When I reached the Kansai Airport, I put my hand carry at a storage rental, it was priced 700 yen per day for 2 small luggages.
After that,I went to the Tourist Information center to sign up for a short trip in Sakai,Osaka before I'm off to the next flight. I bought package A,which was a map-based walking tour at the price of 1600 yen ( about RM 50+). It's altogether 9 destinations on the map, and there are all within walking distance and not too far from each other, finish visiting the 9 points will lead me the way back to the Sakai station, in which I'll take a 37 minutes train ride back to the airport.
The receptionist briefed me on the walking tour before I proceeded to the ticket collection.
There I started my incredible cultural tour on foot, without knowing the way and using my limited Japanese proficiency to ask about it.Just with a map and train timetables.
Map of the day.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKuML0dJHf31C_EsBUS4CRDcqMbzO6hteD6ZP_OfScLglKvnDLkReRvrIr_aPwKE0A-5nKmkhnqpojjoYuNL4o2Mn7CKAeEo3PqIkhZ9bvCu48wq24B-D5aFeP9Nvm8hdbV3c/s320/Picture+068.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWkparpXOsun82I9M-TmcC6c09BA5c7VXmCM0vMODOLLncnfLOveLdG3PLDM9Fbflm9MkcEk1yX33TYQqGJAz6KyvzqWxpOWTcAt1owHqp1OoxkACiNCUYBhoi0Ro9P_UjzKr/s320/Picture+070.jpg)
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It was my first time having this kind of experience, to have no one to guide me throughout the trip, and my schedule was very flexible and manipulative.
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It was a Friday morning, and the street seemed to be rather quiet, a huge contrast to the lifestyle in Tokyo. Everyone was walking so fast in Tokyo that I never walked slow when I was in Tokyo, I know this was the speed I had to follow.
Sugawara Shrine,菅原神社
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Japanese have a habit of writing down their wish or prayer on a wooden tablet (Ema,絵馬 in Japanese), and hang it at the shrine.
Just like the Chinese, they have Omikuji where some random fortunes are written on the paper. The Omikuji predicts a person's future and whether his hope will come true in any matter. The bearer keeps the Omikuji if it turns out to be a good fortune, or else he/she will tie it onto a string ( or a pine tree) in the temple ground when the prediction is bad.
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I left the Shrine after 15 minutes and headed to another temple, the Honganji temple.
Honganji temple,本願寺堺别院
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Continue walking for about 10 minutes, I reached another temple, Myokokuji temple.
Myokokuji Temple,妙国寺
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZR0u-PDU9Oi6aNPNuypd3lMPaCvVWDGPdc_kj1xVLSpevIgBNeVi2V8nl_hPVC8GqN3LzqAE-HZIgG2_S5PJAdOjmt46RDoWKVtLHWENX2Pw_2vJZJnvgPEiWBriXL0nnvOF/s320/Picture+051.jpg)
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There was no one collecting the entrance ticket. I just went in and had a brief look at it, I felt awkward, as though I was an intruder, but with an entrance ticket.
Walk, walk, walk and walk, and I found the Sakai Knife Museum.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7T9jZSAsTsZUUs900nxY76xuHSzIOv7nEtVvX6roodAN_I-OFJNzAYMu0eTGHgNm4C1lidZZv1YBiGj0ytz_2uhdtFM_ANgIme1q9AEfQpEUh9WlX2-40vnQ_hBya6TrQhGfW/s320/Picture+056.jpg)
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I'm quite attracted to the wide variety of knives showed in the Museum, those that I barely see in life- Those knives used for cutting Japanese food like,sushi,soba,kashi,beef and even whale.=O
(The knife used to fillet the whale is the longest and biggest one in the first picture.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibo2FUc7q6XXh6HvvRx1OM-Ek5Xa9QiQtRrQCC2_TcW_4Ay0ZqTRltbCdxsgOrF1V3mXR_V2Ny9yYIzp1LEVKI11Wvd1VgyikDXsC6s08XVGzJuZRPaK7VS1N32UyXWTMcguhM/s320/Picture+064.jpg)
Yaki Soba Teshoku
On my way to these tourist spots, I did some shopping whenever I see a supermarket ,pharmacy (the Kusuri store), or shopping malls as I did not have adequate time to do them separately on a shopping tour. This was why my walking tour was dragged to 7 hours instead of the required time of 4 hours for the trip alone.
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Besides that, I had some hard time finding the way to some of the hot spots and it took me round and round before I could reach. To worsen the problem, I lost my way back to the Sakai station that it procrastinated my train time, it took me 90 minutes to go back ,far more than the estimated time. By time I reached the airport, checked in and picked up my hand luggages, it was already 5p.m( My flight was at 5.25p.m).
So...so.... I ran all the way madly for a few hours.
This was why I called it an incredible and shocking journey, also my first time traveling alone, really alone.
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