“World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan”
My #1 objective with travel.
In retirement, I have one simple objective when it comes to my number one hobby: travel. I want to take the absolute trip of a lifetime… every month. That’s it. It don’t get much simpler than that.
Japan, here we come… again.
Today we visit Japan. We’ve been visiting Japan quite frequently over the past few years, especially me. Right now, Japan is one of the most popular countries to visit in the world.
World Expo!
I was trackchasing in Japan six weeks ago. On this trip, Carol joins me for a week in Osaka. In Osaka, we will visit the “World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan” among other things. We will then finish off with a week in Tokyo (Part 2) by seeing a Formula E electric car race with our Japanese “children”, Gakuto and Megumi.
Logistics and value to maximize fun.
As we proceed, I will share some tips that may be helpful if you decide to take a trip like this. I’ll be telling you about the logistics and the “value” of the trip. I suspect that we will approach our vacation in a different way than many people think about their vacations. I hope this allows you to “peek in the window” to see how other people do this kind of thing.
Some people might think that Japan is a long way from where they live. Culturally, it is. The Japanese culture is on a different planet compared to the United States. Geographically, I don’t think it’s that far away at all.
Who not to hire.
We left on the same day that the “Real ID” program began in the U.S. What’s that? The Real ID program sets minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.
Did the government spring this idea on the American public over the weekend? They did not. Some 17 years ago, on May 7, 2008, the government informed the public that they would need a real ID to travel through airports. Today, when we arrived at LAX, multiple TV crews were waiting to interview passengers who had forgotten to obtain their Real ID.
Companies are always looking for good employees, right? If I were the head of “HR” for a major company, I would come to LAX airport this morning to try to identify the people who should not be hired. If someone gives you 17 years of lead time to come up with the proper ID and you can’t do it, that’s a bad sign!
I make lots of mistakes.
I originally used my Alaska Airlines frequent flyer miles to book our journey from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Japan. The World Expo was being held in Osaka, Japan. For some reason, I had thought that Osaka was a distant suburb of Tokyo and easily accessible from the world’s largest city, Tokyo. That would be my first mistake of several.
I don’t worry about mistakes. If I were worried about mistakes, I would have to think about these trips much more seriously than I do. I’m a pretty laid-back guy, so I am comfortable with mistakes. Some people are not.
Where WAS Osaka, really?
I learned that Osaka was a six-hour drive and an hour-and-a-half flight from Tokyo at the last minute. Change of plans. I had to book a flight from Tokyo to Osaka. Fortunately, flights within Japan are incredibly cheap. Flying is less expensive than riding the bullet trains. For about 100 bucks each way, Carol and I could make that short flight.
Pay or use miles?
Then I started thinking that I could pay for the flights rather than use frequent flyer miles from Los Angeles to Japan to create a better value. That would save 75,000 frequent-flyer miles. Those miles were fully refundable up until the flight departed.
I have a side hustle.
As you are aware, I actively engage in credit card arbitrage. Last year, I earned $92,000 pretax dollars practicing this lucrative hobby.
A frequent flyer airline mile is worth roughly two cents. This meant those 75,000 frequent-flyer miles were worth about $1,500. If I could find a one-way flight for Carol and me to Japan that costs less than $1,500, I would come out ahead.
I’m not going to tell you exactly how or exactly how much I paid for a flight from Los Angeles to Osaka, Japan, that would save those 75,000 frequent flyer miles. I need to keep some secrets, right?
I will tell you this. I paid substantially less than $1,500. No matter what number you have in your mind as being “substantially less,” I would suggest that you divide that number by two or three to come closer to what we actually spent. As I mentioned, I’m unable to provide the exact number.
LAX-SFO-KIX.
We would fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Osaka. The first flight left at 6 a.m. Typically, we leave for a domestic flight about three hours prior to its departure. LAX is a 60-90 minute drive from our house. It takes me the better part of 30 minutes to walk from our parking garage to the terminal. I always drop Carol at the terminal with whatever checked bags we might have. We rarely have a checked bag. While she waits comfortably, I make the walk from the parking garage. Then we start the trip.
Say what?
For international trips, we leave more than three hours in advance. Remember, I go on my a trip of some sort almost every week.
The night before our trip, I told Carol that we would be leaving at 2:30 a.m. for our 6:00 a.m. flight. I set my wake-up alarm for 2 a.m. I don’t need much time. I was more than surprised when Carol tapped me on the shoulder and said, “ Randy, it’s 1:30 a.m.” She thought we were leaving at 1:30 a.m. rather than 2:30 a.m. What was I going to do with this information? One of my favorite sayings is that “everyone gets to react in whatever way they choose to the circumstances they encounter.”
I calmly explained (my words) that we were leaving at 2:30 a.m. and not 1:30 a.m. When I explained the “variance”, she agreed that somehow things had gotten mixed up in communication. If you are married or have a significant other, you’re going to experience circumstances like this. We moved on.
Free is always good.
We arrived in San Francisco with a three-hour layover. This allowed us to use one of our Priority Pass restaurants at SFO. We ate at a place called the “San Francisco Giants Clubhouse”. Our bill was $64.
Priority Pass wiped the entire amount out. All I was responsible for was the tip. If you have a Priority Pass, you may be aware that several credit cards have discontinued the restaurant option. I might have the only credit card in the universe, or at least one of the very few that still offers Priority Pass restaurant benefits. It’s called MasterCard Black. Barclays Bank issues this card. Remember, I promised to share several tips with you on how we can create value so we can afford these trips. How am I doing so far?
You gotta spend money to make money.
The Mastercard Black card comes with a $495 annual fee. Some people think that an annual credit card fee of that amount or any amount is outrageous. Me? I couldn’t care less.
If you gave me $495 in cash, but I gave you $1,000 in cash equivalents that were of value to you, would you be okay with that? I would and I am. Yes, I pay a $495 annual credit card fee. However, I receive payment well over twice that amount in goods and services. If that equation ever changes, I will discontinue the credit card. Please don’t be concerned about how much a credit card charges you with an annual fee, IF the return is greater.
I’m a sales guy.
After speaking with the gate agent and being my own friendly self, she upgraded us from coach to economy plus. What did that give us? From what I could tell, the upgrade gave us about five more inches of legroom, and that was it. The flight was 11 hours and 20 minutes long, but scheduled for 12 hours and five minutes. Was the extra 5 inches of legroom worth it? It was nice, but I don’t think I would spend any more money on it.
You can do this.
Do I mind a 12-hour flight? No, I do not. I understand a place like Osaka, Japan, is 5,742 airline miles from Los Angeles. If I want to visit a place like Japan, I will get on the plane, stay on the plane, and get off when it lands. I’ll watch movies, snooze here and there, and when I land, I’m in Japan. I honestly couldn’t care less that it’s a 12-hour flight. I understand. Not everyone agrees with that thinking. Those people don’t get to go to Japan. I never want to be limited by my own thinking.
Not as efficient as I would have expected.
Upon landing in Osaka, clearing customs took us approximately 75 minutes. They didn’t seem to be very efficient. That surprised me, considering a country like Japan. It was what it was.
Don’t leave home without it.
I’ll be using Google Maps throughout this trip. When we landed, I had to decide which method of transportation would be the best to get us from the airport to our hotel. We could ride the train or the bus for about $10 per person. Alternatively, we could take a taxi, as Google Maps explained for $110-$140. We rode the bus. Not just any bus.
The limousine bus!
In Japan, the bus from the airport to some central location in the city is called a “limousine bus.” These are super modern buses and ultra comfortable. They are luxury buses.
Thank you for your service.
We had only checked the “big” bag, aka the “blue” bag. We’ve had this bag for more than ten years. It’s a large bag that rolls on all four wheels. I hate four-wheel rolling bags and even more so when I have to roll them on uneven surfaces. Give me a two-wheeled bag that I can pull behind me, and I’m a happy traveler.
Later in the trip, when we get to Tokyo, we will visit the famous Yodobashi Camera store. I’m hoping that we can replace the blue bag and thank it for its service. It will be staying in Japan. Yodobashi features a vast luggage section, comparable to those found in several stores throughout Japan. We’ll be getting a new “big bag.”
Hyatt, here we come.
Today, the airport bus was taking us to the Caption by Hyatt Namba Hotel Osaka. I stay almost exclusively at Hyatt hotels.
The Hyatt chain has about 30 individual brands. Every time I stay at one of their different brands, they give me a “badge”. Every time I earn five badges, I receive a complimentary hotel room at properties where the going rate can be $400 or more.
The Caption Hotel by Hyatt was my 17th badge. That means they have given me three $400 certificates for hotels in the past. When I earn 20 different badges, I’ll receive another certificate.
Talk about value!
I mentioned at the beginning that I would tell you about the “value” I found on the trip. The best rate that could be found for the Hyatt Namba Hotel Osaka was $324 per night for the six nights we would be there. That’s $1,944 for six nights.
To have nearly $2,000 in after-tax money to pay Hyatt, I would need to earn or withdraw almost $3,000 in pre-tax money from my IRA at a 30% federal and state income tax rate. I had a better choice. I would use Hyatt frequent stay points. How many points?
Three thousand dollars is still important to me.
43,000 high points! When I divide the hotel rate of $1,944 by 43,000 points, I get a redemption value of 4.5 cents per Hyatt point. That is outstanding. Hyatt points are worth more than those of any other hotel frequent stay program. For the last couple of years, I have been averaging 3.2 cents per Hyatt point in redemption value.
Don’t worry. You might not get those types of redemptions. However, if you KNOW those opportunities exist, you’ll be able to get them in your own way.
Tiny.
Japanese hotels are traditionally small. They commonly come with two twin beds. That’s what Carol and I got. Usually, Hyatt upgrades me. Not this time. Our room was small. Although it was small, it did come with the famous Japanese-style toilets. Those are nice toilets!
As a Globalist member in the Hyatt program, the highest rank, Hyatt provides me and my guests with a complimentary breakfast. That saved us $40-$50 each day on our six-night stay. They’ll also give us a 4 p.m. late checkout on our last day if we need it. No parking charges (we didn’t have a car) or resort fees either.
Travel doesn’t have to be expensive.
This is what it took us to get to Osaka. We’re looking forward to having a grand time, although many other people will be joining us at the “World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.” I think you will agree that so far we’ve gotten a really good value from the airlines, restaurants, and hotels we’ve used. Travel doesn’t have to be expensive.
My life’s motto.
To be clear, I am NOT looking to buy the cheapest product or service available. As I’ve told you before, I want to buy good things cheap, not cheap things cheap.
We flew in economy plus on a major airline. We’re staying at a Hyatt hotel. We will dine in some fine restaurants and explore every tour activity that fits into our schedule. Remember, we’re trying to create the absolute “trip of a lifetime”….every month.
Where to go on vacation?
Most people use vacation travel to visit places they have already enjoyed or places they would like to experience. That is true for us as well. Once we arrive at a new place, we are always on the lookout for things that we have never seen or had the opportunity to experience. That is the case with our visit to Osaka.
Most unusual and a little bit complicated.
Our Hyatt hotel has some of the most unusual breakfast offerings I’ve ever seen. The menu is extensive. Most of the choices are complimentary. Some come with a small upcharge. I think we’ll be trying something different every morning.
Get Your Guide is very helpful.
We had two unique touring plans for the day. I use the Get Your Guide smartphone app. GYG shows me all of the unusual and unique touring options that exist wherever we are visiting.
Get Your Guide is super easy to use. You can make all of your reservations on your phone and pay for them with Apple Pay. Easy peasy.
Do you like tea?
Our morning activity would be a one-hour Japanese tea ceremony. I strongly dislike tea. My dislike of tea borders on hatred. I think of tea as pouring warm water over the used, athletic socks of the Dallas Cowboys until the liquid trickles into my cup. Carol loves tea.
We used Google Maps to walk 10 minutes to the tea ceremony location. There were just seven of us experiencing the event. Three women were from India. A man and his wife, originally from Ireland but now living in Australia, joined us.
The ceremony was conducted by two charming, polite, and gracious Japanese ladies. They provided us with the history of the tea ceremony, which originated in Osaka in the 1600s, when men primarily used the tea ceremony to plan their strategies.
Yes, I tried to fake it.
Today, they used Matcha green tea and served Japanese sweets as well. They instructed us on how to make our own tea to each person’s liking. I took one sip and confirmed my hatred for tea. I just played along from that point. If you’ve never experienced a Japanese tea ceremony, I recommend it.
One of our better trackchasing tourist attractions.
Our late afternoon event would be interesting as well. To get there, we needed to take a one-hour train ride. I used my Suica card to pay the fare by simply tapping my phone on the turnstile. We used the Suica card to pay for almost everything during the entire trip. If you go to Japan, you will need a Suica card. If you visit Japan, you’d better get a Suica card. More on that later.
Carol doesn’t use her phone on these trips. If she did, it would cost us $12 a day for up to 10 days a month, which would be fine with me. She doesn’t like using her phone outside of the United States.
C’mon. That would have been so simple.
I thought I would be able to use my Suica card by simply tapping it twice to get both Carol and I into the train platforms. Nope. That doesn’t work. She would have to pay cash (a real hassle) or tap a credit card when that was allowed.
The problem with paying cash is that we don’t always know the cost of the train ride in advance. We would have to ask a train employee or calculate the fare from the huge signboard. Japan tip. Get the Suica card!
I didn’t come to Japan to see people who looked like us.
We were the only people who looked like us on the train during the entire ride. Almost every rider is a young Japanese person, probably no older than 40.
Carol did it…not me.
When we attempted to exit the train station, alarms went off. The alarms were for Carol. Carol’s ticket was identified as a problem. She had not paid the full price for her ticket. She had to go to the “reconsideration” area and pay the fare difference. Yes, she was mortified. As the understanding husband that I am, all I could do was observe.
Sumo.
A couple of years ago, we used Get Your Guide to help us buy tickets to a major sumo wrestling tournament in Tokyo. Sumo wrestling is a very popular event. It only happens in Tokyo three times a year. Tickets are difficult to get. Using Japanese websites is also treacherous because they are almost always only in Japanese and difficult to navigate.
Get Your Guide was a lifesaver for the sumo wrestling in Tokyo. If you ever get a chance to do that, I highly recommend it.
Sumo exhibition.
Today in Osaka, we once again used GYG for admission to an “exhibition.” If you can’t get tickets to a sumo tournament, I recommend a sumo exhibition as a fallback.
Today’s sumo exhibition was held in a restaurant-like setting. They had an official sumo ring in the center of several tables. I bought the upgrade. When we arrived, we were given seats in the front row, less than 10 feet from the sumo ring itself.
This type of sumo is pretty laid-back. They take time to explain all of the rules with two current sumo wrestlers. Then they have a two-out-of-three “match.”
Sumo rules.
Here are a few sumo match rules. Essentially, the two huge sumo wrestlers start together in the center of the ring. They try to push each other out of the ring or to the ground. Most sumo matches last only a few seconds.
This was a fun way to spend the evening. At the conclusion, all the patrons had the opportunity to take photos with the sumo wrestlers, Otani and Joe. Nice guys. Big guys. I loved my picture taken with them. It made me look like a little guy.
Constant planning ahead.
On the train ride home, I grabbed a couple of tickets to tomorrow night’s Japanese Major League baseball game featuring the Orix Buffaloes and the SoftBank Hawks. They play at the Kyocera Dome Osaka. I had already seen a baseball game at every Japanese professional baseball park (12), but Carol hadn’t been to this one. I figured we would give it a try.
We had never done this.
Today’s morning tour was an adventure and a lot of fun. We rode the train all the way out to an older Osaka suburb. The train ride was more than an hour. If you want to avoid American tourists, ride a train way out into an older Osaka suburb.
Then we walked into a Japanese home like we owned the place. This was the home of a lady who teaches people like us how to make ramen noodles. We were joined by two other women, one from Australia and the other from Indonesia, who were traveling together. Ramen noodle-making classes are a nice way to meet people from all over the world!
Ramen noodles and pot stickers.
For the next four hours, we made ramen noodles and pot stickers. I don’t cook anything at home. Carol won’t even let me grill outside. I don’t even like to see Carol cooking.
I think it’s too much work to prepare the meal, eat it, and clean up. I am not allowed to clean up after meals either, although I was a good dish dryer as a kid. I prefer to take Carol to a restaurant where we can discuss the events of the day while I save her time in the kitchen.
Today, it was fun to see what ingredients made up the food we were making. It was fun to chat with our host and the other guests about their travel experiences. Our host could not have been more gracious.
Thanks for trying.
I found the experience frustrating and tedious. I am not a perfectionist, but I don’t have any interest in doing things I can’t do well. I didn’t like the results of my work when my shapes didn’t match the others. They were kind and told me I was doing a good job, trying!
If the recipe called for ten different ingredients, I probably would have tried it with seven. I liked talking to the people. I didn’t like the actual meal prep all that much. I’m a sales guy. Nevertheless, I would try this kind of thing again just for the experience.
Switching gears.
We try to schedule both daytime and nighttime touring activities. This evening, we went to a Japanese major league baseball game. We would see the Orix Buffaloes play in their home ballpark, the Kyocera Dome Osaka, against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. I remembered several parts of my previous visit to the Dome. This was Carol’s first visit here, but her second Japanese baseball game.
Wild.
Japanese baseball fans are rabid. They cheer every pitch from the first inning on as if it were game seven of the World Series in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count on Shohei Ohtani. Rabid. If you’ve never seen a Japanese baseball game, you need to.
I must say that I find baseball a little slow. When I go to a baseball park for the first time, I am more than excited. That experience is like trackchasing. I found out I’m not as excited the second time around.
Nevertheless, Carol and I enjoyed the wide selection of concessions from sushi to hot dogs. Of course, we enjoyed the “urico” Japanese girls roaming the stands selling beer. We moved around and tried seat locations all over the place. We had a good time.
As we walk around the city, we see thousands of vending machines offering mainly cold drinks. They’re easy to use with Apple Pay and your credit card. Nevertheless, we NEVER see any Japanese people consuming a drink as they walk along the streets. We don’t see anyone using the vending machines. That’s odd.
Why Osaka?
We didn’t come to Osaka to learn how to make Ramen noodles or to see a baseball game. We came to Osaka, Japan, to visit the “World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan”.
Not our first World Expo/World’s Fair.
A world expo is pretty much synonymous with “World’s Fair”. Back in 1986, we took the family to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the “Expo 86 World’s Fair.” We rented a house at an exorbitant fee that was in deplorable condition. When the expo in Vancouver finished, the plan was to demolish the house. They got one last big rent payment from us before the bulldozer arrived!
Carol and I also visited the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982. I don’t remember much about this one.
Planning this one was not easy.
The entire planning process for the Osaka World Expo was a little convoluted. I used Reddit to gather as much information as possible. The conclusion on Reddit was that buying tickets and getting reservations for the different world pavilions was a real cluster.
It was so complicated that I waited and waited and didn’t do anything. Just know that when you don’t do anything, you are really doing something, and often, not doing anything is not particularly good.
I finally broke down and bought tickets to the expo, which was only good for admission to the “park.” Over 160 countries were represented in Osaka. Approximately 30-40 of the very best exhibitions required advance reservations.
These World’s Fairs/Expos happen every five years. The last time an expo was held, in 2020, it was in Dubai. They had a similar number of countries participating, and only one country had a pavilion that required advance reservations. That was Japan!
We rode the train to the expo because everyone in Japan rides the train. We could have taken an Uber. However, Uber is nearly prohibitively expensive, and the train is super cheap.
The Grand Ring!
The most impressive feature at the Osaka Expo is the Grand Ring. The Grand Ring is the centerpiece of the 2025 Osaka Expo and is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest wooden structure. It’s a 2-kilometer-long, 60,000-square-meter ring-shaped roof, designed to enclose the various national pavilions and exhibits. The structure symbolizes “unity in diversity” and is intended to serve as a focal point for the event, according to Google.
Visiting the Osaka Expo shares many similarities with visiting Disneyland. Each has its attractions. The most popular attractions have long lines. That was the case with the expo.
We made our own passport.
Some people had purchased a “passport” that allowed them to obtain a country stamp from each pavilion they visited. I told you we weren’t that well organized in advance. We didn’t have a passport. All we had was a blank piece of paper. All of our passport stamps went on that paper.
Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
It was hot. The lines were long. We didn’t have any advanced reservations. We couldn’t get into many of the most popular exhibits. I didn’t want to put in the time and effort to first understand how to get those reservations and then take the time to do it.
We discovered that some of the smaller countries, mainly African countries, had a single large building where each country had its pavilion within this larger structure. Oftentimes, the smaller countries’ entire exhibit space was about the size of a three-car garage. It was easy to obtain a large number of country stamps here.
We kept ourselves busy because there was so much to see. I bought admission to the park for three days. I did read reviews by travel bloggers who told their audience that after spending just one day at the Osaka expo, that was enough for them.
Day two at the expo.
We were back for day two at the expo. We had more experience after yesterday, so we made some better choices. Some of the restaurants were very unique and served good food. Once again, we entered some of the larger pavilions that featured multiple countries, allowing us to see as much as possible in a short time. We were able to gain access to several of the larger countries’ exhibits by hook or by crook. I’m a sales guy.
That was enough.
At the end of day number two at the Osaka Expo, we concluded that coming back for day three wasn’t going to be worth it. We didn’t have reservations that had to be made months in advance for the biggest, best, and most popular pavilions. I think the park’s day tickets were about $50 per person. I was willing to write off what we weren’t going to use.
Time to try “other” stuff.
We decided to use our new “free” day to get a more in-depth look at the city of Osaka. We went to a very upscale restaurant where we cooked our beef on a stove built into the center of our table. We had to use a pair of scissors, provided by the restaurant, to cut our meat into smaller, edible pieces before throwing them on the grill. The food was decent, but frankly, the entire process was quite laborious.
Worth a look.
We ended up taking a tour in Shin Umeda City, a twin 40-story skyscraper. There were some great views from the top of this building.
At the base of the tower was a large shopping center which included a movie theater. One of my hobbies is watching movies in foreign countries to experience the local culture.
I dare you. I double dare you.
We saw a movie called “Tall Tales.” This was undoubtedly the most unusual movie I have ever seen in my life. I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of films. Tall Tales was strange. It was so strange that I highly recommend seeing this film, so you can say to yourself, “Yes, Randy, that was the strangest movie I’ve ever seen.”
Bye. See you next time from Tokyo, Part 2.
This concludes our visit to Osaka. Part 2 will follow as we visit the largest city in Japan and the largest city in the world, Tokyo.