Project YummyTe | The Shinkansen Experience

Shinkansent! HAHA. Shin-Osaka to Tokyo in ~3 hours time. :)

Trains are the most convenient way of travelling in Japan. For foreigners with the JR Pass, it is very easy to reserve seats for the Shinkansen train, just go to the JR Office inside the train station, and the Japanese staffs will be happy to reserve seats for you. JR Pass covers only JR Trains, including Local Trains and Shinkansen. However, if you plan to ride the Mizuho and Nozomi Shinkansen trains, you need to pay a fee on top of your JR Pass.

For more information on JR Pass, visit: Japan Guide on JR Pass

Shin-Osaka Train Station, 6:00AM GMT +9

Nice idea of putting information in the service desk. :)

Reserve seatings, too early in the morning to be filled up. :)

We encountered heavy snow on the way to Tokyo. I think this was Nagoya. :)

Heavy snow covering the tracks

White tracks. :)

Roads covered with snow in Nagoya

Snow stopped! Clear tracks. :)

Fuji-san! Too bad the cloud is on the way. :)

Videographer filming the "Hayai" Shinkansen. :)

Project YummyTe | Day 1

Philippine Airport, particularly NAIA 3, is starting to look like an international airport.

Waiting area filled with restaurants and people

International bound check-in counters.

Aisle of Cebu Pacific flight bound for Osaka

Took us ~4 hours flight from Manila to Osaka (KIX, Kansai International Airport)

Whohoo! At last, land of the rising sun, though, it is already late at night. :P

Exchanged our coupon first for an actual JR Pass. :)

Then, another ~70 min train ride to Osaka. :|

Arrived Osaka Station around midnight,
the only food service that is open, Fastfood. :|

Originally, we were to ride a night train (Sunrise Seto) going to Tokyo, but because foreigners can't book a train ride outside of Japan, we need a place to stay for just a few hours. Our Shinkansen ride bound for Tokyo is 6:30AM, and since hotels are fully booked that night, we just stayed inside a Media Cafe. 

The name of the shop is Popeye Media Cafe.

Popeye Media Cafe Entrance

Media Cafe in Japan are simply computer shops, but way better than of the computer shops we have in Philippines. They have a group area where you could stay. In addition, they have a neat comfort room, a shower area, cosmetic area, and other amenities just like a hotel. 

We rented the space for 5 hours, costing us JPY 1,800, around PHP 900.

Couple computer rental

PHP 900 each is a good money to spend the 5 hours,
unless we wanted to chill in the freezing winter weather. :))

They even have this so called "Cosmetic Area."

Manga galore! If only these are in English @@

Normal Computer Rentals

Magazines, anyone?

They even have Anime DVDs, free to watch.
*Sigh* but Anime is in pure Japanese, no English subs. :(

Slam Dunk Magazine, is this an autographed version?

Went outside the shop, streets are clean, probably it's midnight. :))

Even our gadget ran out of juice, luckily, I brought my extension.

Getting some sleep for our Shinkansen Ride later in the morning.

NEXT: Tokyo! ^_^

If you're interested in the place, here are some reference "print-screened" from Google Maps & Google Street View. 

Popeye Media Cafe is  a 4~5 min walk, right across Shin-Osaka Station.