Day 8 ~ Back in Nagoya (Toyota Museum and Sakae)

 Today is our last full day in Japan.

Coming from Nagoya, we made a 3 day-side trip to Kyoto.  For our last day we made our way back to Nagoya as it is closer to Chubu Centrair International Airport, our departure airport back to Manila.

We left our Kyoto Hotel, "Cross Hotel Kyoto" early and took the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Nagayo (booked via Smart -Ex website). 

Check this link for Tips on discounted Shinkansen tickets ~ Nagoya-Kyoto-Nagoya via Shinkansen.

We arrived at 9am in Nagoya and decided to leave our luggage at our Nagoya hotel, "Ibis Styles Nagoya" before starting today's agenda.

But first, lunch.  Lunch was at the Restaurant Brick Age, connected to the Toyota Commemorative Museum building. We ordered the Chef's exclusive.

Welcome to the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, the birthplace of Toyota Group. 

Here are some interesting facts about the Toyota company, one of the world's well known automobile brands:

• Toyota was originally known as Toyoda, which is the family name of the founder "Sakichi Toyoda".
• The company which started operations in the 1920s was into textiles. 
• Their first vehicle was made in 1937 and was meant for war purposes. It was only in 1947 that they started production of vehicles for civilians.

From Toyota Commemorative Museum, we made our way to Sakae since I wanted to see the Nagoya TV Tower and Oasis 21 (a three-dimensional park with glass roof that looks like a space craft). 

Our last night in Nagoya and look at what we found ~ Mister Donuts!   Hubby has a liking to the "pon de ring" that is bit hard to find in Manila.  So far, I have only seen it in Megamall and it is always sold out.

Hey that smile is priceless! Best way to end our Nagoya-Kyoto vacation!  

 

Planning a trip to Kyoto-Nagoya? Check the links below on tips and suggested itinerary:

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour

Day 5 ~ Off to Kyoto (Part 1)

Day 5 ~ Kiyomizu dera

Day 6 ~ Fushi Inari and Toei Studio Theme park

Day 7 ~ Arashiyama

BONUS: Samurai Wannabees in Kyoto

  

Day 5 ~ (Part 2) A Buddhist Temple and Matcha Overload

Off to our first destination in Kyoto, the Kiyomizu dera.

Kiyomizu dera is a Buddhist temple, known for its wooden stage overlooking a hillside. It offers panoramic view of beautiful Kyoto especially during clear weather.

It was not cherry blossom season when we visited, I bet the view would have been more spectacular.

There are plenty of kimono shops in the area, but there were too many people and we thought it would be difficult to get nice pictures with plenty of tourists as background.

There were plenty of traditional sweet shops, coffee and green tea houses along Shimizuzaka, San’nei saka and Ninenzaka. We ended in visiting some of them on our way back.  Note though, that the volume of tourist (local and international) was just overwhelming.

  

I think they call this "revenge travel".  

And that's a lot of people mingling about, bye-bye Covid! 

One of highlights of our trip to Japan... matcha binging. The trick here is to skip breakfast and do kilometers of walking... 

Traffic was terrible and so we ended up burning some of the calories we've consumed by just walking back to the hotel.  It was a leisurely 2km walk.  

We ended at the Kawaramachi Shopping Street, before finally heading back to the hotel for our much needed recharge.

If you missed the 1st half of our Day 1 in Kyoto, follow the link below

  Day 5 ~ Off to Kyoto

Please check also our Day 1 to Day 4 touring Nagoya Japan

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour

DAY 5 ~ OFF TO KYOTO

Kyoto, I would say is where you should go if you want to experience the "real" traditional Japan.

We took an early Shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto (Booked via Smart -Ex website). We wanted to reach Kyoto early to maximize our vacation.

   

Tip:  You can save a bit of cash by booking at least 2 weeks in advance and choose the Kodama trains (which offers discounted tickets by as much as Y500/pax on ordinary seats and Y2000/pax on green seats).  The Kodama trains have more stops, compared to the other trains, "Hikari and Nozomi (but only by about 20 minutes Nagoya-Kyoto route)".

Riding the Kodama Train 

 

From Kyoto Station, we used the Karasuma Line, alighted at Oike Station then transferred to Tozai Line going to Sanjo Keihan Station.  Cross Hotel our home in Kyoto is about 400 meters walk from the station.  It was a bit of walking, but this hotel is very convenient when taking the bus (which we will be using for the majority of our Kyoto adventure).   

This stream is just outside our hotel...

We love Cross Hotel Kyoto.  It is very near the Nishi Market for some serious shopping, Potoncho alley lined with restaurants and the beautiful Kamo river.

The peaceful Kamo River, you would want to jump in and wade through its clean-clean water. 

At Cross Hotel Kyoto's lobby-lounge, enjoying complimentary coffee while we rest our tired feet from the day's walk.

More of Kamo River... I can spend hours here just chillaxing and watching the birds while sipping some freshly brewed coffee.

 

 Part 1 of our Day 1 in Kyoto ends here.

Follow Part 2 ~ as we head to Kiyomizu-dera

and all things matcha (drinks, snacks and desserts).

If you missed our Day 1-4, check the links below:

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour

Hotel Review: Osaka's Airport Hotel - Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport

It was an early morning flight out of Kansai to Manila for us; And the worrier Mama in me (too scared to be late for our flight), made me decide to book our last night in Osaka at the Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport. 

This hotel is a full service hotel, connected to Kansai Airport Terminal I.  It is near impossible to miss your flight from here (And if you are a sound sleeper, you can make use of a wake-up call just to make sure).  From Kansai Terminal I building take the lift to the 2nd floor and take Exit D or E.

Hotel Nikko will just be in front of you...

My boys kidding around (lol)

And directed to the hotel lobby on the ground floor.

Check in was easy.  

It took me only a minute or so and was immediately handed out our room keys.

Our room for our last night in Osaka is a Super Triple Room about 29sqm in size.

It fits three semi-double sized bed and comes with an air-humidifier and flat-screen TV.  There is also a complimentary WiFi, but I prefer using the one we rented via Klook, which was a lot faster than the hotel's.

Bathroom amenities were very good too...

The sachet facial wash and cleanser made their way to my hand carry bag.

Most of the available channels were in Japanese though, but that was fine since we were only there for the night and will be leaving early the next morning.  Besides, we were too exhausted from all the walking we did in Osaka (80+kms according to my eldest who was monitoring our walks) to even bother watch something on TV.

Look what's on TV... "Pokémon".

(Note: My eldest did a bit of Pokémon hunting in Osaka and was fairly happy with his catches).

After check-in, we toured the airport's department stores/outlets for last minute "budol" shopping.  However, I still ended buying most of my take home stuffs from inside the restricted area (after airport check-in).  I have compared prices and it most items sell cheaper inside.

Dinner was at  KYK Tonkatsu which was one of the best Tonkatsu I have tasted.   

Food is really so good, it deserves a separate write-up and a wonderful way to end our tour of Osaka's tasteful cuisine.

Breakfast which was part of our hotel package was at the Brasserie.   It was nice that breakfast was spread as early as 5am, giving us ample time to prepare for our 9am flight.

Breakfast was buffet-style and consists of Japanese and Western dishes using domestically produced ingredients.  Food is wonderful.  I love that everything is fresh and nicely prepared. 

We had awesome stay at Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport and could only wish for at least another day's stay. 

We will definitely miss Japan.
 
For booking inquiries, visit Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport website:
HOTEL NIKKO KANSAI AIRPORT


For travel tips, please check and follow our Osaka
and Tokyo adventure: 

>>>OSAKA JAPAN - SAYING HELLO TO TAKOYAKI
>>>TOKYO JAPAN - HELLO JAPAN

Hotel Review ~ Hotel Keihan Universal City

Hotel Keihan Universal City is one of the 6 Official Hotels of Universal Studio Japan (USJ).

We have decided to stay here for a night on the day of our USJ visit. I figured we would be too tired after touring the park and staying at a nearby hotel would be convenient.

I booked Hotel Keihan Universal City via Agoda, I scored a good deal as there was an ongoing promo at time of my booking.

We love staying at Official Theme Park hotels, the nearness and convenience is worth the extra bucks.  Hotel Keihan Universal City is located at the Universal Studio Walk and is literally just a few steps away USJ's main gate.  


(See here our USJ escapade: UNIVERSAL STUDIO JAPAN)


Hotel Keihan is a Hollywood-Cinema themed hotel. 

The check-in counter resembled a movie ticketing box (cool!).

The check-in was fast and easy, we were in-and-out the hotel lobby in 5 minutes (We just dropped our luggage and headed to USJ). 

We left our luggage here.

When we got back from our day frolicking at USJ, we only needed to claim our room keys. Our luggage were already sent up to our room.

Even the hotel's carpet screams movies night ...

We reserved a Standard Quadruple Room. 
They've set up 4 single beds for us, which made the 35sqm room a bit crowded.  It was fine though as we loved the extra bed space after hours walking and running about in the park. 

There was a 37 inches Plasma TV showing Universal Movies.

I love Japanese toilets (so hi-tech!)

For added comfort they also provided us with pajamas and slippers.

Breakfast was at the World World Buffet the following morning.  There were a lot a guests at that time and some had to be re-directed to a makeshift dinning area (us included). 

We had an option to wait for a better sitting area, but since our time is more important,  we were fine at the make-shift area.  They were serving the same menu anyway so that should be fine.

Food was good, but nothing special, although I had repeat servings of their pastries.
I would recommend checking other dining options at the Universal City Walk (just outside the hotel).

If you are looking for a hotel with easy access to USJ, then incude Hotel Keihan in your list:

Perfect location, clean hotel and efficient personnel.

For additional information about Hotel Keihan Universal City, please check out their webpage

HOTEL KEIHAN UNIVERSAL CITY  

Address: 6-2-78, Shimaya, Konohana-ku, 554-8585 Osaka - Japan

Phone: 81-6-6465-0321 Fax 81-6-6465-0987         

Email: info-city@hotelkeihan.co.jp