Introduction → Meet the Teams → Race Tracker → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10 → Leg 11 → Leg 12 → Leg 13 → Leg 14 → Leg 15
Leg 24.14 – “This is supposed to be fun.”
The Final Three teams hop back onto the special Philippine Airlines Airbus A350 charter flight, flying from London to Osaka, Japan!
All three teams will depart from the Pit Start atop the Umeda Sky Building at the same time.
The first clue of the Leg directs teams to Den-Den Town which they must travel to by subway.
Den-Den Town is the nickname for the Nipponbashi district known for its concentration of electronics stores, anime and manga shops and specialty hobby shops.
Teams must now search the hundreds of gashapon machines for ten that may or may not contain the four pieces of their next clue. Teams will be given a set number of coins to use in the machines. If they use up all their coins before finding all four pieces of the clue, they must wait out a 10 minute penalty before they can be given more coins.
The completed clue tells teams to make their way to Card Lab.
Trading card culture is a vibrant and integral part of the hobby and otaku communities. And Den-Den Town is arguably one of the best places for card hunting for any enthusiast. For this task, teams must search this sprawling card shop for trading cards representing each of the 13 teams on the Race including two limited edition Jollibee cards. Once they’ve completed their set of 15, they will receive the next clue. Note: teams are allowed to trade cards with each other if they have duplicate cards! Teams must keep the cards until further notice.
The next clue reveals the Detour: Batter Up or Bite Down.
Takoyaki was invented in Osaka in 1935 by a street vendor named Tomekichi Endo and inspired by a small round dumpling named akashiyaki. The dish has since become a staple of Osaka street food, especially along Dotonbori, and has become widely popular across Japan and around the world due to its delicious taste and convenience as street food.
In Batter Up, teams must fulfill specific orders of Takoyaki, in Japanese, properly make a fresh batch and then put on the correct toppings. When approved, they will receive the next clue.
In Bite Down, teams must taste several takoyaki balls and identify the ingredients based on their flavors. When they have correctly listed out the ingredients, they must then eat takoyaki balls to find ones with specific ingredients or variations hidden among a batch. When they’ve found the unique takoyaki, they will receive the next clue.
That clue directs teams to this location along the Dotonbori canal. Among the many neon signs along Dotonbori, one of the most iconic is The Glico Man. First created by the Japanese confectionery company Glico, the image of a runner crossing a finish line has been said to have been inspired by three men known as the top running athletes at the time including Shizo Kanakuri, lauded as the father of marathon running in Japan. As well as Fortunato Catalon, a native of Leyte who earned the unofficial title of “Asia’s Fastest Man” after winning the 100 and 220-yard dash at the 1917 Far Eastern Games in Tokyo.
For this Task, teams must piece together a puzzle replicating the iconic sign, now an LED-board. When their puzzle is complete, it will automatically light up. Teams will then receive the next clue.
Teams must now load the illuminated puzzle onto a waiting boat on the Dotonbori Canal. They must search along the river for a location where they will bring their completed puzzle. They must figure out that is the Ebisu-bashi, the bridge located in front of the actual Glico Man.
When they have positioned the puzzle in front of the Glico Man and have their photo taken with the two Glico Men using their Samsung Galaxy ZFlip5, they will receive the next clue.
That clue has teams making their way to Osaka Castle.
Here, teams must search the gardens for several illuminated installations representing the flags of countries the teams have visited on the Race so far. Teams must now use the team trading cards they searched for earlier and place the cards of each eliminated team at the flag of the country they were eliminated in.
They must also figure out they must place the cards of the Final Three teams by the Philippine Flag as well as place the Jollibee cards in Singapore and the United Kingdom. Once they have correctly placed all the cards, they will receive the next clue.
And that clue tells teams to make their way to the Pit Stop at Shittenoji Temple.
The first team to check-in here will win P300,000(!) courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in here will have to choose a Non-Elimination Penalty envelope which they must complete on the Final Leg!
“Director’s” Commentary
I think this is a wonderful Penultimate Leg in Osaka! I think it could be a good one for a Final Elimination Leg too. But this is one of the few Legs where I feel it is better suited for less teams than an early Leg.
So this is not TARPHDME’s first visit to Osaka, but we have all new tasks and feature new locations aside from the Dotonbori Canal. That’s great!
For the first section of this Leg, we feature Den-Den Town. (I know a future Tokyo Leg will feature Akihabara too hehe) And I was inspired for this gashapon task when I found out Bandai opened a gashapon store at Japantown in San Francisco. I’ve spent many a coin there in the few times I’ve went. Yikes hehehe
For this task though, the gashapon machines teams will attempt at will obviously have to be marked or obvious somehow. They’re not going to have to try their luck at any ol’ machine. And since this is a Non-Elimination Leg, having a ten minute penalty is okay. Partly to keep teams from just spending their money at too many machines.
Next up, staying in the area, we feature trading card culture. And to keep it relevant to the Race, it’s part of a memory task! It would be fun to have trading cards of the teams and Jollibee of course. And it’s another needle in a haystack task, but alright for this Leg.
Afterwards, we feature takoyaki which is perfect here in Osaka as its birthplace. It’s a good Detour since I think both tasks are equally tedious. But perfect ways to feature the delicious food. Also gets teams interacting with locals and the nice street vendors.
Then we have to feature the Glico Man. An iconic image at Dotonbori of course. But I was shocked to learn that it was partly inspired by a Filipino man! That’s awesome! So naturally, we’ll highlight and feature it even more for our Race! I’m sure there’s another possible task with the Glico Man, but the easy task is a puzzle of course. And having it be a light-up puzzle would be perfect as we plan this Leg to primarily take place in the evening.
Having teams hop on a boat will also feature the colorful neon signs of the area too as teams float by.
Along those lines, I saw that there are illuminated installations near Osaka Castle. So as an evening Leg, it would be a good time to feature those as well as Osaka Castle all lit up. And making it a memory task, connecting with the cards, would be a good final task for this Leg. And again, a good potential Final Elimination Leg as well.
The Pit Stop is at Shitennoji Temple which I see has grounds open at night. And it looks beautiful too! So a perfect Pit Stop.
Overall, I think this is one of my favorite Legs of this route. Can be very challenging, tricky and competitive!