Japan Day 2 - Oasis 21 and Dinner at Ichiran

After leaving Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, we went back to the railway station and rode the train to Sakae, where Oasis 21 and Nagoya TV Tower is located.

View of Nagoya TV Tower right outside Sakae Station

Sakae is Nagoya's largest shopping area, with lots of shops both above-ground and underground. Since we were not very interested in shopping during this time, we headed to Oasis 21, a multilevel park/mall that has a theme called "Space Ship Aqua." It features an interesting, circular glass roof that has a pond in the middle. People can walk in the glass roof around the pond, and we enjoyed our time there taking pictures and enjoying the cool afternoon weather.

Ground floor of Oasis 21

At the glass roof top

Beautiful view

Big pool of water in the middle of the glass roof

Wacky group pic

Oasis 21 also lights up during the night, making it resemble a space ship even more. But we didn't stay until evening since we decided to eat at Ichiran - yum!

The Ichiran Experience 

Ichiran is about a 10-minute walk from Oasis 21. Good thing the weather was fine, and it was also nice seeing the city of Nagoya as we walked. I actually read about Ichiran before we left for Japan - it had great reviews, which is why my husband and I recommended eating there. It is a well-known ramen place that offers a unique experience in eating ramen. They have branches all over Japan, including Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. 

When we arrived, there was already a line - thankfully it wasn't that long yet. 

Lining up outside Ichiran

Basically, Ichiran only features one type of ramen - Classic Tonkotsu Ramen. There is no other kind of ramen available. They have concentrated on one type of ramen to make it as delicious as possible. You have the option of getting additional ingredients, and you also get to customize how you want your ramen to be - more about this later!

Ichiran Ticket Machine

Once you are inside the place, the first thing you need to do is buy your food ticket. Here's where you buy your ramen and additional items you want to add. The basic Ichiran ramen consists of - homemade fresh noodles, classic tonkotsu soup, green onion, sliced pork and Ichiran's original red sauce (but this can still be modified a bit before you give the ticket to the servers inside). For the additional ingredients, you have the option of adding egg, mushroom, extra noodles, etc.

The one with the lighted characters show which seats are available

In this Ichiran branch, there are only 20 seats available. You see which seats are vacant by looking at this information panel. The restaurant features a single booth style place for each person, which lets you concentrate on eating your ramen, and not get distracted by other people. You do have the option of opening the panels in between the booths so you can see your companions.

Most Ichiran branches offer only this style of seating, but there are some which have private booths for small groups, like this one in Nagoya. My parents and one of my sisters with her family were able to occupy the private booth. The rest of us sat on the single booths.

Inside the place, single booth style

My booth - number 6!

Each single booth has a water dispenser, a button for calling the staff, and a window in front that can be opened and closed so they can serve you. You are also given this piece of paper to customize your ramen based on your preferences - make sure to ask for an English one, since they automatically give it in Japanese. 

Customize your ramen

Here, you get to choose your flavor strength, richness of the oil, garlic, green onions, sliced pork (you can choose to remove this), Ichiran's special red sauce, and the noodle texture. You can see which ones I encircled in the above picture. There's also a recommendation for first timers, and make sure not to include the spicy red sauce for kids (or those who don't like spicy food). I only got 1/2 of the Ichiran's special red sauce, but it was already pretty spicy (my husband chose double the red sauce since he loves spicy food).

Finally! Ready to eat!

Finally, our ramen was served! It was really delicious, and there were a lot of noodles! I was pretty full after I finished mine - I decided not to add additional ingredients to my ramen, so I can just enjoy the Ichiran tonkotsu ramen by itself. In addition to the spice, the red sauce definitely adds another depth of flavor to the broth. 

Enjoying our ramen

Busy eating! No red sauce for the kids

At the private booth for small groups (this can fit a maximum of 6 people)

Finally, we all finished our dinner, full and happy. When we left the place, there was a longer line in front.

Longer line when we left!

We headed home afterwards by walking to the train and going back to Nagoya Station. The temperature was pretty cold and we all wore our jackets and hoodies. Watch out for my next post on our next day in Japan - Osaka Castle, Toyota Museum and going to Kyoto. :)

Japan Day 2 - Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

Since we arrived rather late in our hotel the night before, we also started out a bit late the next day (October 14), around 10am. Our first destination was the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.

At Nagoya Station - a lot of people waiting for the train

That's one of my brothers standing on the left. Some people say he looks like me, but I'm prettier, hehe. :-P

Transferring to another train line for Nagoya Port

You need to ride two train lines to arrive at Nagoya Port, where the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is. In the train stations, you often have to use the stairs when going to another train line, although there is usually an elevator somewhere (it may not be as easy to see as the stairs). Both of my sisters brought umbrella strollers so they were easy to fold when we needed to use the stairs (my husband and I didn't bring any stroller). There are also some escalators available, usually for going up.

The 2nd train we rode on didn't have too many people in it, so we were all able to sit. Typically, during rush hour and in busy stations, you won't be able to take a seat on the train.

The girls - with my nephew at the rightmost 

Finally, we arrived!

Port of Nagoya Aquarium sign

Still a bit of walk to the aquarium

At the ticket booth - I'm not on the picture since I'm the one who lined up to buy our tickets

Tickets to the aquarium cost 2,000 yen per adult and 500 yen for children 4 and up. Kids below 4 are free of charge. The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is pretty big, with 2 buildings that have 3 floors each. We had a great time in the aquarium, walking around, seeing all the sea creatures and watching the dolphin show. They have movie shows too, but we skipped those since they were all in Japanese.

These orcas sure know how to pose! 

It's like they know when someone's taking a picture of them.

Lots of students having their field trip

Beautiful day at the aquarium

You can see that there's an amusement part near the aquarium (with a Ferris Wheel), but we didn't go there anymore.

With my sweet daughter

Dolphins getting ready for the show

The highlight of our visit here was definitely the dolphin show. The kids really enjoyed, especially my 6-year old son, who couldn't stop talking and cheering the whole time.

We're on TV!

Even if you're seated at the back, you won't miss anything with their large screen TV

Wonderful dolphin show!

For lunch, the aquarium had a few restaurants, but we opted to eat at the Food Court Tortoise in the 3rd floor south building because it was more affordable. It had a lot of choices, including curry rice meals, yum! You purchase your food ticket at the vending machine in front, then hand it over to the staff at the counter to get your food. The food was pretty good. :)

The food choices here have English translations :)

Tip: If you go to a restaurant and they give you a Japanese menu, do request for an English menu. Most restaurants have them. If they cannot understand when you say "english menu," use this phrase in Japanese: "eigo no menyu ga arimasu ka?" (which translates to "Do you have an English menu?") 

Buying our food tickets

Yum! Ready to eat!

We occupied a long table

The food court had a nice view of Nagoya port

 After lunch, we continued walking around the place.

Even the turtles know how to pose! 

Beluga whale!

Tornado of sardines

Penguins! 

 And before we left the place, my mom had to get a souvenir from the aquarium.

One for my mom's coin collection

Breezy afternoon outside the aquarium

And finally, we finished our trip to Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. We headed back to the train station to go to our next stop - Oasis 21, which will be featured in my next Japan post, along with our dinner at Ichiran, which is famous for its yummy ramen! Ichiran is definitely a must try for both the ramen and the experience, and it has branches all over Japan. :) 

Japan: Day 1 - Chubu Centrair Airport and Nagoya Ekimae Montblanc Hotel

I admit - I love planning trips. I get a little obsessed doing research about what places to visit, which hotels to stay in, and what things to do to ensure that we get the most value for our money. So I became the unofficial planner of my family's Japan trip. 

The whole family in Japan

We decided to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday in Japan. It's a late celebration, since his birthday is in July, but we didn't want to go to Japan during the hot and humid summer. We all agreed that October would be a good time to go on our trip. Since some of my siblings were based abroad, we all decided it would be nice to tour a new place all together. 

Since we were able to book our flights arriving in Chubu Centrair Airport (Nagoya) on October 13 and departing from Kansai International Airport (Osaka) on October 21, I planned that we would be touring three cities in Japan - Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. Kyoto was in the middle of the other two cities, so it was the best additional city to add to our trip. 

From Naia Terminal 3, we flew via Cebu Pacific to arrive at our destination:

Chubu Centrair International Airport, Nagoya

The airport has signs to show you where you need to go

We arrived at around 9pm in Centrair Airport, Nagoya. The temperature is colder during the night which is why we all wore our hoodies (we had matching hoodies made). 

After going through customs, we went straight for the train station and bought our prepaid IC cards there - see my travel tip post here: Japan Travel Tips.

Trying to analyze the Japanese train lines

Manaca Ticket Machine

Figuring out how to operate the machine (make sure to press the English button first)

After buying our IC cards and figuring out what train to ride, we were finally on our way to Nagoya Station, which is a short walk to our hotel.

Nagoya Ekimae Montblanc Hotel

At the entrance of our hotel

After doing a lot of research and reading endless reviews online, I decided that this hotel suited us best. When my family agreed, I booked immediately - nice to know that Agoda.com offers a book now pay later option, so we were charged for the booking in late September. This hotel is a few minutes walk from Nagoya Station (the city's central station).


Each twin room cost Php 3,800 per night (including tax), which was pretty affordable. We really didn't want to spend more than Php 5,000/night since we wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the hotel rooms. The twin room fits 2 adults and 2 small kids comfortably. The rooms were on the small side, but many say this is typical of Japan hotel rooms. No meals included, but there are nearby convenience stores and restaurants that offer a variety of food choices. We usually bought our breakfast from the Circle K Convenience Store just a few meters away from the hotel.

Our room in the hotel on the 6th floor, with my sister dropping by

The bathroom in our room

3rd floor room of my parents

Affordable but still yummy food from the nearby convenience store

The room has complete amenities - A/C, TV, refrigerator, toiletries in the bathroom, etc. There are two chairs and a table. I love how most of the bathrooms in Japan come with heated seats and complete bidet controls. Oh, and the room comes with two sleeping robes, too.

It was late when we arrived at the hotel, and the next day, we started our tour in Nagoya, Japan. My next blog post will be Day 2.