5 day itinerary to Osaka and short visit to Tokyo (excluding Disneyland and Universal Studios)

Japan was one country that was high on my wish list, and I got an opportunity to go there when my paper got accepted in the Asian Association of Studies in Diabetes for an oral presentation. Great !

Before getting there

1. Get a visa. Its quite a simple and standard procedure through VFS. It takes less then a week in most cases.

2. Flights are relatively cheap to Japan. Cathay, Malaysia, Thai and Singapore airways offer best rates out of South of India. I chose Cathay.

3. Pack/buy an umbrella in Japan. It rains almost anytime in Summer. Spring time is better for the cherry blossom, but it is expensive and crowded on those days

4. Book your Shinkasen tickets early for the best seats!

Day 0. 

Land in Osaka. My flight landed at 930 pm, so no sight seeing for today. Head to hotel.  The taxi rate towards and back from the city are the only major shock you are getting in this trip,  be prepared.  Its close to 15k each way. Dinner was in the flight, so it was shower and sleep today.

Day 1.

Travel around Osaka.

0930. 

Breakfast. I thought it would be quite tough to get what I liked, but to my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed everything they had to offer. The portion sizes are typically small and have a LOT of proteins based on sea food, ladies fingers and chicken (various varieties). Of course you can go for a croissant, coffee and orange juice as well.

1100. 

Head out for sight seeing.  Osaka has a two tiered railway system. One is the Japanese railway (JR) and the other is the Osaka Metro. Both are very cheap ways of getting around, and Google maps is very accurate. It takes just a couple of trips to figure out the system.

1130 to 1300. 

Osaka Castle

Osaka castle is a sprawling and a very beautiful complex. The moat, the gardens and the castle itself was spectacular to watch.  Going inside the castle is an option of you get here early,  but lines can be long and it's not supposed to be worth it.

1300. 

Head to Namba Yasaka Jinja. It's famous for its famous lion head 'Shishiden' as its facade. It is supposed to swallow evil spirits. A great photo spot.

1330 to 1430. 

There is a good Indian restaurant nearby where I had a mango lassi and roti plate.

1500 to 1600. 

Roam around the Shinsaibashi shopping street. It is one of the largest and busiest canopied shopping streets in the world. Its a risk to take a female family member here, as the promise here is that they will shop till they drop. You can pick up your chocolates and other souvenirs here

1600 to 1700. 

Dotonburi (by the evening) 

The reason I ask you to come here at this time , especially if it is a weekday, is that the crowds are relatively less. You need to come back later after sunset some other day. Take a photo of the Don Quixote mall! 

Walk up and down by the riverside, take a cruise if u like (20 mins), dont forget to eat the Takayaki!!! Takayaki, is octopus grilled in the form of balls with covered with ? corn starch and fish flakes. I was warned by some  Caucasian influencers that this may not be good, but... they were amazing. Right there for the Indian palate! 

1730 to 1845. 

Umeda Sky building. 

Amazing views of all of Osaka can be seen from here. Sunset is supposed to be wonderful from here. Unfortunately for me, it started raining. My evening plans were canceled therafter.

2000. 

Dinner. Had dinner at a local restaurant.  Fried chicken plate is a delicacy here, try it once!

Day 2 

0620. 

Get up, get ready, and get your breakfast!

0730. 

Travel to Shin Osaka.

0820 to 1050. 

Bullet train (Shinkasen Nozomi) to Tokyo. 

An experience by itself. Awesome. Took the economy tickets (Fuji mountain side) and it was a wonderful ride at 300 kmph! The train was nice and silent. The Japanese tend to be silent in all trains, which is great. See the scenery roll by, read a book, listen to music (with earphone of course!) or grab some food from the vending machines! I missed the Mt Fuji sight, which is immediately after Shin Fuji station as it was raining. (keep your cameras ready, its a short window of opportunity. Use Google maps)

1050. 

Take a quick coffee, grab an umbrella (if needed ofcourse 😊) and head out to the Imperial palace, which is a short walk away. The gardens are sprawling, and the sight of the palace makes a good photo opportunity. Well I was caught in some heavy rain at this time, but it was fun nevertheless !

1150. 

Take a cab to Meiji Jinju. 

1210 to 1300. 

Meiji Jinju. 

Oh man, I wish I had more time here. It was simply beautiful! The walk from the gate to the shrine was so beautiful and serene.  Photo lovers would go crazy in this greenery presented so nicely. 

Pay your respects at the shrine and walk back!

1300 to 1420. 

Shibuya Crossing

Take a taxi to Shibuya crossing. There are several ways to enjoy this. Shibuya sky is supposed to be the best, where you get a high views, Mags park rooftop for similar views, Starbucks (very  crowded) and L occitane cafe.  I went to the latter, where we can sit for an hour or more, with unlimited snacks and drinks. Ate a small lunch and drink,  while enjoying the views of the crossing ! It is the world's busiest crossing and its a sin to avoid this place while in Japan!!

1420. 

Take a train across the centre of town to Asakusa. 

1500. 

The Sensoji Shrine.

It was beautiful, and the Asakusa market leading to it was jam packed.  Many souvenirs and local delicacies can be picked up here.

1530. 

Take a taxi to Tokyo Sky Tree. Now this is a dizzying experience for people with fear of heights, especially the glass that you can stand on and look down the 450 m.

If you take an earlier Bullet train, u could also visit the Tokyo tower and the Teamlab Borderless museum, both of which are near each other.

I headed back to Tokyo station

1800 to 2130. 

Bullet train back to Osaka. I took the first class this time, but it was not much better than the morning class. I will advise against this. 

2130. 

Have dinner nearby Shin Osaka. I decided for McDonald's today.

2230. Reach hotel and crash soon.

Day 3. 

I personally had to attend and present at the conference in the morning session.

I would advise to travel to Minoh and visit the beautiful waterfalls there. I missed it. Anyway it had rained throughout the morning !

1410. 

Reach Osaka Abenobashi station before this time to board the Blue Symphony express to Yoshino. Book tickets in advance, I personally booked it late and got the second last available ticket! 

1410 to 1525. 

Blue symphony express. What a great experience! The train has royal seating and a nice lunch lounge.

Ate chicken and rice here cooked in Japanese style, which was great. The sceneries that roll past are beautiful. 

1525 to 1730. 

Yoshino

Hike up to the Gandola station and ride one station up. Hike the rest up to the Yoshino shrine. Its  a good hike, but it can be steep in some places. The shrine itself was beautiful and the scenery around it was nice. Amazingly there was very less number of people. The hike down was also great, with the sounds of the birds chirping and almost no man made sound. Picked up a softy in a village store. 

1730 to 1840. 

Take a limited express train to Namba. (2 changes were there). Namba is the station closest to Dotonbori.

1840 to 2030. 

Enjoy the Dotonbori at night.

It was an awesome experience,  this time with choc a bloc crowds!. Take the mandatory photo at the Glick running man! Eat the Takayaki again! There is a famous Ramen shop called Ichira Ramen, where people line up for 2 hours due its social media popularity, but I didn't fancy it. I went to another noodle bar, which was great as well. I had tomato Ramen, which was amazing. 

2100. 

Reach room and rest!

Day 4. 

0700. 

Breakfast

0730. 

Travel to Nippombashi station where most of the guided tours to Kyoto and Nara begin (prebook)

0840 to 1030. 

Trip starts! 

1030 to 1200. 

Time at the Kiyomizu Dera, Kyoto. 

\Its a beautiful temple on a hill. There is a brief walk uphill. 

The highlights is the temple itself, a viewing wooden platform where you can get a sight of the entire city of Kyoto and a temple stream where you are supposed to chose from one of three streams of water to drink from: one for a romantic partner vs one for good health vs one for good performance in studies. I thought of waiting in line for the good health stream, but I guess being with a good endocrinologist is better! The gardens are good as well. Use the washroom here

1210 to 1250. 

Lunch at a local restaurant, usually arranged by your tour guide. I had fried chicken today. 

1250 to 1320. 

Travel to the Fushimi Inari Taisha. Its the most instagrammed site of Kyoto. The Torri gates are very beautiful, no doubt. However isolated spots are very hard to come by for a good photo or video, unlike what is shown on social media. It is very crowded. Tip: wait for a curve in the path, wait for people in front of you to disappear and ask the person behind you to take the photo! 

Use the washroom here, as the next stop is some time away.

1530 to 1700. 

Nara Deer park. This place is very nice, specially because of the thousands of deer around which dont mind being with humans. 

You could purchase crackers and feed them. If you bow to them, they bow back! The Shrine at the park is very beautiful as well! Pick up macha tea (Japanese Green tea) here. Very good to taste!

1700 to 1900. 

Travel back to Osaka. You can roam about again in the popular areas or head back to the room as I did!

2000. 

I had dinner at a Mexican/Japanese fusion restaurant. Awesome Quesedilla!

Day 5.

If you are upto it, you can roam around in the  Umeda area, which has many shops (up market) and restaurants. Mostly, after having walked more than 15K steps on each of the 3 previous days, you would just laze around. The flight back to India was at 630 pm, so I left the hotel at 1430 after lunch at McDonalds. Osaka airport Lounges had amazing food as well, I ate Sushi with guess, Eel !!!! Good taste again!

1830. 

Board flight back to India, and carry home a lot of fond memories!