Japan 2018: Let's go to Osaka & Kyoto (Pt. 4 - Arashiyama Monkey Park & Back to Dotonbouri Osaka!)
DAY 6
Welcome back to the second part of day 5 being in the Osaka/Kyoto region. I last ended off hiking up Fushimi Inari. Now, I’m heading back to Arashiyama to the Monkey Park. It’s about a 15 minute hike up a mountain to reach the monkeys. You’re probably thinking (or maybe not, but now recalling my trip, I definitely did) wow Thomas, you hiked up two mountains? Yes, yes I did and my ankles were DYING. My legs were so tired but I think I was powered by the excitement. I easily walked more than 35,000 steps this day!
ARASHIYAMA MONKEY PARK
There is an entrance fee for Monkey Park - I want to say 500 YEN for adults. They are able to hold onto a few of your belongings if a small cubby if you wish. I would recommend not bringing any sort of food up to the monkeys because they might attack you… there are a few rules for this park (which is printed on a pamphlet they give you. Don’t approach the monkeys too close and don’t stare directly at them if they are looking at you. These are wild monkey and no, they are not in a cage. If you don’t want to get attacked, follow the rules.
There are no nice steps and paths up this mountain so make sure you are wearing comfortable shoes. There are a few rest stops on the way if you require them. You might see a few monkeys near the top of the mountain before you reach the main area where there are staff members. Yeah, I highly suggest you don’t disturb them, there is no one to help you here if they attack…
Once you get to the top area of the mountain, you' will see tons on monkeys! You also get a great view of the city.
If you’re lucky (or if you stay long enough) you’ll get a chance to see the staff feeding the monkeys. Really cute because they all gather around but also scary because if you make one wrong move, they’ll probably mob you (I want to say joking but I mean… it’s possible right? HAHA).
Arashiyama Monkey Park was one of my favourite experiences because you were able to feed the monkeys! You have to walk into this small hut/cage structure in order to feed them. The monkeys live in the wild, so in order to feed them, you’ll be the one in the cage (: For 100 YEN, you had an option of a small bag of peanuts, bananas or apples. I kept buying more and more bags because feeding the monkeys was so addicting… I have no idea why. Plus, it was really cute!
I highly recommend this place and please try feeding the monkeys and tell me your experience! I want to know if anyone else finds it strangely addicting or not.
DOTONBOURI
I don’t think I noticed that I was able to take the bullet train from Kyoto back to Tokyo, so I went back to Osaka - Dotonbouri, more specifically. I wanted to explore, more like try even more foods, before I left for Tokyo. I will preface this by saying these aren’t exclusive to Osaka, you can probably find them in Tokyo as well.
Up until this point, I haven’t tried conveyor belt sushi before. So, when I passed one, I thought - why not? Now, are do you have to experience this and will you be getting the most delicious sushi ever? Probably not, but I enjoyed the experience and I was stuffed by the end of it and for a great price.
Oh and I had a small snack of dango just before. It’s a pounded rice flour mixture that’s grilled and slathered with a sweet and salty soy sauce glaze. Might sound a little strange but it was actually really delicious!
If you’re trying to eat on a budget, conveyor belt sushi is a great option. Depending on what you want to eat, you can feed yourself for under $15. The price will depend on what it is.. just match the plate design/colour with the price guide, which is usually in front of you or on a wall somewhere. For example, you can see the salmon nigiri is going for 250 YEN a plate and each plate comes with 2 pieces.
Overall, it was an interesting and fun experience. The sushi was still fresh and pretty tasty. Again, you aren’t going here to eat Michelin star sushi.
I headed for the train station to wait for my train back to Tokyo because I definitely didn’t want to miss it. I stopped by this donut shop because I’ve seen these Japanese style mochi donuts before but I haven’t had the chance to try them yet and I am SO glad I bought two to try. I bought the simple sugar covered and the strawberry flavoured ones.
They have this amazing chewy texture to them. If you’ve ever eaten mochi, you can probably imagine what it would be like but they were amazing - so delicious. I always crave them from time to time, there is no where in Canada (that I know of at least) that sells this type of donut and I tried to recreate it once and all I can say is that… they were nothing alike.
I also stopped by a really popular steamed bun shop because I wanted something to eat on the ride back to Tokyo. So, i bought these two pork filled steamed buns. They have many different ones but this was the most popular and it was relatively cheap too - about $5 for two.
Honestly, when I got on the train, I was so tired I knocked out and didn’t have the chance to eat my buns. By the time I got back to my hotel, they were cold so I can’t give you my opinion on them. Though they did smell REALLY good.
I loved visiting Osaka/Kyoto because of the mix of busy/bustling/nightlife vibes of Osaka, specifically Dotonbouri, and then the beautiful/serene areas of Kyoto. Best of both worlds really, in my opinion. If you are visiting Japan for the first time and don’t know when or if you’ll ever be back, I highly, highly suggest you visit, you won’t regret it.
Let me know what you are looking forward to the most if you’re going to Osaka/Kyoto - whether it is food or an experience - and if you’ve already been there, let me know what was your favourite experience, I would love to know!
Thanks,
-Thomas