My recent trip to Osaka was far from the usual traveling scenario where a relative or friend would be fetching you from the terminal.
It was the first time I went to a foreign land all by myself (not with the usual media junket)—and with a 14-year-old person with disability student, my daughter Angeline, in tow. It was also the first time that Angeline was traveling by plane on a foreign trip.
Angeline is being treated for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) for seven years now. Her ailment caused her to be delayed in academics, with her motor skills badly affected. To this day, she still has a hard time grasping a pen and she hates long walks because she tires easily.
However, she was the reason for the Japan travel. Her school, Saint Francis School-VSA arts Philippines, was invited to participate in the Rock & Art 2017 Osaka Festival, to showcase their talent in Saori Japanese weaving. The delegation consisted of kids with various disabilities and talents, which is why weaving therapy is included in the special curriculum, called Learning Through the Arts.
Saori is a handweaving program founded by a Japanese lady, Misao Jo, in 1968 for self-expression and had produced 40,000 weavers in Japan, regardless of age, gender, disability or intellectual aptitude. It was then brought overseas in more than 40 countries. Saint Francis School in Quezon City served as the Saori Urban Handweaving Center in the Philippines.
When my contact person in Osaka said she cannot see us upon arrival at Kansai International Airport, I resolved to myself that I should be able to make it to our hotel destination on my own.
We boarded the Cebu Pacific flight on time at 3:30 p.m. and arrived at Kansai International Airport at 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m., Japan time). The long queue at Kansai immigration due to high traffic of foreign and local tourists, held us up for an hour or more. My focus then was to be able to reach our hotel destination, which is Sun Plaza 2 Annex. The lady officer at the Tourism Information Counter gave me this direction: “Go upstairs, buy tickets and ride the train going to the Shin Imamiya Station. From there you only walk two minutes and you are in your hotel.”
But the teller gave me tickets for Haginochaya station instead, perhaps because of the misleading address of the hotel in Nishinari-ku Haginochaya. Thus, we missed our station and we had to transfer rides four times before we finally alighted.
Seamless, efficient Japan Railway System
For most Japanese, trains are part of daily life. The majority of people use local trains to commute—to both school and work—and even travel around Japan. The nation’s rail network is an idol of transportation enthusiasts around the world. The Shinkansen, or high-speed rail network, was the world’s first. After more than 50 years, it remains a symbol of the country’s economic success after the devastation of World War II. Today, these bullet trains stretch across the country, bringing rural locales and cities far from big cities, such as Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama, into a centralized, urban fold.
However, with at least 11 train lines plying Osaka’s railway, riding the train isn’t as simple as anyone may think, especially for a first- timer in Japan like me. It’s complicated. They have lifts and escalators alright, but to play safe, we had to use the stairs, going up and down, to transfer lines. Imagine my daughter negotiating the long stairs filled with fears and anxiety.
From the deserted Haginochaya station, Angeline and I started searching for our hotel. The only station staff motioned to us that it’s just within the area. We rounded the area several times asking Japanese on bikes to help us locate the hotel. The Osakans were helpful and polite when you ask for help despite the language barrier. Using their high-tech mobile phones, they would take time to Google the hotel and show you exactly the image and address of the hotel.
Two elderly customers of the last bar we knocked in said they knew our hotel. One of the men took our luggage and offered to see us through the hotel. And they did! That was the longest walk I ever had—and for my daughter who hardly walks long back home.
It was past midnight when we arrived at the hotel and the reception area was already closed. We had to wait till 7 a.m. before we can get the key to our reserved room. My main concern that moment was for Angeline to rest and get much-needed sleep after a strenuous day from the railway’s mini amazing race to our hotel. So after feeding her with a hot dog bun and hot cup noodles from the nearby Family Mart, I made her sleep on the four seats put together—at the hotel lobby.
I realized traveling is not for the faint at heart. I need to think of an easy way out of this situation. So when a Japanese couple approached me and offered to book us in the nearby hotel, I asked for the Wi-fi password of Sun Plaza 2 so I could communicate with my contact person. It was almost 2 a.m. when she picked up my call through the Facebook Messenger. She said she would go down to give our key. But she did not come and we never met because we were at the wrong hotel!
While Angeline was sleeping, I busied myself posting updates on FB, recording our journey and charging our gadgets, among others. At 5 a.m., I woke her up and we started rounding the area to locate our hotel. We stopped by the Family Mart for some breakfast and coffee. Failing to locate our hotel, we went back to the Sun Plaza 2 to wait for a staff to help us. An hour later, a utility staff showed up to clean the lobby. Showing him the address, written in Japanese by the information officer at Kansai Airport, the man led us to the main gate of the hotel and to the main street. Pointing to the left side of the street, Sun Plaza 2 Annex is on the other side of Sun Plaza 2 some 300 meters away.
The lady tourism Information officer at Kansai airport was right: Sun Plaza 2 Annex is just 20 to 50 steps away from the Shin Imamiya station exiting through the JR line. Haginochaya station is three stations away from the Shin Imamiya so imagine how far we had walked to reach our hotel.
Our contact person was still sleeping when we knocked on her door. And finally, in our hotel room, we slept the sweetest sleep of our life some 2,000 miles (by plane) away from the Philippines.
Angeline and I woke up at lunch time invigorated and spirited. Setting aside the “bad dream” we had, we decided to enjoy our first day in Osaka roaming around the area, buying food from the nearby 24-hour grocery just ahead of the Shin Imamiya Station and walking past our hotel to the nearby subway station to look for other establishments of interest.
The Japanese love walking, I observed. I was told they can walk from 1 kilometer to 3 km. It’s a common sight in Osaka from morning till night: foreign and local tourists with their luggage and suitcases, rolling traverse the sidewalk either on their way to their hotel destination or the train station.
Bicycles are also a transportation of choice. Young and old, man or woman, students or the working class, including fashionably garbed women with makeup, ride bicycles. For longer trips, they take the bus or trains on scheduled trips. Foreign and local tourists with their luggage in tow all walk to take the train.
Surviving the subway
My good friend from Osaka, Leona Nepomuceno, the attaché and director for West Japan of the Philippine’s Department of Tourism, invited us for lunch and to visit the DOT Osaka office on August 24.
Through Messenger, she gave us this detail: Take the Midosuji or red line on the subway. Get off at Honmachi, five stations away from the station nearest your hotel, the Dobutsuen-Mae station. At Honmachi exit at Gate 7, then exit at Saint Regis Hotel. Look for Tsuraya Gold Building, and Hommachi Dis Building with the Its More Fun in the Philippines signage would be next.”
We went to the subway, but took the upward direction going to Maruhan, an imposing building offering a variety of entertainment amenities, like pachinko parlors, bowling alleys, golf driving ranges, amusement facilities, cinemas and other leisure-related businesses. We also found our favorite Daiso store, which is just across the street from Maruhan. After some stroll within the area, we decided to go down again and ride the subway. Taking extra care not to repeat our first train experience, I counted the train stations and listened intently to the voice over direction so I wouldn’t miss Hommachi.
Over a hot chashu ramen and gyoza for lunch at the famed Ippudo, almost a kilometer leisurely walk from the DOT office, Leona said she herself almost resigned from her post because of the long distance walk in Osaka. But after two years, she said, she can now walk up to 3 km just like most of the Osakans.
Since Angeline was already complaining of long walk, Leona decided that we take a cab on our way back to Sun Plaza 2 Annex. It was a short taxi ride, or perhaps, it was just because there is no traffic in Osaka. Our taxi fare amounted to ¥1720 for a 20-minute ride of a clean and immaculately white- covered seat taxi driven by a senior citizen.
Hello Kyoto
After the two-day festive event at Saori headquarters at 5-13-4 Nakano-cho Miyahojima-ku, it was time to roam and explore Osaka. Our group booked earlier on Klook web site and we got the Kyoto-Arishiyama-Nara Park-Todaiji Temple tour. We survived the train ride from the JR line to Osaka City Air Terminal (Ocat), where our Limon bus travel service was waiting. In a jiffy, we were in Kyoto.
Located in the western outskirts of Japan, with the mountain across the Ōi River, Kyoto is famous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, as well as gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses. For a better feel of the place, we rounded the Higashiyama District, where the streets are lined with by small shops, cafes and restaurants that have been catering to tourists and pilgrims for centuries. These businesses retain their traditional design, although many have been renovated through the years, according to our tour guide, and they continue to serve customers today, selling local specialties, such as Kiyomizu-yaki pottery, sweets, pickles, crafts and other souvenirs.
From Higashiyama, our group is transported to Arashiyama, a nationally designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty. We strolled around its famed Bamboo Grove and took photos to our heart’s delight.
After a leisurely walk on the 500-meter cool bamboo path, we proceeded to Kyoto station to ride the train going to Nara Park, where deer and reindeer roam and interact with tourists. But the highlight of the Nara tour is the Kodaiji Temple, which was constructed in 1605 in memory of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by the great political leader’s wife. It features temple halls, gravel and landscape gardens, teahouses and a bamboo grove.
We missed the temple as Angeline already complained of the long walk. We contended ourselves with picture-taking of the gigantic all-wood structure, called Nandaimo Gate, leading to Kodaiji Temple and taking refuge from the heat of the sun by sitting under the shady trees of Nara Park while cooling up with a soda drink. After which, we took the Limon bus to Ocat, rode the train to JR line and rest for the night. The next morning would be our flight to Narita International Airport to visit relatives at Chiba Prefecture, a one-hour land drive to Japan’s famous Tokyo.
Our trip to Japan was made possible by Cebu Pacific Air, which has the most extensive network between Japan and the Philippines, linking Tokyo (Narita), Nagoya, Osaka (Kansai) and Fukuoka to Manila.