#20260228

I had planned for today to be pretty laid back, knowing that I am going to tire myself out at Universal Studios on my last day. So I had a slow morning, eventually rolling out of bed to seek out breakfast. A blog I had read (not the food itinerary one but a different one) recommended this restaurant on Café Street near Namba station (yes, apparently that's a thing!) so off I went for some pancakes! This was also on the way to Umeda station, my next destination.

The restaurant was called Café Mog Namba, and they had so many different pancake options!! Some other food too, but who cares when there's pancakes on the menu. I went for tiramisu pancakes and a coffee, doubling down on the coffee taste. The table next to me had ordered it and it didn't look like that much food, so I added an extra pancake to my order. Well...it seems that the other table had gotten the smaller sized pancakes, and when mine arrived, it was 4 massive pancakes!

The photo doesn't do them justice. Around the edge of the plate was espresso syrup that was fairly bitter, a nice contrast to the decadent sweetness of the pancakes. The mascarpone was so fluffy and delicious, but it hid a surprise - vanilla ice cream underneath it? Unsure as to why. I could have done without the ice cream tbh, I was kind of struggling with the sweetness by the end of the meal! It was still very good though. I probably would have been fine with just the 3 pancakes!

Very caffeinated for the time being, I didn't go to anywhere else on café street. I'll save it for next time! Then I was on my way to Umeda station with a very specific goal: the Pokémon Center. I had to go for my nephews! It was a little confusing navigating from the station to the store, since this part of Osaka has what I assume is an extensive underground city. And as mentioned previously, I cannot navigate underground to save my life. My strategy is always Get Outside as Fast as Possible and work from there. Even tho google tried to help me by telling me what exit to take, and signage is pretty good, it just wasn't gonna happen. After emerging into daylight again, I learned that it wasn't going to be a simple ground floor storefront. It was on the 13th floor of a huge department store called Daimaru! Wuh oh, also not my favourite experience. I had anticipated that the Pokémon Center would be overwhelming so at least I had brought my Loop earplugs. After a few wrong attempts I got the right elevator up. What I was not anticipating was how much of an Affair the Pokémon Center was. That's on me, since it is the 30th anniversary and they just announced new games. Once I got out of the elevator, I got an entry time ticket. For 2 hours later! Wow!

The Nintendo store was also on this floor, as was a toy store I wanted to look at for my nephews too. So I spent some of that waiting time drooling over everything at the Nintendo store. Or, at least the Animal Crossing merch, all of it was suuuuper cute! Way cuter than what I had seen at the Nintendo store in NYC two years ago!! A bunch of it was in these great pastel colours with the romanization of the Japanese name for AC New Horizons, Atsumare Dobutsu no Mori.

I really wanted so much of the AC stuff!! The housewares were especially cute but I simply don't have room for that. Probably for the best. It's already going to be challenging with what I did get! I'm grateful I kept my shopping pretty light up to this point, it meant I still had fun money left. The Legend of Zelda merch was honestly disappointing, not much stuff and most of it kind of lame (to me at least). I picked up a few things, went to the toy store, and still had some time left until I was allowed in the Pokémon Center. I had a headache coming on, and was feeling the effects of being inside surrounded by many people, so tried to escape to the outdoors for a snack.

I sat outside for a bit to recover, and then braved the underground city again in search of an iced coffee, since I didn't want to stray too far and most of the cafes seemed to be inside. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a bakery chain recommended in that foodie itinerary! It wasn't the location they had mentioned, and I hadn't had the chance to go there yet. What luck! The chain is called Painduce (soft bread??) and functioned like the Chinese bakeries in Toronto I went to so often - get a tray and tongs and pick out what you want from a wide array of options. Everything was very clearly labeled if it was vegetarian or vegan! It wasn't so clearly labeled in English with what it was, so I went by visuals. I picked out 3 savoury buns and 2 sweet ones (and proceeded to not take a photo of a single one). I sat at the small amount of bar seating they had to eat one of the savoury buns and drink my iced coffee. It truly rejuvenated me. The bun I had was ?green onion and cheese? Maybe leek? It was good though and the place ended up being a great spot to sit and start drafting my blog post from the day prior. I find it better to pick away throughout the day rather than sit down and write it all at the end, it's less daunting that way. I also manage to like, get in the zone, and then waiting doesn't feel so much like waiting as it does time travel.

Before long it was approaching my entry time, 2:00. Not quite the quick trip and relaxing afternoon at the hostel I had planned! I navigated back upstairs and waiting around until it was my time to queue. The staff were doing a great job with crown control, all things considered. I was peeking around the store before I got in looking at what they had. My youngest nephew's favourite Pokémon is Lickitung, which is not exactly common, or likely to have merch of (thanks to the older one for liking Pikachu). Luckily I had asked my sister for some backup options. When I got in there, I scoured the store for Lickitung. They had a plushie of its evolution, Lickilicky, but no Lickitung! I did manage to find bits and pieces, but no spoilers to my sister and brother-in-law. I also got myself a very pretty Jigglypuff necklace, of all things!

Finally done with my big shopping, I went back to the hostel. I thought about stopping back in Dotombori for the pudding recommend by Stray Kids' Lee Know, but I was tired of being on my feet. I wanted to get back and be horizontal as quickly as possible. The trains on the way back were a bit crowded so I ended up quite warm upon my return, and I wanted to get blogging on my laptop, so I dropped my coat and bag in my room and descended back down with a snack (more of the buns and a Calpico drink) and the laptop to go sit in the hostel garden for a bit. It was really a lovely vibe! The weather wasn't the nicest, as it was pretty windy, but this meant not many people were out there. I had been told by someone at the hostel that cats like to hang out in the garden, but I suppose it was too cold for them. I stayed out there for only about 15 minutes before the wind was making my hands too cold.

When I went back to the common lounge area, there was the man I had been talking to yesterday (Muri? Muzi? His name starts with an M but I don't know more than that). He asked how my day had been and told me another one of the people there sitting with him was from France (since yesterday he had learned that I speak French). I ended up sitting down with them, and the old Japanese woman they were with (I was also told her name but forgot - Yamanoto I think, and then her first name started with an S and was two syllables, maybe Shomei or something?? I am so bad at this). She was in her late 80s and spoke no English, but was still so friendly and nice and tried to talk to me the whole time! My friend Muzi(?) was doing his best to translate, and I ended up talking a bit more to the French man as well (but im English). I think his name started with a J... Whoops. He was from the southeast of France and we talked a bit about the difference cities I've been to across France. Muzi and the French man (we're just rolling with it) kindly offered me some sake but I declined, and Muzi got me some tea instead since my hands were still quite cold. I put my computer aside and just talked to them for a bit! The lounge had a bunch of blankets too, helping me to warm up. I was sitting there with them from around 3:45-5:45, longer than I had intended maybe (still hadn't been horizontal yet), but isn't this what I stayed in a hostel for? We talked about where Yamanoto-san was from and her life, Muzi shared about his struggles growing up, and the French guy and I mostly listened, but I did ask him about his travels; he had been in Japan for a month by that then. Yamanoto-san gifted me a tissue holder she had made, apropros of nothing!! Wow! Also at one point Muzi was digging in his coin purse for something, and both Yamanoto-san and I pointed at it saying it was cute (it was a pink My Melody purse, at odds with Muzi's whole vibe otherwise), and then he just gave it to me?? I tried giving it to Yamanoto-san but she wasn't having it and insisted I took it. So I got two presents without even trying to! I felt bad that I didn't have anything to offer in return. But Muzi explained to me that in Japanese culture, refusing a gift that was given to you in good faith was rude, and that I should stop fussing and just accept it!

At some point there were pancakes shared as well, though I had had my fill at breakfast! After a bit Muzi took off, and the French guy went to go pack up his stuff (he was flying to Nepal that evening, for 3 months). When conversation died down a bit I opened my laptop again to draft a bit, and showed Yamanoto-san some of my photos from the aquarium. It was a lot of us pointing at things and saying "kawaii," "sugoi" back and forth but you know! It works! The hostel serves a group dinner at 6 but I had other plans for dinner, so I went upstairs a bit beforehand to leave the table for those who would be enjoying dinner, and said farewell to Yamanoto-san. Finally, I laid down for a bit, abandoning my blog for the time being. Of course I could have gone upstairs at any point, but I was enjoying the conversation!

Following my short rest, I walked about 7 minutes down the same arcade my hostel was in towards dinner: Shinsekai Paprika Shokudo, a vegan and gluten free restaurant. Found myself, not from any blogs! The foodie itinerary had suggested a few stalls to get kushikatsu, a local street food of breaded and deep fried skewers, which are often meaty. So the blog mentioned a few stalls that had good vegetable options, but fried in the same oil. This led me to looking for more kushikatsu, and I found this dedicated vegan place! All the better. They also had "takoyaki" on the menu, breaded octopus balls, but made with oyster mushrooms. I really was sad that I couldn't eat takoyaki since they're such a classic Japanese food (in that I see them everywhere and in media all the time). I was so happy to find this restaurant! It was tucked away down an alley but had a bright neon sign saying VEGAN, and I was confident I had found the right place. It wasn't very busy thankfully since it was a pretty small space! Maybe because I was there only an hour and a half before close. I ordered a combo of takoyaki, 5 pieces of kushikatsu, mini cinnamon donut holes for dessert, and a beer.

Holy heck it was all delicious! The takoyaki were nice and soft, and the kushikatsu had a very light breading, didn't have a greasy feeling to them at all. They were also served with a bottle of sweet sauce and I could put on as much as I wanted (I wanted a lot). The skewers I got were potato, cauliflower, some spongy soy meat situation (tasty), shiitake mushroom, and a wedge of camembert. The camembert was unexpected! But so good! And I wasn't expecting to enjoy the shiitake skewer because I don't really like that kind of mushroom, but they were actually a great texture. And the mini donuts felt like a taste of home, though they were so much better than any Timbits I've had. I am really pleased with how easy it has been to find vegetarian restaurants here, especially in the neighbourhood I'm staying in! As it turns out it was only a little bit difficult in Nagoya but every other city has been fine.

After dinner I came back to the hostel and went right upstairs to settle in for the night, too tired to shower and figuring I'd have to the next morning anyway since my bedhead is serious these days. I did get my blog post from the day before written up though! All in all not quite the chill day I had envisioned from the morning, but I think I'm just not destined to have chill days here! I'm too committed to doing as much as I can! I'm surely going to crash once I'm back, but I have my upcoming birthday to keep me going at least.

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毎日寝不足で早送りとスローモーションを繰り返してたけど少し落ち着いた…？