We attempt one more day of school work, and aim to get some math done. If Maylin gets through today and tomorrow for math, then she’ll have completed the entire section in her Grade 1 curriculum book! The girls work hard, and we finish off the leftovers in the fridge. Not much left for food in the AirBnb, so we plan dinners out, and only restock breakfast items. After lunch, we head back to Umeda.
Joe is on the lookout for something in particular, so he heads in one direction, while I take the kids to the toy floor. We only make it as far as top of the elevators, as this is where the claw machine and gacha heaven begins. We have some cash left over, so we indulge in some claw machine fun, before heading to the gachas with only a few coins to spare.
At this point, we’re maybe thinking a snack, but it’s almost 4pm, so we head straight for dinner instead. Thanks to yesterday’s hunt for the curry restaurant, navigating the “backside” of Umeda is a little bit easier today. We are hunting for MOS burger, another Japanese burger chain that we have promised the girls we’ll try before leaving Japan. I look the closest one up on Google Maps, and we head straight there.
As luck would have it, it’s not a standalone MOS burger, but part of a food court! Do you understand how glorious this is? It means I can kan keep my promise to the girls, they get to try the burgers they’ve been seeing on the posters, and even get Hello Kitty toys to go with their meal! Meanwhile, Joe and I go two vendors over to Yoshinoya, a fast but traditional Japanese chain restaurant that I’ve been meaning to try. They serve Sukiyaki, so of course I have to have that, and Joe chooses a beef on rice bowl. His comes with an egg yolk topping, and mine comes with a raw egg dip. I’ll miss these raw eggs once we leave here!
Joe didn’t find what he was looking for at the store at Umeda, so we stop by Bic Camera at Namba on our way home. Again, we leave Joe on one floor, and head for the toy section. What do you know, they have a Nintendo Switch 2 demo station set up! The girls run straight for it, and could have happily stayed there playing until they get kicked out of the store.
We eventually wrench the girls away from their game, and head down through the floors towards the subway and home. Today’s fun beverage selection is NOT a vending machine, but BuzzBallz have names very worthy of a mention anyways:
On our way out of Bic Camera, it’s raining. Not just a drizzle, more like cats but without the dogs. Luckily, we have about 8 steps from the store door to the Namba Walk entrance, which is a covered escalator into the underground shopping, dining and transportation network. We make it, more dry than not. What we also find, is a Beard Papa with NO lineup! It was simply meant to be! There’s a Beard Papa at Abeno Q, but the lines are always extreme, and we never bother trying it, but the smells are just amazing… So today, we line up, order, pay and head for the subway.
After we get back to our “home” station Imazato, Maylin’s almost out of money on her transportation card, and gets to top her card up all by herself. Pretty cool how she can operate Japanese transportation terminals by now, I should rent her skills out to newcomers!
Finally home and we can have our desserts! Clockwise from top left: Joe’s Coconut Sable Custard Cream Puff, my Sweet Potato Custard Cruller, Téa’s Custard Chocolate Eclaire, and Maylin’s Original Custard Cream Puff.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Osaka, packing has begun, and we are running out of time. Heeeeeelp!!!