Japan Trip: Day 1 Manila - Osaka (KONICHIWA!!!)

April 8, all set and ready to GO!...ironically  a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Tokyo the day before...But, hey - that definitely won't stop us on our Adventure!!!

having breakfast before we leave at 5:30am

at NAIA Terminal 3 - used to be exclusive for Cebu Pacific and Air Phil Express...but maybe they made way for ANA and maybe other airline carrier in the future as well :)

please fall in line



a very long line for the check-in counter



Our ride...

The flight took us 4.5 hours to touch down at Narita and 1.5 hr window time to pass thru Japan Immigration - pick up our things at the conveyor - change some $ to Y and check in to our connecting flight to Osaka - Itami....whew!

our airline food - "oishi"

By the way be wary on things concerning your luggage on connecting flights. The ground crew at ANA who checked us in Terminal 3 told us that we we will be picking up our luggages at Osaka airport (Itami), no need to pick it up from our first stop which is Narita.  Upon landing in Narita and exiting the immigration - I had this feeling....just to make sure....I approached an ANA ground crew member near the conveyor - showed our claim ticket and asked if our luggages will head straight to Osaka --- 'Lo and behold, the staff said we need to pick our luggage at Narita and transfer it to Domestic Check-in (which gladly is just a few steps out of customs) - if we trusted the Manila ANA ground crew - we would have worn our flight clothes for Days!!!

flight schedule

We reached the Osaka airport at 6pm, got our baggage and bought ourselves two tickets to Umeda Station which is nearest to where we will stay (Hotel Granvia) via the Airport Limousine Bus.  It was drizzling, we struggled on how to get to the hotel, hard to navigate at night while raining on a Friday night with lots of  people crossing and walking fast. Well in fact Granvia was just a few meters from the bus stop.


found our way to the hotel



the weather worries me, i thought its gonna be
 raining the whole time.

Hotel Granvia Osaka Lobby

 Check-in was a breeze, the bellboy helped us with our luggages and guided our way to our room,  the room was compact (generally for the same price in Manila, the room will be thrice the size).  We just freshened up a bit and headed down to exchange our JR Pass (our hotel is just beside Osaka Station) and to find us some delicious dinner.

@ 21st  Floor, Non-smoking, zarah just received her first business call from Manila.

very cute toilet

exchange our JR coupon at the JR Counter in Osaka

Secured ourselves reserved seats for shinkansen
trains to Hiroshima and Tokyo.

In looking for a place to eat, we ended up in a
small rows of alley with restaurants.

i had the large bento box while
zarah had the maguro sushi

This is the South Gate of Osaka Station

Need to rest and have Good Night sleep.