Hello all, so I went to Osaka and surrounding cities back in November of 22 right after the borders have opened up and I thought I’d share some image albums and some rants about each place.
Should note that I like Otaku related stuff, nature and japan, not so much of a foodie so you won’t find lots of food pics (which, on second thought I should have really taken more). The weather was absolutely perfect, not to hot, not too cold. A mantle with some long sleeved clothing underneath was more than enough.
**Day 1 Osaka:**
Thankfully I didn’t feel any jetlag so I could enjoy a day of walking around Orange Street, Dotonbori and Den-Den town
[https://imgur.com/a/wlTZ5L3](https://imgur.com/a/wlTZ5L3)
**Day 2 Himeji**
Still no jetlag that suddenly creeped up on me so felt fit enough for roughly a full day of hiking, I had a dinner planned in Kobe for some delicious wagyu beef and a route stippled out. First part of the morning was a hike around Shosha mountain, a beautiful temple village tucked away in the mountains north from Himeji.
After a 3 hour or so hike I went back to Himeji to visit the castle and castle gardens. Also encountered my first tourist shock because Osaka itself seemed almost empty of tourists but Himeji Castle was jam packed with them. Seeing this castle restored was impressive and the gardens were just immaculate.
Oh and if you never had wagyu before I totally recommend splurging on it.
[https://imgur.com/a/Z6CjKY6](https://imgur.com/a/Z6CjKY6)
**Day 3 Nara**
In the morning I spend some time at [Coffee Roughnecks](https://goo.gl/maps/5sejELeKoEAXhaFL8), the owner is super friendly and could also speak english and makes amazing espressos.
So I have always wanted to go back to Nara because that certainly left an impression on me when I first visited Japan in like 2011. And honestly, it still does seeing that amazingly big buddha statue up close is something I totally can’t capture in pictures. Just how many working hours were put into this piece of insane craftsman ship.
On the way back to the station I felt like walking some more and took a couple of right and left turns through the backstreets of Nara and settled for some delicious smelling curry as lunch. Back in Osaka I swung by [Tsutsenkaku](https://goo.gl/maps/sSE8zH9izak7gpy97) a small district that’ still has some old fashioned architecture.
[https://imgur.com/a/LuTgHVT](https://imgur.com/a/LuTgHVT)
At night I settled for some nice IPA’s over at [Kamikaze bar](https://goo.gl/maps/KaNjk6Hp2s4zNg239) and got ready for a night of clubbing
[https://imgur.com/a/6iL2yJN](https://imgur.com/a/6iL2yJN) Nastia was awesome, the following days dealing with a small tinnitus was worth it.
**Day 4/5/6 Osaka**
Relaxing day after club night so just spend some time over at Parco (big shopping mall) doing some window shopping and going up a few floors for things that were more in my price range (yikes!). And went to Umeda and Tenjimbashisuji for some food and exploration.
It’s hard sticking to a budget when you happen to like geeky things like Gunpla, could easily spend a day over at Den-Den and just blow through $$$ on plastic crack. Snatched a nice haul and shipped that back home using Japan Post.
[https://imgur.com/a/1QKqTnf](https://imgur.com/a/1QKqTnf)
**Day 7 Kyoto**
Hectic day of getting my goods shipped back to home and checking out (I should have planned this better) but the staff was kind enough to help me out with this process.
The rest of the day was getting to know the area around my hotel, finding places to eat and just walk around with no plan (my favourite kind of plans).
[https://imgur.com/a/IdDqqdg](https://imgur.com/a/IdDqqdg)
**Day 8 East Kyoto**
A full day of exploring east Kyoto, this time with a plan for Kyoto I had somewhat of a plan made up and today was explore east Kyoto and Fushimi Inari Taisha. 2nd big tourism shock here popular spots were paaacked! Though that crowd got smaller and smaller when I went to the top of Fushimi Inari Taisha. It’s a fun little hike.
[https://imgur.com/a/1TDVvvJ](https://imgur.com/a/1TDVvvJ)
**Day 9 North Kyoto**
Temple burnout is real! The day before was pretty hard when it comes to moving around, Kyoto’s weird bus system and traveling through seas of tourists but half-way through this afternoon I was just spend even a quick meal couldn’t perk me up.
Anyway: the early morning was reserved for getting to Kuruma station which went without issues (was worried about the amount of bus transfers and delays).
It’s a very nice hike, and worth it to visit in autumn. Lots of nice varying colors. The train ride was setup nicely where you suddenly travel through a tunnel of leaves. And I think I liked this area the most out of the places I’ve been to in Kyoto.
Philosopher’s Path was up for the rest of the day.
[https://imgur.com/a/3xLNrzq](https://imgur.com/a/3xLNrzq)
**Day 10 West Kyoto**
Arashiyama, probably my least favorite place. It has a just come here for pretty pictures and go home vibe.
[https://imgur.com/a/aw5narN](https://imgur.com/a/aw5narN)
**Day 11-12: The rest**
Back in Osaka for more shopping admiring more of Osaka’s older style of architecture and shopping malls. Sadly some malls felt pretty dead as most shops were closed (Kuromon Ichiba Market as example), would have loved to see them a few years back.
[https://imgur.com/a/AkWuXB7](https://imgur.com/a/AkWuXB7)
4 comments
Thank you! Obligatory how was the weather? I’m going in September
How did you like kamikaze? It was one of my local haunts when I lived there.
Thank you for sharing! We are planning a trip for September and considering making Kyoto home base while we do day trips to Osaka. Did you feel that home basing in Osaka and making day trips to Kyoto was easy?
Sounded like a great trip!
Nastia was bombing, the following days dealing with a small tinnitus was worth it
bombing means the opposite of what u think it means