Japan trip Spring 2015 part 8 - March 27, Day 7: Kobe (steak), Namba/Shinsaibashi & Keiko

Since Nara deer park and the Osaka aquarium were both conquered on Day 6, Day 7 became a bit more free! We had initially planned to do one of each of those activities on each day. My mom was still looking for the razor blade/scissors combo from the Loft, and last time we found it in Sannomiya in Kobe, so we decided to go look over there. This is the area I'm most familiar with out of all the places we've gone because I did my study abroad in this area. I like to go back if I can, but it is a bit of a side trip.

The lighting for the mirror in our hotel room was so terrible for ootd pictures lol.

OOTD - Liz Lisa x Yui Kanno collab rose fairy story OP, Liz Lisa rose quilted bag, Charlotte Russe cropped pom pom knit and Nine West wedge sneakers

We caught a rapid train from Osaka to Sannomiya station, and for once I knew exactly where I wanted to exit the station lol. I love being in a place I'm actually somewhat familiar with. We headed directly over to the Loft but unfortunately they didn't have the scissors my mom wanted! I guess it wasn't a very popular product because we didn't even see any that were kind of like it lol. S ended up buying something for his niece and nephew though, so going there wasn't a total waste.

Since this was pretty much our last full day of the trip, I desperately needed to get my butt over to a Daiso and start buying a whole bunch of candy/omiyage to bring back. My mom had been doing that continuously throughout the whole trip but I don't like to binge on Daiso stuff until near the end and also when I know I'll be going back to the hotel to drop off my purchases since it can get really heavy and bulky to carry around. There are Daiso stores all over the place, but actually I don't think there are really any that are super close to our hotel, so even though we were a bit away, I knew I just had to start buying stuff when I saw it lol. (Sorry I guess I took no pictures of either of those places lol.)

Next stop was Junkudo bookstore which is a short distance away from the Daiso. I had purchased the 4th vol Liz Lisa x My Melody mook there during my last trip (after not finding it anywhere else) and again this trip I had no luck finding the 5th vol mook in any of the bookstores we happened by previously, so I was crossing my fingers for this bookstore to still be stocking it again. And they had it! I was happy to find something all the way over here that I hadn't found anywhere else earlier in the trip lol. It really made it seem worth it to me. I think there were probably (book)stores in Akihabara that may have had it, but we didn't make it over there during this trip or the last somehow lol. Anyway, I like this bookstore in Sannomiya because they seem to have what I want. I also purchased the April 2015 Popteen because I saw that the free tote included would fit all my Daiso stuff a lot better + there was a Liz Lisa ad on the back cover lol and also Larme vol 15.

Sorry these activities don't really have any pictures because it's just mostly shopping with a purpose, and I didn't take any pictures in stores :| So here's the best I have from my dad's phone of me outside Junkudo lol.

S wanted to eat Kobe steak during our last trip (and we thought he was joking because he's a big liar wtf), but we didn't end up making it to a restaurant that served it. So this time, while we were in Kobe, we decided to seek it out. There are a plethora of restaurants in Sannomiya that serve Kobe steak - all with different price ranges. I did a quick online search and found a view for Steak Land which had decent pricing. Tbh S wanted to eat Kobe steak but he didn't really want to pay very much lol.

We got there around 12:30pm or so and there was a huge line! There are actually two Steak Land locations really close to each other in this area, but when my father and S went to investigate while my mother and I stayed in this one's line, they found that the other one had an even longer line lol.

The line was moving every so often though, so my mom and I decided to wait in line while S and dad went up and then down the street to see if there was anywhere else they'd want to eat Kobe beef that had a shorter line. Most of the other ones around were on the "expensive side" (like 3x what Steak Land was charging with a slight increase in weight), so in the end, we decided to just wait it out in line.
Every seven to ten minutes, the line would advance a little bit, an an employee would let a few people in. There were around 25 to 30 people in front of us and it took maybe 35-45 minutes for us to be seated.

It wasn't so bad in the shade but actually in the sun it felt quite hot lol.

Inside, the restaurant is a bit small which probably accounts for the line. It seats maybe 30 people at a time and it's all counter seating because it's teppanyaki style and a chef prepares the food right in front of you. (There may have been another place to eat upstairs but I'm not sure if that for the same restaurant we were standing in line for.)

There are only a few options for lunch and essentially only one that has Kobe Beef (I think), so all four of us ordered the Kobe Beef lunch set lol. My dad wanted to order something a little bigger but apparently those were only options for dinner. We ordered quickly, and the sides were brought out. It comes with rice, salad and soup and two sauces. The raw beef and vegetables were also brought out for the chef to prepare.

It seems like there's only one chef preparing for each party, so when he was done with the previous people he was helping, he came right over to us. We waited maybe only a few minutes after the sides were finished, so not too bad.

 

And then everything is just cooked right in front of you.

Besides the beef and the vegetables, there's also these garlic chip things. I don't eat steak very much so they were new to me lol. They were quite good.

I think we got around 10 pieces each for the lunch serving? 8 pieces was a decent amount for me so my leftovers went to S and my dad lol. The beef was quite good! I told the chef that I wanted it prepared "medium", and IMO it was served closer to medium rare, but I still enjoyed it. For what we paid for Kobe Beef, I think it was a good meal although I don't have very discerning taste buds. Regardless, we now have Kobe Beef ✓ checked off the list!

On the way back to Osaka on the train, I tore open my Popteen so I could get at the tote. I was using my Liz Lisa x My Melody vol 4 mook bag for my Daiso purchases, but the free tote in the Popteen would be fitting them a lot better.

Our plan was to head to Namba/Shinsaibashi next. My dad decided he'd rather rest at the hotel, so he took our shopping when we transferred trains at Osaka station, and he went back. The rest of us continued onto Namba intending to go to Daiso, Uniqlo and Don Quixote.

I was able to find Don Quixote quite easily but I couldn't remember how to get to the Namba Daiso from where we were, so I ended up taking us to the Shinsaibashi Uniqlo and Daiso wtf. We passed so many shops along the way but didn't really stop at many. For some reason, I wasn't feeling very shop-y. S actually decided to separate and go back after Uniqlo (and before Daiso) because he wanted to buy this specific cream puff and share with my father.

Meanwhile, my mom and I went to our last Daiso to do our very last minute shopping for the trip since we pretty much had to pack up our bags that night so that we'd be ready to check out the next morning. This is what I came back with that day (from both Kobe and Namba/Shinsaibashi) -

And my mom's (although I don't think this was all from one day...maybe day 6 and day 7?)

Our shopping was cut a little short because I wanted to meet my (old) host mom and her son for dinner! We met at our hotel lobby and then went back towards Osaka station for the restaurant. Hahaha omg we always bring them so much food/stuff that weighs at least a good 5+ pounds and her son has to carry it around the whole time FHL lol.

I don't remember exactly what it was called but I think it was near (but outside of) the Hanshin station on a floor below ground level. They served all different kinds of dishes.

We decided to just pick a whole bunch of different things for us to share. My host mom is always so considerate and tries to pick restaurants that will have a number of things that she'll know I'll eat lol. Wtf I'm so picky.

I didn't really take my phone out during dinner so I don't have any pictures of the food. Ugh, sorry this was kind of a sad day for lack of photos lol. We talked a lot about her son's future schooling plans, and we learned a lot about the university entrance exams and process and things like that.

After dinner, my family and I walked them back to the Hanshin station (what they used to get to Osaka/Umeda from Rokko Island) and said goodbye! It's always so nice to see her.

After that, S wanted to hit one of the fishing stores near Osaka station one last time before it closed, and my parents went to look around in the stores in Hanshin and Osaka stations one last time.

These are the eclairs we really liked!

And the cream puffs my dad and S really enjoyed out of all the ones they tried on the trip lol -

Day 7 was a somewhat uneventful day, but I think that's what we needed - something a bit low key and just some time to get our last minute shopping done before a casual dinner. I got the mook I wanted and couldn't find earlier, so I was general in good spirits lol! And we all got to try Kobe Beef for the first time...and actually in Kobe lol. And it was so, so good to see my host mom and her son. I'm so happy they had some time to meet with us.

Since I don't have any "real"/clothes shopping to share, (and this post seems a little bare bones,) I thought I'd include a few pictures/scans from the magazines I purchased at Junkudo!...But then that was going to make this post wayyyy too photo heavy, so I decided to just put them in a separate post and only if you're interested, you can wait for the scans to all load lol.

[Scans post now published HERE! or click on the covers below to skip to that magazine's scans directly]

Larme vol 15

 Popteen April 2015

 Liz Lisa x My Melody vol 5 mook

(you've probably already seen scans of this everywhere by now since it's about half a year old, but if you haven't, here's an opportunity lol)

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  Japan trip Spring 2015 posts
Part 1 - Pre-trip planning
Part 2a - March 21, Day 1: Liz Lisa Shibuya 109 Yui Kanno event
Part 2b - March 21, Day 1: Hawkeye Owl Cafe
Part 3 - March 22, Day 2: Kawatsura Strawberry Farm, Chiba, Shinjuku
Part 4 - March 23, Day 3: Tsukiji Fish Market, Yokohama, Machida
Part 5 - March 24, Day 4: Omiya, Ikebukuro, Takadanobaba, Asakusa & luggage forwarding
Part 6 - March 25, Day 5: Shibuya, Shinkansen & Osaka
Part 7 - March 26, Day 6: Tennoji MIO, Nara Deer Park
Part 8 - March 27, Day 7: Kobe (steak), Namba/Shinsaibashi & Keiko
Part 9 - March 28, Day 8: Kyoto, Berri & home
Part 10 - Hotels and Pupuru pocket wifi review
Part 11 - Liz Lisa shopping items/coordinates
Part 12 - Liz Lisa x My Melody 6th collab OPs and hand towel 

Japan trip Summer 2014 posts
Japan trip Summer 2015 posts