ULTIMATE KYOTO, OSAKA & SAPPORO ITINERARY (11 days)

Japan will change your life...

✨After 8 days in Tokyo we didn’t want to leave but we were able to spend the remainder of our trip traveling around Kyoto, Osaka (Nara to see some deer🦌), and Sapporo + plus a little trip to Kinosaki Onsen to a ryokan. We hope this helps with your Japan planning! ✨

Osaka (2 Days)

Osaka

Top Osaka bites video

Day 1

We booked the 2 hour and 30 min JR Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Osaka.

You can start your journey by trying ekiben from the station, which are virtually bento boxes that you are allowed to eat on the train. There are things like rice bowls, some self heating boxes (these are harder to come by), and tonkatsu sandwiches. Honestly, it’s fun but not that tasty.

HOTEL: Secure Tokyo Stay Osaka Namba - this was a little over $100 a night and was nice with a gym and coin laundry. It was also close to the main Dotonbori Street and busy area.

Foods Osaka is known for! They call Osaka Japan’s Kitchen.

• Okonomiyaki (pancakes)

• Takoyaki (octopus balls)

• Steamed pork buns

• And street food

We headed down to that area and Namba for some snacks!

Okonomiyaki - we tried Osaka-Botejyu Honten, this one has been around for years but we found it to be just OK

Then we finally tried what might be our top bite in all of Japan, Gyukatsu Motomura. They have locations across Japan but the Tokyo ones always have a line. We went around 2/3pm and didn't wait. This was truly one of the most amazing bites we’ve had. They have one dish which includes beef katsu which you cook over a hot stone. The beef comes in a set with a few sides like cabbage with yuzu dressing, rice, soup, and a few dips. It also comes with chewy mochi for dessert and a sesame dusting.

$14 for one serving (they require you to order 1 per person)

Another must try in Osaka and down the street from Gyukatsu is Rikuro’s Cheesecake. This is that jiggly cheesecake you may have seen on social media. We waited maybe 10-15 minutes for a whole cake (we learned after ordering that you can get 1/4 a cake for cheaper). We also didn’t realize but at the bottom of the cake it’s full of raisins (Madison hates raisins) and it almost tastes like nothing. The cheesecake is fun to try and tip: they have many locations so don’t wait if the line is too long.

The whole cake is about $10

Keep walking north and you will end up at the famous Dotonbori Street. This is basically the Times Square of Osaka. The streets are packed with people waiting in line after line to try “instagrammable food” like the cheesy coin pancake and takoyaki. We actually avoided eating on the main street because 1. We didn’t want to wait and 2. We heard the food is average.

BUT we did find this quaint udon place that was kind of quiet with multiple floors called Dotonbori Imai. Another place we heard was good is Kane Doraku Dotombori where Anthony Bourdain visited many years ago. They have a few locations but it’s the place with the massive crab on it (it’s hard to miss).