Shinsaibashi-suji is Osaka's best known shopping street.
This covered shopping arcade spans about 600 metres in length and features about 180 stores of all kinds.
There is a mix of boutiques featuring the latest fashions, major department stores, top designer labels, restaurants and eateries.
Shinsaibashi-suji turns into Ebisubashi-suji after the Ebisubashi bridge.
This is another 300metres of covered shopping arcade offering much the same shopping experience.
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| This was the only view of Osaka Castle today ^_- |
The guys were eager to get shopping at places like Uni-Qlo and Big Step etc.
I had my own agenda.
A Lacoste kiosk is located within the Daimaru department store ^__^
The Shinsaibashi Daimaru department store has three buildings, North, South & the main building.
Naturally in my quest to find my kiosk i ended up in the wrong buildings, but that wasn't such a bad thing.
I've been to Daimaru's in other countries but wow this takes the cake.
It felt upscale.
There were elegant women behind the counters and operating the lifts dressed in their citrus lemon uniforms with perfect skin.
There was also a difference on the trading floors with staff that greet you as you walk past.
Unlike what i remember of Thailand, where the bitches would continue to check themselves out in the mirror or pluck their mo-shadows.
I finally found the Lacoste kiosk on the 6th floor of the main building.
I rubbed my hands together in anticipation during my approach to the beloved green crocodile.
Hopefully there was going to be my size unlike my recent Singaporean experience (collared shirt 44, polo size 6 for those who want to buy for me ^_^)
Hmmm ... it didnt look good.
42 and size 5 maximum.
Motherf*cker ... !
I looked around ... I wanted to buy something ! anything !
I had the shopping sweats (Cat you know what I'm talking about).
I left with my tail in between my legs and a major itch to handover some Yen !
I went downstairs to level 1 cosmetics to buy some stuff for Cat.
Much the same if not a more pleasant experience as staff from all the usual brands greeted me as i walked past searching for two specific counters.
Over at Shu Uemura I bought some eyelash curlers.
What an polite experience.
I establishing what i was after, she ever so preciously carried out the transaction.
Making sure to explain the price with her calculator, counting my change and that kinda thing followed by a bow and words of appreciation.
Next stop was SKII, same thing except this one called me a Gentleman during our conversation, HAHA ~!
I had nowhere to go from here but back to join the boys.
Reluctantly, my feet and heartbeats led me elsewhere ... back up the escalator to 6F !
The Lacoste guy greeted me again.
In broken English conversation I asked him what the biggest sizes were, explaining to him that the JP website has XL clothing.
Me: "SHOW ME YOUR BIGGEST !!!!!!!!!!"
Him: "HAI !!"
I raided the entire kiosk again checking everything, sure enough my persistence paid off and I had success !
I managed to fit into size 5 large fit, and slim fit.
Wooo ~
Happy happy winner !!
After half an hour of presidential treatment and some apologies for lack of stock, I paid and left a happy man.
Then i caught up with the boys and headed over towards Mido-Suji with the intention of heading over to Amemura.
Mido-suji street is the main street of Osaka that connects the Kita-ku (northern ward) to Minami-ku (southern ward). I.e Umeda to Dotonburi.
It has the designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada & Gucci.
To the west of Shinsaibashi-suji shopping street, across Mido-suji street is America-mura.
America-Mura (America Village aka Amemura) got its name from import shops selling American goods in this area back in the 70's.
America-Mura is full of small alley ways which lead at Sankaku Koen (Triangle Park) built around a small-scale Statue of Liberty located high on top of a building.
The first thing we did in Amemera was eat... at MOS Burger ! because we were hungry ~.
Verdict ? ... meh.
After lunch, we had to find the Cat cafe in this area.
Check the next post for details.
After the Cat cafe, we did the exploring.
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| "Peace on Earth" |
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| click brick ! not dick brick ! |
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| I was admiring this lovely Ferrari 458 |
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| I followed it around the corner to see it try to squeeze around that Toyota wagon but failed, hitting the sign that fell to the floor |
It has a lively hip atmosphere that is populated with cafes, clothing stores, and thrift shops.
It is a good place to see the cutting edge of unique teenage "fashion" and culture in Japan.
Think of somewhere along the lines of a Surry Hills, Paddington & Newtown lovechild.
Hipsters ... -_-
Not really our cup of tea, Trevor and I got the f*ck outta there !
Another shopping area filled with hipsters and fashionistas was Kita-Horie and Minami Horie.
The Horie neighborhood is popular for its fashionability, boutiques and trendy cafes.
These hipster areas were great for people watching, unfortunately it was drizzling at the time we were there which may have explained why there weren't too many people around ?
After this area we headed back to hotel to rest for a bit and drop off the shopping.
Here's what i bought earlier.
