This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Cloud668 on 2025-01-20 18:09:50+00:00.
Intro
I planned to visit Japan alone for about a week some time in December before Christmas, but not much specifics. I decided on Kansai because I sniped a relatively cheap United flight to KIX via SFO. Flying back was cheap since it's after the holiday rush. The time between leaving Kansai and returning to Tokyo would be spent elsewhere. One purpose of this trip was to plan a further trip with family some time in 2025.
I knew I had about 7 days, and originally I was thinking about 2 days in Osaka, 2 days in Kyoto, then 3 days in Tokyo; but trying to plan some specifics made it clear that this would be way too much time spent on the road, especially since the flight loses me a day. So I decided to split it between Osaka and Kyoto, with day trips in between. Kobe was originally on the menu, but I looked at the wagyu restaurant prices and thought, "maybe next time".
Expenditure breakdown (JPY¥/USD$)
Flight cost: $1270.61 (12/16 CLE-KIX, 1/17 HND-CLE)
- SuperHotel Namba Nippombashi
- 12/17 ¥7560/$48.35
- 12/18 ¥8820/$56.40
- 12/19 ¥9360/$59.86
- Tassel Inn Kawaramachi Nijo
- 12/20 ¥8750/$54.68
- 12/21 ¥15400/$97.21
- 12/22 ¥10650/$66.83
- Sarasa Hotel Namba
- 12/23 ¥5580/$35.68
Total hotel costs: ¥68451/$437.59
Credit card charges: $187.77
Cash withdrawals: ¥30000 / $197.85
Total cost (excluding flight): $823.21
Packing:
I traveled with a ~30L backpack containing laptop and electronics because I was expecting some work calls, and a 28" Xiaomi Classic Pro (purchased secondhand). I packed 4 days of long-sleeve undershirt+underwear, jeans and trousers, 2 wool sweaters and 1 sweatshirt, down puffer and a barbour, 1 pair of Asics and a pair of Nicks boots.
Hotels:
SuperHotel at Namba Nippombashi was fantastic. I booked through their official site which didn't have a no-breakfast option. The room size was small and similar to all business hotels, but the layout was good and let me open my luggage on the floor without compromising chair space. The only criticism - a single elevator serves the entire building with the lobby on the second floor, and there's no stairway down.
Breakfast was a decent buffet, rice+curry, salad, cooked fish, cooked meat, some form of eggs, instant miso soup, yogurt, coffee/tea machines. Balanced with very low risk of stomach issues.
Craziest thing was that they had free alcohol from 2pm-8pm. No beer but a pretty extensive cocktail setup with shochu, sake, sour mixes, and liquors. I think I polished off like half a bottle of whiskey over the 3 days. It also made me ignore every nomihodai place.
Tassel Inn Kawaramachi Nijo was chosen for its decent transportation proximity and cheap price. It's also quite new so the room was definitely nice and clean. If I had a larger budget, I would've stayed a little more south, closer to Kawaramachi station and the Teramachi shopping street. I also wanted to pick somewhere that wasn't directly on a thoroughfare so it would be quieter, but this concern was not necessary. Laundry was easy to use.
Since my flight out of KIX was in the morning, I wanted to spend the last night close to the Namba JR station and booked Sarasa Hotel through Trip.com as a test. Tiniest room so far with a narrow and awkward layout. Front desk had 4 youngsters manning it who were clearly inexperienced. For the price, whatever.
Tourism itinerary:
12/17
- evening arrival: Processed through KIX very quickly with a prepared VisitJapanWeb QR code.
- Withdrew cash at ATM, purchased ICOCA. Was interested in getting the Kansai ONE Pass but their office had a long queue. Nankai-Kuko to Namba station.
- Checked in at hotel, then walked around Kuromon Market. Since it was the evening there was few people around. Bought some stuff at the pharmacy/cosmetic stores on behalf of family.
- Quick dinner at Niboshi-Ramen Tamagoro Kuromon
- Walked around Sennichimae and Namba Center, then went to bed early.
12/18
- Barely had any jet lag, woke up around 6am. Breakfast at hotel and left early.
- Headed south on Sakai-suji down Denden Town, took a detour to check out Kizu Market. Probably too early for the crowds.
- Checked out Imamiya Ebisu Jinja, then walked to Shinsekai, Tsutenkaku, and wandering around in Tennoji to Isshin-ji. Wandered through residential districts to Shitenno-ji, then back to Tennoji station.
- Around 11am now, malls are open and a lot more people are everywhere. Went to Bic-Camera at Abeno Q's because I forgot to bring a 2-prong adapter, 450-ish yen. Then went up to Abeno Harukas's observation deck entrance for the view. Didn't bother entering but view was still good.
- Walked back to Namba for lunch at Tonkatsu Kitcho. Most of the restaurants in Shinsekai was pretty busy.
- By this time I was already about 20k steps in.
- After lunch, started walking north on Sakai-suji through Shinsaibashi til Semba Center.
- West through Semba Center to Mido-suji shopping street, then south to near Shinsaibashi station and to Minamihorie.
- Visited a couple of /r/rawdenim favorites, such as UES Osaka, Blue Blue Osaka, Studio D'Artisan, and Momotaro. Walked through Orange Street and Amerika-mura as well.
- Starting to get dark, so I returned to the hotel.
- Another 10k steps, making it about 30k steps to explore north and south of Namba.
- Dinner at Abaraya.
- Walked to Dotonburi to fully experience the crowd, then a little bit of window-shopping at the mall.
- Found a yakitori place, Zanza, that does a beer and 5 omakase skewers for ¥550.
12/19
- Took the train to Minamikata station. Walked around the residential district, then along the Yodogawa Riverside Park to Juso Bridge.
- Wandered through Nakatsu to Umeda Sky building. Visited the 39th floor for a bit of the view and a break.
- Back to walking through Umeda. Visited the Kapital store.
- Quick lunch at Kaitensushi Sakae.
- Walked east through Ogimachi Park to Tenjin-bashi-suji.
- Beer and okonomiyaki at Chigusa.
- Croquette and beef katsu at Nakamuraya. Small queue but fast.
- South to Osaka Tenmangu Shrine
- South to Minamitenma Park, walked east along river to cross Temmabashi Bridge.
- Osaka Castle. Didn't enter the Keep but just walked around the gardens and ponds. There was also an Osaka Castle Illuminage thing but it didn't look particularly interesting.
- Waited for the sun to set and for the Osaka Castle spotlights to turn on.
- Dinner at Isshomaru for maguro, where I also consumed an entire roasted tuna collar by myself. I was not prepared for the absurd amount of tuna meat for ¥880 and the ensuing meat sweats.
- Returned to hotel. 20K steps today.
12/20
- Breakfast, check-out, then onwards to Himeji. No more Strava to conserve battery drain.
- Train stations are relatively easy to navigate, just make sure to take the right 'version' of the train line (i.e. not the local line that stops at every station). Sometimes it's annoying when the Google Maps train name is different from what the station and announcer calls it.
- Very nice ocean view past Kobe.
- Stored luggage at Himeji station. 1 large ¥700 locker was enough for both backpack and luggage. Paid with IC card which is very convenient.
- There's a shopping street you can walk through to the Himeji Castle area.
- Bought the Himeji Castle + Koko-En combined ticket.
- I think I spent around 2.5 hrs in the castle. They have a very nice route planned out for visitors and I did both the castle wall walk and the castle tower climb.
- This was one of the highlights of the entire trip, and the entire experience in the castle was simply excellently curated.
- Koko-en is a completely separate entrance from Himeji so it's a bit of a detour. Nice gardens but I'd skip if you're pressed for time.
- Udon set lunch at Menme near Himeji Castle.
- Walked back to Himeji station and took the train to Kyoto. Ride is about 2 hours and I had a nice nap.
- Bus out of Kyoto station to Kawaramachi and my hotel.
- Dinner, mazesoba at Ramen Hiryuu
- Walked across Nijo bridge and around Kamo river a bit
12/21
- Set breakfast at Nakau.
- I rented a bike for ¥1000 at FridgeBicycle. Need to return by 7pm.
- The goal was to bike to Fushimi Inari Taisha, but I took a wrong turn while cycling down Higashioji-dori and ended up at To-ji.
- To-ji would normally be a nice calm temple, but today happens to be the monthly market. Pretty insane crowd. I spent around 20 minutes here before escaping.
- Got my bearings and cycled to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which has a nice bike parking lot.
- Made it up to the observation deck and didn't do the upper hike loop.
- Lunch, tempura teishoku
- Cycled up north along the Kamo river to Gion and parked it in an alleyway behind some restaurant. I was a little apprehensive about parking it somewhere too public because it seems like the city is cracking down on bike parking.
- Walked through Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park, Otani Sobyo, past Kodai-ji, then through Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka, and up to Kiyomizu-dera.
- At this point it ...
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