So today’s trip to the Instant Ramen museum was cancelled because I actually checked their web site and they said they were closed today. She also had another place she wanted to go and we had nowhere better to go. Also, it was supposed to rain today (and boy did it rain).

But first, we went to Hep Five and rode the ferris wheel. It was only ¥500 for the 15 minute trip so it was a great deal for getting up above the city.

Osaka Station City!

I’m not sure if I ever knew that there’s a parking lot on the roof of the Hankyu Department store!

Or on top of the Toho Cinema.

Here we are towards the top, the only place where I thought would be nervous, but there’s nothing really scary about this ferris wheel. Nice and slow and a great view. There’s even a “map” on the window to tell you what things are where.

At the top!

It’s a great view from the top. I’d point out Osaka Castle out the right window, but it’s tiny and I had to search for it to find it.

Then it was time to find Lim’s store, “The Center for Cosmic Wonder”. The first non-hurdle was that I ran off to get in a different subway car than the one my mom & sister & Lim went in. The car was pink and all I could read was something in kanji that said women only during the week. Usually you’ll also see some time restrictions to the women-only cars (like during commute times) but I didn’t see anything, so I didn’t get on the same car.

One of the things we saw on the way was Lim+Lim!

And a pachinko parlor with a huge Roy Lichtenstein image.

But we found Lim’s store. The whole place looks like an empty warehouse space with an odd art installation (fake rocks? I can’t remember) until you look behind some baffles and see the clothes for sale. There’s not a lot of clothing, but there’s lots of small stores with just a little fancy product so it isn’t weird if you’re brave enough to actually step inside. And, since there isn’t that much product, there isn’t a long time for me to have to wait and that was a huge bonus. 🙂

A block away there was a place called the “fun space” I think. It was a spot that only had women eating there, but it was tasty. My mom had the karaage lunch (and I think I’m having fried chicken soon after I get back).

My sister and I had taco rice.

Lim had a teriyaki chicken sandwich.

The hot sauce wasn’t that hot.

After that it was back to Shinsaibashi and Namba so Lim could buy a Mizuno rain cape. On the way we saw a KitKat store, which turned out to just be a candy store with lots of KitKat signs.

 

It’s a walk all the way through Shinsaibashi to Namba, but it’s an interesting walk. The Mizuno store is very close to the Namba Kabukiza Theatre.

We headed back to Umeda (on another subway train where I had to avoid the women only car) and did some last-minute shopping (I bought some replacement toothbrush heads for my little battery-powered toothbrush) and then went through the thunder and lightning and driving rain to get to the hotel. After a rest, we went to an okonomiyaki restaurant in the basement of the Ritz-Carlton. I twas tasty, but there was a lot of food.

And that’s it for the last full day in Osaka!