Sanrio Character Gudetama Restaurant

I'm trying to catch up on entries I began writing when I acctually visited all these places, very unfortunate that I was lazy and did not write them then -.-' Because of the corona crisis I am stuck at home with less to do and therefore I decided I should start writing again. There are so many things I never wrote about which I have experienced in Japan! So while I wait to return I will revisit all of the places in writing :)

If reading my earlier entries from Osaka it's pretty clear I did not like it that much. I don't want to blame the city itself but more my circumstances. I never did get any friends at the uni and I was living far away from the actual city. But most I think I just missed my life in Tokyo where I have friends and could even spend wonderful evenings all alone. I was determined though to not have my exchange semester spent alone in my dorm up the Mountains and I did try to make the best out of it. One of the things on my must-visit-list was the Gudetama restaurant in Umeda!

All the Sanrio character cafés are all very similar and reading the reviews online it seems to be a hit or miss. I personally enjoy them, it's a unique experience for us living in dull countries with "normal" cafés :P However, the menu can be good and sometimes not so much. For example the Cinnamoroll café in Shinjuku had a disapointing menu in my opinion, whereas the pompompurin café in Harajuku had an awesome pudding!

The Gudetama café ended up somewhere in the middle for me, entertaining as always (it also feels better to sit alone in these kinds of cafés hehe) but the menu was just ok.

I ordered the curry and a coke float. As I do not eat pork I undressed Gudetama. (Normally I try to avoid ordering pork as I dislike throwing away food, but if I remember correctly they only had pork in the main dishes and this was my dinner)

On screens around the restaurant Gudetama episodes were playing on repeat and all around were Gudetama plushies so you won't feel alone :) By the cashier different smaller goods are sold, from pens to lipbalm. I think this cost me around 2000-2500 yen, worth the price because of the unique experience.

I'm still wondering why there's no permenant Little Twin Stars café... (unless one opened in the past year)

Going to a doctor in Japan?

I've been to Japan many times and never had to visit a doctor until 2 years ago during my exchange semester at Osaka University. I had a cold which never seemed to heal and when I noticed headaches which lasted for several days, especially when bending forward, I thought it would probably be best to go see a doctor.

First try

I first turned to the campus doctor, I got to fill out some paper work and then he basically just checked my throat and noes, gave me some pills and then the nurse gave me the addresses to some off campus clinics in case I wasn't feeling well after the treatment.

I began taking the pills, which I was told were to help with my blocked nose and cough. I felt better but as soon as my medication was over (it lasted 5 days) I felt sick again. So I checked out which the closest clinic to my dorm was and headed out one afternoon right before new years.

Second try

I want to stress that I do not have any great experience with doctors in Japan so this is only my own and my own opinion. First of all I was only told to visit private ear/nose/throat clinics, in Sweden I would never go to a private clinic. My impression is that it's pretty standard in Japan. So I went to this clinic in Minoo, same thing, I filled out some paper work I told the doctor who only checked my throat and nose that the meds I got from the university helped so he gave me the same but for 7 days. I was then put by a machine I was supposed to breathe in for a couple of minutes before leaving. They told me the fume were to open up the nose and make it less stuffed (not sure it helped but what ever).
Guess what, I felt great for 7 days and then it got back to "normal"!

Third try

By this time I didn't have so many classes so I spent most of my days at my boyfriends work and decided to try a clinic close by. Same thing, I explained what the issue was and this time the doctor acctually acknowledge that the meds didn't work and this is where my visit got a bit creepy and to be honest old fashioned (I imagen my grandmother probably got this treatment when she was young). They put me in a tiny room, more like a closet, and told me to place my head on a tiny "table" and that's when I realised they did a tiny x-ray of the front of my head! I was taken back to the doctor who showed me the image and said he could see that I was about to have sinusitis (like I had told all the other doctors I expected as well) but since the meds didn't work he was gonna wash my sinus for me and this was creepy. He went up my nose and to be honest I don't know exactly what he did, only that it felt highly uncomfortable and acctually hurt a bit (just by the feeling I was sure I was gonna have a nosebleed). Because he went far up my nose I automatically began to cry and my nose was running with snot and whatever it was he was cleaning with, the embarrassment....
when all this was done I was put by one of those fuming machines while whiping my tears and nose and then I got some pills to minimize the production of snot. He told me to come back in 2 weeks for another cleaning session. (I said I would but on the inside I was like f* no)

When you go to a new clinic in Japan you need to sign in and for that you pay a fee. So by this time I had paid 2 of those since I changed clinic and then the fee to see a doctor and the medication. I felt better after the last visit and I then began to check what kind of medication I had been given and found out that the University doctor and the first private clinic I went to had given me antibiotics! This scared me a lot. In sweden you are not given antibiotics unless a blood sample can prove you have a bacteria infection which needs antibiotics to get well. These two doctors had only checked my throat and on top of that not even given me a full 10 days which is mandatory in Sweden as the chances of bacteria surviving and getting resistant being higher if under 10 days (of course only if you acctually NEED antibiotics). By this time I had spent a lot of money on visits and medication I didn't really need. The pills from my last visit was enough, but I never made a new appointment and after 2 weeks I felt bad again.

Fourth try

I really have no idea why this cold wouldn't just let me go XD I've never been sick for months before, maybe it was the stress or something I have no idea but by this time I was sick of cashing up. I had a 100% coverage insurance from my university in Sweden, which I previously had been told I most likely could not use because it is in English and the likelyhood of the staff understanding English is small (this was said to me by a person at the city office the first time I studied in Japan). But I had asked the person who issued the insurance in Sweden how I could use this when in Japan considering what I had been told before and she said I could contact the Insurance Company before visiting a doctor and they would help me book a free appointment. So I did. it took a couple of days (I e-mailed and then a nurse from the insurance company called me up and she then put me in contact with their Japanese bransch office and they made an appointment with the last clinic I went to). So I went there, didn't have to pay for the visit and the doctor commented on me not coming in 2 weeks time (sorry!). He performed the same nose torture and then I acctually went back to Sweden 2 weeks after and was back to normal.

My honest opinion is that seeking medical care (for smaller issues) is too complicated and I did not like having to go to private clinics. It felt like when you chose a restaurant, which has the highest rating score? I don't think medical care should be like that, that depending on your choice of doctor you will get different treatments, some which might not even be useful. Also that shit with my nose felt medieval, I'm sorry but just put me on drugs XD