Japan travel guide: Osaka

Americamura icedog

Well, there’s this village called Amerikamura (aka amemura) which means America village in Osaka which is near shinsaibashi and also walkable from namba.

If you come from western countries then maybe this won’t be special to you but this place is often touted as the harajuku of osaka which is not the case imo.

Amemura is boring imo they sell mostly western t shirts (Adidas anyone) and big hip hop style clothes. Is this Japan’s perception of America? I have no idea.

While you might not have anything to buy from there, it is a good place for people watching since people’s dressing are quite flashy there but since it was raining when I went there wasn’t many people out and about and hence I only went there to eat.

Other than having various takoyaki stalls (more about them in another post), amemura is home to the ganso ice dog which claimed to be the first stall in Japan selling ice dog which is a fried hotdog bun with milk ice cream in the middle.

Sounds normal right? I really wanted to try it though my mum was skeptical about it but this really exceeded my expectations (well always expect low then the possibility of you being satisfied is higher lol).

I always thought that the bread is fried and the icecream would melt real fast (it probably would if you went in summer) but the bread is fried and when you first bite into the bread, it’s hot and crispy crispy and the inside that has contact with the milk ice cream is soft and cold. You might think that this won’t match but nooo, I thought the flavors and temperature and all might clash at first but this is really good. Only the ice cream that’s with contact with the bread melted and the ice cream (A pity that it’s so hard to find good milk ice cream in Singapore, well unless they have like Japan fairs or something.). The rest of the ice cream remains cold and in solid form and when you bite into the ice dog, it’s just so satisfying I really wished I ordered one more for myself since it’s only 300 yen.

I think the shop also sell milk ice cream from rokko farm which is a famous farm in Kobe. I had the rokko farm ice cream in Kobe and it was absolutely delicious. The one used in icedog seemed to come from Hokkaido though but still super good.

Map here.

Eating Healthy in Singapore

As you age, somehow you just tend to eat healthier. Healthy food is so expensive in Singapore btw :(

Recently, I've been wanting to try Acai Bowl which is made of acai berry (a fruit found in Brazil) and other fruits. They say it is healthy and full of antioxidants and it doesn't taste bad too, It isn't considered sweet but it is not sour as well. It has a feel of dark chocolate. This is like made popular by America or something I guess? I guess when you want something really badly enough, somehow it just comes to you.

Singapore finally opened a shop selling acai bowl in February and I went to try it a few days ago. hehe. It is located at Holland Village (Thank God it is still considered west area(?)) and easily accessible from the train station.

I went with my friend and we ordered the large one @ S$13.50. the Small one is S$6.80 I think the Medium should be S$9+. They have puree packs that you can bring home as well, if you want to make Acai Bowl at home yourself. They have smoothies too which sounds tempting. I'm going to try that next time.

Go try it out next time if you are in the area! Saw some guys there too. heh.

Learn more about project-acai here
Map here

Japan travel guides: Ichiran Ramen

Well well well, the famed ichiran ramen with partition that separate you from the other diners so you won’t feel embarrassed getting stared at while you slurp your ramen.

Ichiran is hugely popular in Japan and among tourists and it’s not hard to see why. Firstly, they have branches in Tokyo - shibuya, shinjuku etc. The one I went to this time was located at osaka, namba dotonbori street and it’s located right next to Don Quixote (another fav spots of mine, more of this in another post alright?) and open for 24 hours (night owls say yes for ramen as supper!)

Dotonbori is located very near namba and nipponbashi and is within walking distance from shinsaibashi and nagahoribashi.

The whole stretch of dotonbori is full of food ranging from crabs, kushi katsu, yakiniku, okonomiyaki, ramen and all. You will definitely be able to find something that you like. Some shops open till late and some open for 24 hours as well, just be sure to enquire before going.

Ok back to ichiran. This 24 hours ichiran is always crowded (at least when I’m there) and when I finally got to eat my ichiran it was when I went for the third time and I went at 9pm, there’s still a long queue outside despite the fact that it’s raining. Everyone was queuing with their umbrellas and all. Thank God though, that the turnover rate is high we didn’t waited very long, probably around 20-30 mins?

While you are queuing the shop will have people giving you pieces of paper for you to write how you will like your ramen to be - less oil, more oil, firm noodles, soft noodles and so on.

There’s display outside on their bring-home ramen that you can cook yourself. 

Then you go into the shop and buy tickets from the machine while queuing again then when you are seated, just pass the ticket and the  customization paper to the shop person. Oh the normal ramen dont include egg I think. I have to get the egg from a different ticket.

As we customized our own noodles, each noodles taste different (including soup, some are spicier and thicker and saltier while some just taste super diluted) but my mum and I enjoyed our noodles and we are satisfied with it.

More info on ichiran here

Map of Dotonbori branch here

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Japan travel guide: Patisserie Hidemi Sugino

Hidemi Sugino is probably one of the famous patisseries in Tokyo. Located in Kyobashi (Walkable distance from Ginza station), it opens at 11 and is said to sell out its first round of cakes by 1pm.

More info here : イデミ・スギノ

So we actually went out really early to queue, we reached about 10:30 or early? It’s at Kyobashi and so we alighted at Ginza/ Kyobashi (I can’t rmb the station we alighted at, but it is near Ginza, which is near Tsukiji, so you can probably go Tsukiji for breakfast and come here for dessert or something)

Due to popular demand, each person can only order up to 6 cakes if I am not wrong and there is like 20 over varieties to choose from. YUMS.

menu, and cameras are not allowed I think and so are phones with flash. You are not allowed to take photos of anything except yourself + your cakes. which means you can’t take photos of the display etc.

We ordered 5 cakes to share, which we regretted cos we should have ordered 6 cakes each instead ugh but we were full :’(

We chose not to order drinks and we were actually shocked to see Japanese women eating like 6 cakes each and stuffs (well their appetites are normally vvv small, guess no one can resist cakes huh)

One cake cost about 700yen which is considered pricey? But it is good and ice water is free btw.

My fav cake ^

While it does look chocolatey from the outside, rest assured that you will not get sick of it.

What we ordered (pay after you eat system) and you can choose to eat-in or take out, but some cakes are not available for take-out to preserve its quality.

Go check it out if you are in the Ginza area!

About me

Hi, I started this blog to document Japan travel tips (both found online and my personal experience). I am living in Singapore and working to pay off my school fees to my parents and of course, couldn't travel much (long holidays) but I make it a point to travel at least once a year.I love Japan and am trying as much as possible to visit Japan once a year.

I don't really travel much now, so this blog will mostly be about past experience and new information that I think is useful for people going to Japan now/ in future. I am still lazy and trying to get used to blogging and so, I might blog about food/ deals in Singapore in the future as well or any other places that I travel to (hopefully there's some short trips as well).