estonian. Luckily, recently I found Lidl discounted unflavoured buttermilk, so I will try to make soda bread.
Also, usually bread making needs yeast, and yet soda bread needs baking soda instead of yeast. No egg is necessary either. (Some recipes still require eggs though.)
It’s quite dry bread, but I personally like its simplicity. It matches butter well.
4. Potato farl
Farl is a flat bread. I saw not only potato farl but also soda farl (which seems to be a bit different from soda bread) at a supermarket in Belfast. I bought soda farls and tried them, and it actually tasted good.
Technically, potato farls per se aren’t Northern Irish particular food, but it is often served in Ulster fry in Northern Ireland.
5. Ulster fry
When going to the UK, many of you might have English breakfast.
But English breakfast isn’t everything!
Both Irish breakfast in the Republic of Ireland and Scottish breakfast in Scotland are slightly different. As they are different, the breakfast in Northern Ireland called “Ulster fry” is also different.
Then, how different are they?
The basic components in each type of breakfast is often
bacons
sausages
fried eggs
mushrooms
tomatoes
tomato-flavoured beans
(The portion and some other details can be changed, depending on the restaurant or who serves it to you.)
I made a table to compare each type of breakfast except for English breakfast.
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Though I saw lots of tourists from all over the world, I didn’t see anyone who seemed to be from Japan. (I believe there are some, but I didn’t really see anyone who might be Japanese.)
Then, what could we do in Belfast which might not be so fascinating for the Japanese people?
Belfast is cosmopolitan (at least for me) but quite compact. It might be suitable for shopping, but I wondered about sightseeing in Belfast. Famous sightseeing places seemed to be outside of Belfast.
However, there is still famous stuff in Belfast, so in terms of Belfast city sightseeing, I took part in the Belfast walking tour.
Booking is required, but the walking tour per se is free. Since this sort of walking tour wants some tips, at the end of the walking tour, it’s polite to give some tips. In my case, I had no idea how much I should give, so I gave the guide 2 GBP which was the biggest amount of cash I had. I wanted to give him 5~10 GBP, but I didn’t want to ask him to give me the change because it sounds weird, and the notes I had were 20 GBP or something. (Sorry, Mr. guide.)
Before participating in this walking tour in Belfast, I wanted to go to the loo in the accommodation I stayed at, but since girls occupied there, I headed to the meeting point of the walking tour, and asked the guide where the public loo was. He told me there were loos in Belfast city hall. It was free.
The Belfast walking tour started in front of Belfast city hall. We sometimes stopped, and listened to the guide’s talk. His historical or political talks were interesting. The guide lived somewhere else temporarily, but other than that, he has lived in Belfast all in his life. He had some experience in guiding in Belfast, so he was reliable.
The Belfast walking tour ended at the salmon statue.
The guide also recommended a few nice pubs in Belfast. (I didn’t go to any of them as the next day was St. Patrick’s Day, and in all the pubs there would be a crowd.)
The walking tour took two hours. I would recommend you to wear some trainers that you are used to so you can prevent yourself from injuries with your shoes. Luckily, when I attended the walking tour, it wasn’t even showering.
2. Belfast castle
In the afternoon of the day I joined the walking tour in Belfast, I went to the Belfast castle, too. You can take only one double-decker called Metro from the Belfast city centre to the Belfast castle.
Once you arrive at the nearest bus stop to the Belfast castle, you need to walk to the Belfast castle. The Belfast castle is situated in the middle of a mountain (or just a steep hill), and at some point it’s sharply inclined. Also, after the shower or rain, the ground is pretty slippery so be careful. You need to climb the mountain quite a lot.
The admission is free to the Belfast castle. If it’s sunny, the coastal side that you can see from the Belfast castle is spectacular. If it’s not a cold season, then you might see some flowers in the garden at the Belfast castle.
However, the inside of the Belfast castle was a bit creepy. Perhaps it was because of the silence there. I didn’t check any rooms in the Belfast castle. I also didn’t see many tourists there.
When going back to the Belfast city centre from the BElfast castle, you should probably have enough time, particularly in the afternoon on a weekday, after 3 pm.
It seems schools in Belfast finish then, so the pink doubledeckers as Metro appeared to be used as school buses. I saw a number of buses from the city centre, but the bus to the city centre was delayed a lot.
However, I patiently waited, and could get on one. Therefore, it’s better to avoid putting any plans with specific time after visiting the Belfast castle.
3. Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast
What is more about Belfast, I went to Crumlin Road Gaol. This gaol was used in real life in the past. I purchased a ticket online in advance, and it cost 13 GBP. I went there in the morning. I felt the Crumlin Road Gaol was far from the Belfast city centre as Belfast per se is really compact, but it takes only around 20 minutes by walk from the city centre to the Crumlin ROad Gaol while I took buses on the way to the Gaol.
This kind of gaol has realistic creepiness. Since I’m chicken though I’m interested in such places, I walked very slowly, and sometimes followed other visitors. 😂 There are two points where there are automatic announcements, detecting human visits: one is inside of the gaol, and the other one is outside of the gaol. The system suddenly starts announcing, so the elderly woman in front of me said her heart would have stopped. Besides, that lady was affected twice. It’s not good for elderly people. 😂
The Crumlin Road Gaol used to keep women and children as well, and there are explanations on it and dolls too. You can see the hanging room as well.
The Crumlin Road Gaol also has a restaurant, and you can have lunch or dinner at the restaurant where you might slightly feel the gaol. (The menu isn’t like a gaol menu. You don’t really feel the gaol in the restaurant unless you pay attention to the atmosphere there.)
★Summary
Usually I go and see sightseeing places by myself, so I took part in the walking tour for the first time in my life, which was the right decision. If you can have a fun or experienced guide, you can listen to fruitful stories from them.
As for the Crumlin Road Gaol, I had to be brave as I’m chicken, but I’m satisfied that I could go there. (And I still like this kind of creepy place…) It seems they have events at the gaol from time to time like on Halloween, but that’s too much for me.. That’s too scary…
Though I had been to Northern Ireland once before the trip in March, 2023, I just dropped in a county called Enniskillen which has the border with the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, I had never done any sightseeing in Northern Ireland before. Also, I wanted to visit some filming locations of “Game of Thrones”.
The places I wanted to visit most were typically Giant’s Causeway as well as the Dark Hedges which is one of the filming locations of “GOT”. Since I love abandoned castles, I hoped to see the Dunluce castle if possible. However, if I tried to go to all those places by myself even though there are only three, it seemed to take one day.
In addition, I didn’t have a valid driving licence in Europe at that time. (I have a driving licence in Japan, and yet due to the fact that I have lived in Estonia for more than one year, I was not eligible to apply for the international driving licence. Hence I went to a driving school in Estonia.) As I was not legally able to drive a car, public transports were the only option for me to travel. However, given that I wanted to take buses, I had to consider the bus routes, theri frequencies, and their time.
I wondered what to do, and suddenly I thought “Maybe I can go somewhere else on a day trip?” Then I googled and found a tour in Northern Ireland on the website called Viator.
The tour started in Belfast and took approximately nine hours, going to major sightseeing places in Northern Ireland. Looking at the itinerary of the tour, all the places I wanted to see were included.
Therefore, in this article, I will talk about the tour and the points on this tour!
On Viator’s tour I attended, we went to several sightseeing places, but here I selected a few places I wanted to go before this trip!
a. The Dark Hedges
The Dark Hedges is the filming location for “GOT”. If you google this place, it looks creepy, but it wasn’t when I went there probably because we went there at noon.
But I’m glad that I could go there, and I want to see the Dark Hedges in a dark time!
b. Carrick-A-Rede bridge
This bridge is the one this tour has its picture, but
we couldn’t go close to there.
We just saw it from far away.
This is because, according to the tour guide, you can cross the bridge only on a private tour.
I was a bit disappointed, and yet if the tour had included this option, the tour price would have been more than 40 EUR, and the tour couldn’t have finished in a day.
I want to go there on a private tour some day!
I’m pretty sure I would be a chicken there, but I want to try to cross that bridge!!
c. Giant’s Causeway
When it comes to Northern Ireland, Giant’s Causeway might be the first thing you might imagine!
It’s very famous, and a typical sightseeing place in Northern Ireland, but I had wanted to visit there for a long time! The admission fee was included in the tour fee. You can walk around there by yourself, or you can walk while listening to the guide’s talks. (The guide fee is also inclusive.) I walked with the guide. He talked about geology, anecdotes and his experience-based stories concerning Giant’s Causeway. (Since it’s located in the coastal area, and sometimes it’s very rainy and/or windy, you can borrow a headset to listen to the guide’s talk.)
Giant’s Causeway was much vaster than I thought, so I didn’t have enough time to walk everywhere. I want to go there again!
When it’s rainy, the ground is quite muddy and slippery, so it’s better to wear anti-slippery shoes which can be dirty.
d. Dunluce castle
The Dubluce castle is an abandoned castle. I love abandoned castles so much for some reason.
However, we couldn’t go that close to the Dunluce castle.
The coach stopped at the official view point where you can see the Dunluce castle. It was slightly disappointing. The coach stopped there for only 10 to 15 minutes as we just saw it from the view point.
But I could see the castle at that time, though it’s blurry and hard to see in the picture, so I’m satisfied.
On the contrary, I still want to see it more closely, so I need to try again.
3. Food & beverages, toilets and the internet on the Northern Ireland tour
This tour does not include food or beverages. It might be a good idea to bring at least a bottle of water, and yet for some people who participate in this tour might need more in summer. However, at some points on this tour, you can buy something at a store. Depending on the place, there was a convenience store called SPAR.
We spent lunch time at a restaurant in a town named Ballintoy, and they had a coach menu. (This is probably due to avoiding the congestion at the restaurant.) The coach menu had an option with which you can eat champ, Northern Irish mashed potato. I will talk about this in a different article. During lunch time, you can spend time at the restaurant, or you can stroll around there. It’s not mandatory to have lunch at the restaurant, so if you want to save money, or you are not so hungry, then you don’t need to book dishes on the tour. (The tour guide understands this so no need to worry about saying no thank you.)
In terms of toilets, I felt I could go to bathrooms at almost every sightseeing place. I didn’t have to wait patiently for peeing. 😂 However, if you arrive at a place where you have an opportunity to go to the loo, it’s probably better to go. Plus, after leaving Giant’s Causeway, you can’t get any chance to go to the loo until you arrive in Belfast. I recommend going to the loo in Giant’s Causeway as the distance is quite long to Belfast.
What is more, surprisingly, the coach didn’t have any internet access or changing ports. However, it’s understandable in a way because some buses or coaches have either or both of them whilst others don’t in any countries (even in Estonia). It wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring a phone cable to charge though. I was also fine without the internet on the coach since I could use giffgaff’s internet up to 15 GB.
★Summary
Whenever I travel somewhere I have never been, I’m like “I want to go to this place and that place.” Then after visiting them, I feel “I want to see it in a different version, or in a different season”. Then I go there again. That’s why I go to the same places repeatedly.
Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t feel I wanted to go to Northern Ireland again as I would be satisfied, but in fact I want to go there again…
As for the tour, I would recommend it if you wish to see lots of places in Northern Ireland during a short period.
Before going to Northern Ireland, I had been to Scotland in terms of the UK trip, and it was before Brexit as well as in 2019. I have used a SIM card from Telia’s brand called Super since I came to Estonia. As of 2019, as Super’s services were different from recent days, I used Super’s SIM card in Scotland as well.
However, this time the situation was different. Brexit has been done, and the UK is excluded from the roaming package offered by Super because it’s valid in the EU.
Asking Super’s support, the only reasonable way to use the internet in the UK was to use a British SIM card. Otherwise roaming on the Super’s SIM card is very expensive.
Then I googled British SIM card brands/providers, and found that in the UK having a contract with the provider is pretty common unlike Estonia. However, a few of the providers sell SIM cards without any contracts, and I decided to buy a SIM card from either LEBARA or giffgaff.
I went to Belfast from Dublin by coach, and arrived at the coach station in Belfast. The Belfast coach station is located in the centre of Belfast, and there is a convenience store called WHSmith. (This convenience store is kind of hidden so it’s a good idea to ask the exact location at the coach station info centre.)
I searched stores where they might have SIM cards in advance, but it seemed some of them didn’t have SIM cards, and unfortunately WHSmith in the Belfast coach station didn’t have SIM cards. (In Estonia, you can buy SIM cards basically at any R kiosk. Also it was surprising that the convenience store in the coach station didn’t have SIM cards.)
The manager of that convenience store asked one of the security guys (?) to guide me to the device accessory store where I could buy SIM cards. This device store can be found after the doors near the ATM in the coach station. A guy who seemed to be from India or somewhere runs this store.
I asked this Indian guy for a SIM card, and he just showed me only a part of the shelf where he had lots of SIM card options. Later I found LEBARA and giffgaff’s SIM cards on the opposite side of the shelf, and got giffgaff’s one.
Asking how much it cost, he just told me to bring it to the pharmacy next to the device accessory store. I went to the pharmacy, but the clerks said “Sorry, you can’t topup that provider here. You need to go to Tesco.” Then I went to Tesco outside of the coach station, and the Tesco clerk explained everything to me nicely.
I didn’t pay for a SIM card, which appears to be okay in the UK, and yet I am not quite sure about this as this Indian guy didn’t handle my request properly.
2. After inserting a SIM card
After inserting the SIM card, I couldn’t connect to the internet, so I asked the Indian guy at the device accessory store where I got the SIM card, but he was just showing me a fake smile, talking on the phone. However, when some other customers came to the store, he handled their requests. I told him “The SIM card doesn’t work. There is no internet.” Then he said “I’m talking to my boss 😊”, showing me a fake smile. He still handled other customers’ requests while he was talking on the phone.
After waiting for him for one hour, I turned off my phone, and connected the internet, solving the problem on my own. Then I said “I solved the problem by myself” to him.
I felt so annoyed and disgusted because those who were nice to me were all the whites. The Indian guy at the device accessory store properly talked to only the white customers. This is the fact that “the minority bullies the other minority”.
The beginning of the trip in Northern Ireland was awful.
3. The provider I chose
I topped up giffgaff’s SIM, paying 10 GBP. I think I got 15 GB for 10 GBP. If I remember correctly, given that you top up more than 10 GBP for the giffgaff’s SIM, you can use roaming up to 5 GB in the EU for free, so I used giffgaff’s SIM until I got home in Estonia.
I cannot recommend giffgaff as I’m not an expert in terms of British SIM cards or internet providers, but this service was pretty good, I think.
In Estonia, you can buy a SIM card for 1 EUR, and I buy 1 GB for 3 EUR, so I felt 10 GBP was expensive in the beginning, and yet with 15 GB, actually giffgaff is cheaper. Since I’m outside quite often while travelling, I was happy to have giffgaff’s SIM with 15 GB for 10 GBP, which I didn’t have to pay attention to the amount I could use.
★Summary
To use giffgaff’s service I needed to create their account, but as it was a top-up SIM card, I still keep their SIM card even now. Also, I want to go to Northern Ireland again, and want to visit Wales some day, so it would be useful anyway.
One thing I learnt this time was I should bring a paper clip next time when I need to change the SIM card because I had only earrings that hang on the holes in the ears, not those need to catch from the back, and the ones that hang on the holes in the ears are too weak to open the SIM card port. You still need a bit more power if you use a paperclip to open the phone SIM card port, but you can break paper clips, and they can open it. In order not to forget the paper clips, I store them with the SIM in a bag now.
I finally summed up the expenses on the trip to Japan in 2022! Since Estonia and Japan surely use different currencies, some are calculated in EUR, others are in JPY.
There are 11 items.
Quite a lot!
To use this article as a reference for my next trip to Japan, I categorised them.
I booked the flight tickets on Finnair for September and October, which had one transit and cost more than 700 EUR. Then I booked the flight tickets on JAL for the same travel period, which had two transits and cost around 680 EUR. Due to the timing of JAL’s cancellation, the flight tickets that I booked on Lufthansa were for November and December, which cost 851.40 EUR.
It was expensive, but acceptable.
All flights above were from Tallinn to Kansai airport.
2. Transports
Then I’m going to talk about the transport fees.
The coach from Tanabe to Namba Osaka cost 2,900 JPY. Since I bought a ticket for only one way, it should have been more expensive than one one-way ticket of the round-trip tickets.
Plus, I spend 9,925 JPY for other transports in Kansai.
On my trip, the trip starts from the day when I leave home until the day when I come home, so all the expenses during such a time are included in the trip expenses. Therefore, the taxi fees to and from the airport – 15.10 EUR – is also the transport fee here.
3. Food and drinks
This is about the food and drinks. I don’t included the expenses for lunches and dinners I had with my friends in Japan. They are socialisation expenses. In this item, the contents are snacks and sweets I bought for myself, and food and drink just for myself (wherever I had such as convenience stores, supermarkets, cafes, etc).
This cost 25,536 JPY. Before I left Tallinn, I was too hungry at the Tallinn airport, so the hotdog I had there was 3 EUR.
I think I could save more money if I stayed in a monthly flat in Japan.
4. Cosmetics
I spent a lot of money on them. Lol
I used 26,373 JPY for makeup cosmetics. lol
The total cost for the perfumes I bought was 11,731. Since I bought 8 bottles, it makes sense… (but I think this information isn’t so useful lol)
I spent 8,5151 JPY for basic cosmetics.
However, at some point I was too lazy to categorise everything, so I believe I spent more.
In addition, I purchased contacts for 90 days in Japan as they were slightly cheaper, which cost 5,596 JPY. (I bought them on Amazon.)
5. Socialisation
For the budget on socialisation, considering what to do in Japan, I made a plan to spend 4,000 JPY per meeting. I calculated separately when I needed tickets.
I used 30,639 JPY in total.
6. Amusement park tickets
As for the tickets at amusement parks, I spend 6,720 JPY which was cheaper than usual (by using the COVID travel campaign), Soraniwa onsesn cost 3,154 JPY (including the ice cream I had there), 3,500 JPY for buckwheat noodle making class, 1,600 JPY for illuminations, 1,440 JPY for atoa (aquarium) by using the discount.
7. Accommodation
On this trip to Japan in 2022, after staying at my parents’ place, I changed the hotel rooms. For this, I budgeted 70,000 JPY in total.
However, actually the total expense for the accommodations was 66,691. (Besides, I booked all of them on Booking.com, so sometimes I got 10% discounts and the total expense was below the budget!)
However, I still do prefer a monthly flat next time.
8. Souvenirs to myself
As for the souvenirs for myself, I used 68,091 JPY since I bought sloop-ons, a wallet, stationeries, Japanese foods, etc.
Strictly speaking, the cosmetics are for myself too, so I REALLY spent a lot for myself…
9. Souvenirs from Estonia
Regarding the souvenirs from Estonia to Japan, I bought sweets, bread and soaps. My selection was almost the same as what I bought for the trip in 2019. The difference I would say is that I chose the different band for the soaps or different tastes/flavours of chocolate.
The total expense was 56.16 EUR. (Is it too few?)
10. Souvenirs from Japan
There are no big differences between the souvenirs from Japan and those from Estonia. I spent 8,465 JPY.
11. Others
Let’s talk about miscellaneous stuff. As I have a chinchilla, I duplicated two sets of keys for my friends who took care of him while I was away. It cost 32 EUR.
Plus, I bought insurance for 33 EUR which helped me with the accident in the beginning of the trip.
What is more, what I needed while travelling in Japan was the internet. In my case, I had rented the mobile Wifi for one month, which cost 5,380 JPY.
Last but not least, I spent 9,215 JPY for the use of the internet cafe, watching and drying, renewal of the driving licence, etc.
★Total expenses
Items
JPY
EUR
Flight tickets
851.40
Transports
12,825
15.10
Food and drinks
25,536
3
Cosmetics
53,924
Socialisation
30,639
Amusement parks
16,414
Accommodation
66,691
Souvenirs for myself
68,091
Souvenirs from Estonia
56.16
Souvenirs from Japan
8,465
Others
20,380
68.56
Sum
302,965
994.22
To sum up all of these, I spent approximately 300,000 JPY in addition to 990 EUR. When calculating the total cost with the rate that 1 EUR equals to 140 JPY, it is around 440,000 JPY.
I’m not sure if this was a low or high cost anymore…
However, I am pretty sure that I spent lots of money on the makeup cosmetics, so next time I believe I can save more (or I don’t have to spend that much). But if I eat out more often, the total expense will perhaps be the same.
Maybe this is a normal value.
By the way, the daily cost is around 15,700 JPY. It sounds like one stay in a posh hotel.
When I visited Japan in 2022, I just wanted to be able to ride on a scooter. A Japanese scooter looks like a moped in Europe. If we have a car driving licence, we can ride on a scooter. I have had a driving licence since the end of 2016, but I had never driven a car or a scooter in Japan. My brother had both a motorcycle and a scooter, so I decided to practise riding scooter in the home garden.
My brother taught me how to use the accel, brake, indicators, and so on beforehand. My mum told me not to rotate the handle too much.
I followed what they told me.
I wore a helmet, and rotated the handle a little.
Then it just ran very fast and I collided into the bushes in the garden.
I tried again. Then I collided with a small tree in the garden.
I gave it up.
I thought if I could ride on a scooter, I would be able to go to a shop in the town from my home village, but I gave it up.
Driving a car with manual transmission is much safer.
Anyway, this is how the accident occurred.
2. Physical injuries
After colliding into the tree, I found that my trousers were damaged, and then found a huge hole in the trousers.Those trousers were my favourite and they were not so old.
However, there were two worse damages. Damages to my body.
One of them was a scratch. Though it was just a scratch, the size of the scratch was big, and it was on my knee. It wasn’t bleeding that much, and bleeding stopped very quickly since I have a lot of haemoglobin (according to a doctor who I met when I had my company’s health check in Estonia).
I disinfected the left knee. Also as there was no big plaster at home, I covered the scratch with a cotton soaked with disinfection liquid. Then I covered the cotton piece with a piece of gauze, and taped them.
The other injury occurred to my left front tooth. After colliding into the tree, I felt like the tooth had been rocking. There was no pain, but I felt something. It wasn’t bleeding either.
My mum was working at that time, but she took a short leave, and took me to dental and oral surgery in Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan.
I explained what happened as well as the fact that I live in Estonia.
They did an X-ray check first, and observed all of my teeth. After that, the dentist with a certificate of oral surgery checked the injured tooth.
He said that my jaw has no problem, the root of the injured tooth has no problem, and the tooth wasn’t dislocated either. There is just a contusion. In the future, the nerve around the injured tooth might necrosis, however, this is treatable according to him. Even outside of Japan, the machines that they need to use to treat the necrosis are the same as ones in Japan, so he told me I don’t need to be worried about that.
On the other hand, in order to avoid the necrosis, I need to avoid using the front teeth when chewing, and he prescribed me two medicines: painkillers and antibiotic tablets for three days. The dentist recommended that I not use the front teeth for at least one week.
I was very fortunate that I didn’t get serious injuries.
3. Insurance
Then, you may want to know the price for seeing a dentist and getting a prescription. Let’s talk about that.
I bought travel insurance on Globe Partner. According to their policy, in my case, there are two types of coverages in terms of dental treatment. Before seeing the dentist, I checked this point.
The first type was “Emergency dental treatment”. This includes treatment for decayed teeth and wisdom teeth. Therefore it was not applicable in my case.
The other type was “Dental treatment following an accident”. This covers 100% and up to 600 EUR. I thought this should work.
Then, when I went to the dentist, I asked them to provide me with as many materials and proofs as possible because this sort of insurance asks for lots of documents.
In my case, since the dental and oral surgery clinic sold medicines too, I got a receipt of treatment as well as the prescription document with prices and other details.
To be honest, as I paid the treatment fee at the clinic, I kind of already wanted to give up asking for the reimbursement to the insurance company because it cost only around 7640 JPY (approximately 53 EUR at the rate then). I mean, it’s still a lot, but less than I expected, which was 20,000 JPY (approximately 138 EUR at the rate then).
4. Reimbursement
Since I had travel insurance on Globe Partner, I sent necessary documents to them by email after coming back to Estonia.
The annoying thing was they requested me to send the document twice. Once I thought pictures were not acceptable but I had to give them PDF files of my passport copy. However, as they requested the same thing repeatedly, I replied to them to check my documents thoroughly. Then they were shut up.
After that, it did not take much time to receive the compensation. (I got the compensation in EUR.) I was afraid that Globe Partner might be like My trip, but they were more reliable. It was my second time to use their travel insurance, and the first time to request compensation, and yet the result was all good.
★Summary
I was very lucky that the injuries are really small although I’m not sure if my left front tooth will necrosis in the future.
I strongly realised and told my mum that driving a car with manual transmission is much safer than riding a scooter because a car with manual transmission has a clutch pedal, whilst a scooter requires control only from the handles!
When travelling in Japan, what you need to take into consideration is absolutely transport. If you travel in a metropolis like Osaka, Tokyo or Kyoto, then you will use just trains and occasionally buses. However, sometimes this basic method doesn’t work.
On this trip to Japan, I had two 20-kg suitcases, a backpack and a haversack. Also, I used transport to go out with my friends. Therefore, I’m going to introduce the transport that I used during the trip in Japan. Also, I will explain why the basic method won’t work in some cases even if you are in metropolitan prefectures.
When arriving in Osaka from Tanabe, Wakayama, I’d already decided to take Uber to go to a hotel because it was a 10-minute walk distance with two suitcases. A 10-minute walk distance with the suitcases is much different from just walking for 10 minutes. It would make us feel longer than 10 minutes, and we would consume lots of physical energy, too.
In Japan, basically there are three taxi apps: DiDi, Go as well as Uber.
The former two apps were not downloadable on App Store Estonia, so Uber was the only option for me. It took some time to add my Japanese debit card because I was not familiar with Uber. In Estonia, I use only Bolt, which UI is much simpler and easier than Uber. After struggling for a while I called an Uber taxi. For the 10-minute walkable distance, I paid around 700 JPY (5 EUR). To me it was not that cheap in JPY, but if I calculate in EUR, it sounds okay…
Later on, I used Uber twice more.
2. Osaka city bus
I barely used buses when I worked in Osaka. However, this time the Osaka city bus was the easiest option for me from the accommodation to Osaka station to meet my previous colleague.
In Japan, when you take a bus, you get on the bus from the back door. Sometimes you have to take a ticket at the door, but for the Osaka city bus that I took, I didn’t have to.
The price was all the same in that bus as well. In front, there is a small screen above, and it shows two pricings; the more expensive one is for adults and the cheaper one is for kids. I don’t know how old kids should be to get that price.
When you get off the bus, you have to pay at the checkout machine next to the driver and get off the bus from the front door. You can use notes as you can get changes at the checkout machine. Then, pay the exact amount.
Plus, I always say thank you to the driver whenever I take a bus in Japan though people barely do that.
3. Train and underground
In metropolises in Japan, it’s quite common to use trains and undergrounds. The residents in Japan often use a transport card such as Suica or Icoca. Depending on the city where they live, the transport card that they can use in their city differs. I used to have an ICOCA card which is available in the Kansai area because I lived in Kyoto.
On this trip in Japan, I planned to buy a new ICOCA card because I lost it, and it’s convenient to have one. However, I didn’t buy it eventually. If I had it, I just needed to top up some amount of money, and just needed to head to the gate by swiping the card there.
Instead, I bought paper tickets every time I took a train or underground as it appeared to be irritating to have one more card, and I didn’t know how much I would spend for the transport.
Buying paper tickets is also easy. First, check the station where you will start your journey. Then go to the ticket machine. Above the ticketing machine, there is a route map, and find out the station name that you want to arrive at. Under the station name, there is a number which is a price to go to that destination. Then pay in cash.
If you don’t know how to pay, call the station staff, and they will show up from the ticketing window. (This is what non-Japanese friends love.)
★Summary
You may feel that trains and undergrounds in Japan are faster than other countries while buses are very slow (based on my experience).
Also, if you travel around Japan, collecting the transport cards might be fun. In fact, I have met some exchange students in Japan who indeed did.
I hope this article will be helpful when you visit Japan.
The accessibility to Nisshin Namba Inn is quite good. I arrived at JR Namba station, and if I walked it would have taken only 10 minutes. Since I had two 20 kg suitcases, I took Uber. There are a few more taxi apps in Japan, but their apps were not available in App Store Estonia. Therefore, Uber was the only option for me. From JR Namba station to Nisshin Namba Inn, it cost less than 700 JPY on Saturday afternoon.
Around Nisshin Namba Inn, there are some restaurants, a drug store, and what is best, two convenience stores (kiosks) called Family Mart. In some countries, Family Mart exists with the name of “Famima” which is an abbreviation that we Japanese use.
I booked a double room. Usually, toiletries in Japanese hotels are furnished in each room, but due to COVID, in Nisshin Namba Inn, it was self service. However, when checking in, they gave me a bag with a few cotton swabs, a hair tie, one-time liquid cleansing as well as a mask. In the bathroom, there was a new soap. Hence the only thing I took from the toiletry box was a body wash sponge. I had my own toothbrush too, so I didn’t have to take one.
In the bathroom of Nisshin Namba Inn, there were bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. This is a good point because I don’t have to consider how much I can use those liquids!
In the room, there is also a microwave, a small fridge, a cooker, a kettle in addition to a closet. In the closet there were three hangers. Since it’s a hotel, a pair of slippers and a hairdryer was also in the room. What is more, I had one bag of tea and one set of instant coffee.
Nisshin Namba Inn offers breakfast too. Don’t expect anything fancy. There are several different types of bread (both savoury and sweet ones) and yoghurt as food. As for drinks, there are coffee, instant coffee, tea, instant soup in addition to juice and milk.
I’ve had something wrong with my belly whenever I ate bread or pasta. Sometimes it was fine, for instance, when I ate my mum’s sourdough bread sandwiches. Immediately after eating some pastries in Nisshin Namba Inn for breakfast, my belly bloated. Since they didn’t offer anything else like rice, I decided not to eat those pieces of bread for breakfast in Nisshin Namba Inn.
Also, of course there is free Wifi in Nisshin Namba Inn, and the connection was very good. I did a school theory exam for driving online, and there was no problem.
b. FON-SU B&B
FON-SU B&B is located in Shinsaibashi area but quite away from any stations or the main streets in Shinsaibashi and Namba. The exact location is in the residential area.
The good points of staying in FON-SU B&B are that three convenience stores (7-eleven, Lawson and Family mart) are nearby.
However, there are multiple negative points.
First, it is not a B&B. Though they say “B&B”, they don’t include breakfast at all. There is their cafe in the same building, but it opens at 9. I was very disappointed, and felt like I wasted money. I chose FON-SU B&B because it says “B&B”. Then what is it? It’s a hostel with private rooms. Mine was a private room as I had two big suitcases.
The second point is the location from FON-SU B&B. When I walked somewhere from FON-SU B&B, there was no problem. However, when I had to move to the next accommodation in Kyoto, 10 minutes by walk with two 20-kg suitcases was too much. I eventually took Uber to the nearest station as from the station the transport didn’t seem to be that hard.
Thirdly, I didn’t like their way of speaking. I had to call them on Skype in the morning like at 7.30 because I had no idea how to get out while the main entrance was closed. They answered and they sounded as if they had wondered why I didn’t know how to get out of the building outside the active hours. When checking in, they taught me how to get in late at night or in the early morning because the door requires a code. However, they didn’t tell me how to get out of the building during such a time. When I met the person who answered my call, she was nice, but her way of speaking on Skype wasn’t guest-friendly.
When I come to Japan again, I wouldn’t stay in this hostel again. If you are on a budget trip or local trip in Japan, it could be an option.
c. Quintessa Comic & Books
Quintessa Comic & Books was an interesting hotel because there were lots of comics books! The number of comic books was not as big as internet cafes. However, it was satisfactory as they had “Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no yaiba)”.
At that time, it was said that the third season of “Demon Slayer” anime would start in the coming months, and I had not watched the second season. When I didn’t have any plans to go outside, I spent some time reading “Demon Slayer” in the hotel room.
It seemed that there were some guests who just wanted to read comic books in Quintessa Comic & Books.
The hotel toiletries including tea, coffee, and face wash were self-service. Of course, I took extra for the next trip I planned.
d. HOTEL MORNING BOX
I didn’t like HOTEL MORNING BOX because my hotel room was too small, it was chilly inside, and there was no drink in the room. On the other hand, the good point was that there was a large communal bath. Since it was not onsen, it was just a large version of a regular bathtub, and yet it was very comfortable to soak my full body there alone. (Yes, there was no one in the bathroom.)
HOTEL MORNING BOX also had a shared space where guests could eat and do some computer jobs. I could use this space even after checking out.
I really liked the communal bath, but I wouldn’t stay at HOTEL MORNING BOX again.
e. KIX House Waraku 2 goukan
Waraku is in Rinku, and around 15 minutes away by walk.
Speaking plainly, I am not sure if I will stay at Waraku again because of the taxi issue there. Since Rinku is in Osaka, I thought Uber was available. However, when arriving at Rinku town station, there was no Uber. Even regular taxis were not there. I went to the reception in the hotel beside the taxi area in the station, and asked them to call a taxi. Gladly, they did, and I was able to go to the accommodation by taxi.
Due to this, I had to do something for the transport the next morning. The taxi driver was luckily very kind, and when arriving at Waraku, he called his taxi company, and let me book a taxi ride the next morning.
Maybe it was still cheap to stay there and go to Rinku town station, and take a train to the airport, but I didn’t like the accommodation itself. My room was on the upstairs, and I had to bring two heavy suitcases there, which was not easy.
2. Kyoto
a. HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA
I stayed at HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA because I was supposed to hang out with my friend in Kyoto. However, owing to her company’s rule on COVID, she cancelled the plan. Therefore, the accommodation was still in Kyoto.
HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA is located just next to the Hankyu Omiya station.
The room looked fashionable, but I didn’t like it that much as there was no table in the room. There was some space in the TV rack, but it was far from the edge of the bed, so it didn’t work well as a table.
Around HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, there are convenience stores and a supermarket. If you want, there is a McDonald’s too near HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA too.
In HOTEL M’s PLUS SHIJO OMIYA, in the common area, there is a microwave though I didn’t use it.
★Summary
To be honest, I wanted to stay at a weekly flat in Osaka, however, it was more expensive than staying at hotels.
Next time, I want to stay in Osaka or somewhere for one month so that I can stay at a monthly flat, and go to some other far away cities such as Tokyo and Okinawa from Kansai on weekends.
People usually imagine one country has some common cultures in that country. However, Japan is not always like that. This is perhaps because Japan used to consist of different small “countries” which are bases of current prefectures. Therefore, every place probably has its own culture, language, and tradition.
Also, when visiting Japan, what is your purpose? Is it shopping? Is it experiencing some activities? Is it enjoying cultures or nature?
In this article, I list several shops for those who want to buy a number of goods in Japan and some places where you can enjoy yourself in Kansai.
Nose Shop is a fragrance shop in Umeda. There might be some more stores in other cities in Japan, but I’m not sure. I wanted to go to Nose Shop because they have capsule toy machines with tiny perfume bottles! When I searched, the price was 500 JPY (3.60 EUR), but then they increased the price, and when I indeed went there, it was almost doubled – 900 JPY (6.45 EUR)! I wanted to try twice, but owing to its price I did only once. What I got smelled like incense.
Actually, there is nothing special more than that, and yet if you are interested in such a small leisure, it may be worthwhile going there.
2. Nintendo Shop
This is new. Nintend shop was only in Tokyo so far. However, since November 2022, there has been a new Nintendo shop in Osaka too!
When I went there, although it was Tuesday afternoon, there was a long queue, and my previous colleague when we worked part-time and I waited 15 minutes.
Neither of us bought anything, but we constantly (or she constantly) said “Kawaii!”. Her vocabulary was so limited temporarily. 😂
I love Pikmin games, and I felt like buying some Pikmin goods, and yet I didn’t buy anything because everything was so expensive! One eco bag cost 3000 JPY (22 EUR)! We enjoyed just looking at merchandise.
Given that you are a Nintendo fan, you should definitely visit their shop.
3. 100 yen shop
Wondering about what to buy for souvenirs from Japan? Then go to 100-yen shops! Almost all of the products are 100 JPY. There are multiple 100-yen shops such as Daiso, Can do as well as Seria.
In Japan, if we go to a 100-yen shop, we can get basically anything. On the other hand, in Estonia, I have to ask someone, search on Amazon DE, go to multiple different shops… It’s so inconvenient and not consumer-friendly.
But this is not the point. The point is that you may find anything for souvenirs. Of course they have chopsticks, stationeries, sweets and cosmetics. Year by year, the quality of 100-yen shops has improved.
This time I bought makeup cosmetics for travelling (because I forgot to bring them), laundry bags for underwear, in addition to a small shopping cart.
When he becomes an adult chinchilla, and is used to my flat, I will give him this small shopping cart and let him hold it. It must be super cute.
4. Buckwheat noodle making class
Have you eaten buckwheat noodles? It’s called soba noodles. One of my university friends and I went to a soba noodle making class on this trip in Japan. (It was her request and suggestion though she is not a huge fan of soba noodles.)
We booked a soba noodle making class for two people at a soba noodle restaurant named Hayauchi. They have one slot in the morning and one slot in the evening in terms of the soba noodle making class. They are closed regularly so it’s better to check the opening hours on their website.
We could borrow aprons but we were told to bring a towel. However, the towel was for the case when we sweat like in summer. We didn’t use it at all in fact.
Making soba noodles wasn’t that easy. Next day I had some muscular pain in my hips and back.
Once you make soba noodles, you can get soba noodles for four to five portions. We had two portions after making soba.
Our soba noodles were harder than what we are used to. Here “hard” means “koshi” in Japanese. You can feel this hardness when you eat good udon, for instance. Not so good noodles don’t have “koshi” and the texture is too soft.
It cost 3500 JPY for one person. Since I was not able to bring handmade soba to my accommodation, my friend had to bring all of the rest home.
If you stay in a weekly or monthly flat in Japan, then maybe there is a pot so you may be able to cook. However, the B&B that I stayed at didn’t have such things but a microwave and a kettle, so I enjoyed making soba noodles and eating them at the restaurant.
Still, it was a good experience. Therefore, I would recommend you try it in Japan.
5. Illuminations
Let’s call a friend who I went to the soba noodle making class with “soba girl”. She and I did something like going out as a couple. 😂
We went to Harvest Hill in Osaka to see the illuminations. Harvest Hill is located in Sakai city in Osaka, and it’s more straightforward to go there by car. She registered herself for car sharing, and we drove there.
We bought tickets online beforehand, and it cost 1,500 JPY (11 EUR) for one adult.
However, this ticket is not a typical ticket to get in Harvest Hill but a special ticket to enjoy the night-time illuminations in Harvest Hill.
Perhaps because it was Thursday, there were few people. We saw only a couple of small families and one young couple who looked like high school students.
The illuminations were beautiful and enjoyable since Estonia doesn’t have such things although they weren’t so big. We walked, our vocabulary was limited, we had fun, but we finished in 20 minutes or so. That was kind of disappointing whilst I didn’t regret it as it was something I could enjoy outside of Estonia!
Illuminations were a winter thing in Japan. There are more illumination events all over Japan between the end of November until some time in December.
6. Internet cafe
I wish we had this amazing and convenient place in Estonia, or even in Europe! An internet cafe is a place you can stay and read manga and comic books, magazines, and sometimes even regular books, watch anime or movies, and surf online!
When I had only one week left until I left Japan, I had seven hours of free time until I met another previous colleague. The soba girl suggested me to go to an internet cafe instead of regular cafes because it’s cheaper, there are lots of manga to read, and I can use the internet.
It was so easy to spend six hours in the internet cafe. I was reading “Demon Slayer”. If I had more time, I wanted to read “Blue Exorcist” and “My Hero Academia” too.
7. Atoa
Atoa is a fusion of art and aquarium in Kobe. It’s beside the harbour, and it takes around 15 minutes by walk from Kobe Sannomiya station. I went to Atoa with my friend who helped me when I went to Ireland (reference).
Atoa’s world was the quality of visionary and at some point it was literally like a regular museum with paintings, which was interesting. It’s an aquarium, however, there were giant tortoises on the floor, some reptiles, penguins, capybaras as well as otters.
A regular ticket costs over 2,000 JPY (14 EUR) but we got it for 1,440 JPY (10 EUR) as I could get a discount with my disability card. My friend also got the same discount as an attendant of the disabled person (me).
One hour or two at maximum is enough to go through all the floors. It was a beautiful aquarium unlike the aquarium in Galway (sorry), and yet the lighting systems on the ceiling should have been hidden better. It felt like a theatre as we could see the backstage systems.
Overall it was worthwhile going there and enjoyable. But I would want to go to Kaiyukan in Osaka again, where I went as a 10-year old kid. Maybe next time I want to go to Kaiyukan.
8. Soraniwa onsen (hot spring)
Japan has a culture of baths. Each flat or house has a bathtub, and we usually take a bath in the evening before going to bed. Taking a bath is a relaxing time. Hence we have a culture of public baths.
Here and there in towns are small and casual hot springs called sento, and if it’s a bit more gorgeous and/or famous for the original hot spring water, there are places called onsen (hot springs).
Friend S from the same university in Japan and I went to an onsen called Sowaniwa onsen in Bentencho, Osaka.
The ticket cost around over 2,000 JPY. It seemed easier to go to Soraniwa onsen by JR rather than metro as the JR station is directly connected to Soraniwa onsen whilst the guidance to Soraniwa onsen from the metro station is suddenly disconnected.
When arriving at Sorwani onsen, take off your shoes, and check in. They will tell you to wear a kimono (yukata) first. You can choose patterns of yukata on your own.
There were not so many types of bathtubs, but I felt good because in Estonia it’s impossible to take a bath in which I can soak my body fully in hot enough water. I have a bathtub at home in Estonia, but it’s too small to do it, so I soak half of my body whenever I do.
They have lotions and toners, but I would recommend bringing your own skincare products especially if you have sensitive skin. I have dry and sensitive skin, and when I tried lotions at Soraniwa onsen, it was painful like burning. I think they use cheap and strong products.
We ate ice cream after taking baths, which was refreshing. Beer could be a good option at that time, and yet I chose ice cream since we would go to a Korean restaurant and drink after that.
I really enjoyed myself, however, I don’t think I will come to Soraniwa onsen again. It’s an entertainment, but as an onsen, it was not satisfactory. If I want to take a public bath, then I would choose sento as it’s much cheaper. It was an interesting place and since you can wear a kimono (yukata), it could be a good leisure activity for foreign tourists.
9. Universal Studios Japan
If you come to Osaka or Kansai, you should definitely go to Universal Studios Japan (USJ)! This is because there is the Nintendo world, Harry Potter’s world and a comic books themed area such as “Jujutsukaisen” (when I went there).
I went to USJ with my friend from the same choir in high school. We have been there multiple times, but since we both are fans of Harry Potter, we can enjoy USJ forever.
You can go there by car or train. The train stop is named “Universal-city”.
The ticket prices vary depending on when you go to USJ. It’s usually 8,000 something JPY (57 EUR). However, this time, due to the encouragement of travelling against COVID, there was a campaign to gain more tourists, so we could purchase tickets cheaper than usual. It cost 6,000 something JPY (43 EUR).
The first thing we did in USJ was to get an entry ticket to access the Nintendo world which was the newest area in USJ! There are a few rides in the Nintendo world though we tried only one of them: Mario Kart.
The queue was very long, but we wanted to try it at least once. On the ride, we had to wear a “hat” (headband) and goggles. The goggles were fine, but the headband was so heavy. The ride itself was fun but in my opinion the headband ruined.
Then we went to the Harry Potter area. There are also a couple of rides. We rode only “Forbidden Journey” because we were not interested in Hippogrif’s roller coaster which is for kids.
The last one we experienced was “Hollywood Dream the Ride”. This roller coaster is innovative. There are five songs, and you can choose one of them before the ride. In addition, there is a roller coaster called “Back drop”. Usually roller coasters go forward, but this one runs from the back. In other words, the end of the roller coaster is the front one. It’s fun but it’s not that scary in my opinion. I prefer the normal one.
There are some other interesting rides like “Flying Dinosaur” which is also innovative because you sit on the seat, and the seat goes up 90 degrees, so there is no floor on the seat! “Flying Dinosaur” is one of the most popular attractions. Other than those, I personally like Spider-Man’s ride and the rotating roller coaster.
When it comes to food and drinks, I would recommend bringing a bottle of water or tea as they are expensive in USJ. This time we had lunch at “Three Broomsticks” in the Harry Potter area. Since we went to USJ in December, they had a Christmas menu. I had a Christmas plate which consisted of a chicken leg, two sausages, peas, carrots, potatoes and brussels sprouts in addition to a soup/stew. What we always get in the Harry Potter area is butterbeer. Due to the fact that all the butterbeer shops had long queues, we ordered at “Three Broomsticks”.
As for snacks, we had pancakes and churros. Pancakes are Mario and Luigi’s hat shapes and in their colours. Mario’s hat is a strawberry cake, and Luigi’s hat is a no-bake cheesecake with grapes. Both were fun to eat and tasted good! The final thing that I wanted to eat was a Christmas churros. It wasn’t a must-try for me, but when we were walking before leaving, we found a stand that was selling hotdogs and Christmas churros. Therefore we had them. The Christmas churros looked cute and I felt like it had been a while to taste a chocolate product. I also felt as if it had been the last sweet until I would start being on a diet again.
This day USJ closed at 7 pm, which was quite early. This is perhaps because of COVID. Anyway, we had so much fun. As I come to Japan again, I would definitely go to USJ again. Going to USJ is like my tradition when visiting Japan.
★Summary
To be honest, there are more shops and theme parks in Kansai. I picked up only a few places this time as I had only two weeks to stay in Osaka.
I know foreign tourists tend to go to Tokyo, but Japan really has lots of different cultures in the small land. If you go outside of Tokyo, you can enjoy a lot more stuff including shrines, temples, pandas in a zoo, theme parks, hiking and nature.
If your purpose is shopping, then go to the metropolis. You can basically get anything you want. However, if you want to do something more active, do some more research.
As mentioned, Japan is full of a variety of cultures!
Wakayama is full of nature, and the number of options to eat out is much smaller than Osaka or Tokyo. However, there are some advantages to eating out in Wakayama.
First, it’s cheap. Simply because Wakayama is a countryside prefecture, it costs less than a metropolis. Second, the ingredients are fresh. Particularly seafood is fresh and tasty. We also have local chicken species. Since they are fresh, it doesn’t smell badly like fish you can get in Europe.
In this article, I summarise six eating places that I went to in my hometown, Wakayama.
French restaurant chilo is located in Tanabe, and it’s near the Tanabe police station. It doesn’t look like a restaurant because it’s in the regular house building. However, there are signs in front of the restaurant, so it won’t be too difficult to find it. A car park is just a few seconds away from there.
The restaurant looks more like an old style Japanese cafe called “Kissaten”, and it’s quite small. There were only five or six tables, and the maximum capacity is probably around 15.
They offered us two types of lunch menu: type A and type B. Type A had only one main dish whilst type B had two main dishes (meat and fish). My friend and I chose type B, so we selected two different fish dishes and two different meat dishes.
Our choices for meat dishes were chicken thigh (I forgot what the sauce was), and aigamo (which is a mixed bird of duck and mallard) with pear sauce. On the other hand, one of the fish dishes was fish poêlé (I also forgot which fish), and the other one was sea bream.
Although it was a lunch menu, since it was a full course, there was soup, one appetiser, and two main dishes, and we got full. However, we tried a daily cake in the end as well, which was a Basque cheesecake. Since we were both full, we ordered only one portion, and shared it.
I know this is not relevant to any Japanese cuisine, however, it is worth going there. In case you get sick of Japanese cuisine, you can get French cuisine in Tanabe. My friend and I went there at lunch time, and yet they offer a dinner menu too.
2. Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant
Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant is not a fancy restaurant at all. It seems to be a local chain restaurant in Tanabe, and my home village has one. Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant Misu is near the secondary school in Misu, and if you wish to visit there somehow, you definitely need a car as there is no bus around there.
I went to Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant to have some lunch. The menu was sufficient and traditional Japanese style, and you can select a meal (teishoku), bowl or noodles. You can have some pints there too.
They also have a daily menu. I kind of wanted to try, but the daily menu when I went there was “oden” which is a pot meal, having different stuff such as white radish, surimi products, boiled eggs, beef, and so on. I didn’t choose this one because I had oden at the previous day’s dinner.
So I ordered “Oroshi Tonkatsu Teishoku”. Teishoku is a plate which consists of a bowl of rice, miso soup, a main dish, and one small side dish or more. Everything but “hamburg” which is like a meat patte in a burger is Japanese. “Tonkatsu” is deep fried pork with panko (like schnitzel). If you see “oroshi” in a menu, it means “with grated white radish”.
In addition to “oroshi tonkatsu”, rice, and miso soup, there were a few side dishes: salad, macaroni salad, okla Japanese salad and pickled radish. The side dishes often change in any teishoku restaurant. In Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, it was said to change too.
The taste overall was quite light. Given that you prefer thicker tastes, then it may not be satisfactory. However, I prefer lighter tastes, it was all good. The portion was pretty a lot, and I got full after eating. At Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, you can have a bigger bowl of rice for free. I had a regular size.
The point that I might have been wrongly served is that I didn’t feel that there was enough grated white radish. I thought it was in the sauce, but if so, it was very little. Usually, if the menu says “oroshi”, there is a handful of a mountain of grated white radish. That was kind of disappointing though.
Before going to Ayumi Fukushi Restaurant, I read a review on Google map that the tastes were good, but the service wasn’t. On the contrary, I didn’t feel so. The waiters and cooks were energetic as well as polite.
When paying, you shouldn’t not wait for a waiter in Japan. After ordering, they usually leave a check note, so you need to bring it to the check out. Then you pay. I was in a European mode, so I was waiting though I’m Japanese. 😂
The payment? Of course I used cash, and it cost only 700 JPY (approximately less than 5 EUR with a rate then)!
3. Izakaya Snufkin
My local friend K and I went to Izakaya Snufkin near Tanabe station. In 2019 when I visited Japan, I went there with her. The owner of Snufkin has followed my Facebook page and sometimes gives me “Likes”, so I wanted to visit there again.
You may not know what “Izakaya” is. Izakaya is a common type of restaurant in Japan. It might be similar to a gastro pub as you can drink and eat. In some izakaya restaurants, they offer you “otoshi” which is like a set of appetisers. The contents of otoshi are different depending on the izakaya or a season, etc. This is included in the check.
In the izakaya, Japanese customers often have a medium size glass of beer called “namachu”. Try to say it and order it so you can impress them 😂 They also surely have some sake. Here is a note; “sake” means alcohol in general in Japanese. We call it “nihonshu” in real life.
Friend K ordered namachu, and I had nihonshu “Kuroushi” (black bull). Kuroushi is from Wakayama, and it is super easy to drink so be careful not to get drunk too fast.
Izakaya often has a variety of food menus too.
Starting with otsukuri (a set of raw fish), we had octopus tempura, broccoli salad, fried potatoes (very thin!), deep fried tofu in soup and so on. The master gave us a bowl of “negitro”. Toro is tuna, and negi is spring onion. It’s a handful of crushed tuna with spring onion, and we ate it with soy sauce. In a sushi restaurant, you can have this with sushi rice, and that’s my favourite. The rice can be sushi rice, but at home it can go with warm rice too. Both are tasty.
I’ve never paid by card there but only in cash, hence I’m not sure if you can use a card. Remember, when travelling in Japan, it’s never bad to bring cash. In our case, the total cost was around 9,000 JPY for the two of us.
When I visit Japan again next time, hopefully in 2024, I want to come to Sunfukin with friend K again. Therefore, I do hope Snufkin beats the difficulty of running own izakaya due to COVID.
4. Ktype chocolate company
Friend T who I went to the French restaurant with and I went to Ktype chocolate company in Shirahama. This is a quite new chocolate shop in Shirahama, and the factory is in the same place.
They basically have three different types of chocolate based on which country cacao came from. I’m not sure if they can speak English, but they explain how different those chocolates are, by letting you try pieces of those chocolates. When we went to Ktype chocolate company, they were selling chocolate with Wakayama mikan (like mandarins) peels. I didn’t buy it, and unfortunately they didn’t have any for tasting at that time.
In Ktype chocolate company, you can get some sweets and drinks too. They have chocolate cheesecake, chocolate cookies, chocolate brownie, and some chocolate or cacao drinks. Friend T got hot chocolate with chocolate from Ghana, and I had cacao soda. Cacao soda wasn’t strongly sparkling, and it tasted a bit sour. I personally liked it, and I imagined that it would be very nice to have it in summer, walking in Shirahama under the sun along the beach or the coast.
5. Nigiwai ichiba (market)
I went to Katsuura in Wakayama with my old friends from primary and secondary school.
In Katsuura there is a seafood market called “Nigiwai ichiba”. “Ichiba” means market, and at Nigiwai ichiba there are lots of local products. You can buy especially fresh tuna chunks.
However, we went to Nigiwai Ichiba just for lunch. There are multiple small restaurants. You can take a seat in the eating place, having different dishes from different restaurants.
To order a meal, you need to pay at the check out machine. There you can browse the entire menu. We browsed, and decided to have tuna bowls.
We were waiting for a while, but they didn’t call our numbers. Then we realised that we didn’t pass our numbers like tickets to the restaurant! Such eegits. 😂 When you go there, don’t forget to do it. If you don’t know what exactly to do, ask them.
We waited another few more minutes, and they served us a tuna bowl. Don’t imagine something like a poke bowl. This bowl consists of only rice and parts of tuna. What you need to add to taste is only add the soy sauce that is served together.
In Katsuura, there are Nachi waterfalls. It’s a quite famous tourist place. While going up the mountain, you can see the waterfalls. I’m not sure if there is a bus, but probably there are buses as I saw some car parks for buses.
Wakaya is a Japanese cafe in the Nachi waterfalls area. There is a souvenir shop together with Wakaya cafe. They don’t have a huge menu, and yet they have their original Japanese sweets such as “Otaki mochi”.
Mochi is sticky rice cake, and made from rice that is not for regular meals.
We ordered a set of a drink and Otaki mochi. As for drinks, you can choose coffee, sencha tea (if I remember correctly) as well as matcha. Since I was a tourist (!), I had a cup of matcha.
They grill Otaki mochi in the cafe, so you can have warm mochi. Inside of Otaki mochi, there is bean jam. Matcha at Wakaya tasted quite bitter at first, but then it tasted milder because Otaki mochi is sweet, and bitter matcha matched.
This set cost 600 JPY (4 EUR) with any aforementioned drinks. I would personally recommend matcha as even in Japan, it’s not so ordinary and easy to get matcha in a cafe.
★Summary
I would say that the countryside areas don’t have many places to eat out although you can get fresh ingredients.
I stayed in Tanabae for only two weeks with only one set of weekends, but still it was enough.
Next time I visit Japan, I would go to Snufkin again with the same friend. On this trip, my favourite one was Wakaya on the other hand since I was glad to have matcha and otaki mochi, which combination is very Japanese.
Matcha latte is good, and yet I would recommend trying real bitter matcha with Japanese sweets.
zooks.ee 