Japan Blog: Osaka Itinerary - My SoCal’ed Floridian Life

This is our 2-day Osaka itinerary! Osaka is close to Kyoto and a cool stop for a night or two (max) for the food, bars, and city walks.

Osaka Itinerary Day 1

Afternoon

Upon our arrival on the “shin” (Shinkansen) we checked into our hotel The Lively Osaka Honmachi, which had a hip vibe. We ate some vegan food nearby at Green Earth.

We then did laundry at a nearby laundromat and grabbed ice cream from a konbini while we waited. Got a free beer after that at The Lively happy hour and checked out the cool rooftop!

Evening

We then walked to OKO Fun Okonomiyaki Bar. There was one girl who owns, cooks, and waits the little place. She even broke down the different types of vegetarian in her hand-written menu! It was worth the 1 1/2 hour wait for the food (okonomiyaki, fried noodles, and gyoza) and the vibes. There was even a Halloween episode of Peppa Pig playing which is how I knew I found my spot!!!

Osaka Itinerary Tip: Okonomiyaki is the must-try cabbage pancake especially in the Osaka or Hiroshima area. There are even entire food halls dedicated just to okonomiyaki!

Night

We walked to Dotombori area worth seeing at night. The nearby Americamura shops were closed; most shops close at 8pm, I had to remind myself that the country opened up from the pandemic just 6 months ago! We ended up at a small video game arcade bar Space Station. There we met a cool dude who was a pilot for the marines and his brother and challenged them to some old-school Super Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64 – we beat them 2/3 🙂

Osaka Itinerary Day 2

Morning

The next morning we stopped by the very cute coffee shop Cafe Tales, strolled around the mall-like Senshaibashi Street, and ended up back on Dotombori, especially to check out the Mega Don Quixote. There, I found the perfect Fushimi Inari Shiba tote to replace my old one from 4 years ago!

Afternoon

We ate way too much Indian food at Mithila – located right on the Dotombori street before heading down Sennichimae Doguyasuji street. We stopped by the famous Namba Yasaka shrine before heading to the sumo wrestling tournament at EDION Arena (Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium).

Osaka Itinerary Tip: Dotombori street is famous for its street food. The lines were ridiculous (especially for the Insta/TikTok-famous 10 Yen cheese coins). Although most of the street food is not vegetarian-friendly, you can find hidden restaurants such as Mithila on upper levels of the buildings on the street.

We met Anna and Tom at our sake tour and tasting in Kyoto and they graciously offered to include us in their awesome sold-out seating area. They had gotten a friend in Japan to buy tickets the day they were released, which sold out in one day – we are so lucky that we met them and had this experience of a lifetime!!! Tom knew so much about sumo wrestling so we had the inside scoop on all the wrestlers, techniques, and history of tournament grand champions (called the Yokozuna). It was truly an amazing experience and I highly recommend looking into if there is a tournament going on or open practice in the areas and time you will be visiting (tournaments also occur in Tokyo every few months).

Evening/Night

After the tournament we were still not hungry from our huge lunch, so we walked around and stopped by a quaint, French-themed Luv Wine and the pub-like Cellar Bar KENT, where we watched a live band composed of elderly women living their best lives. We ate at Falafel Sababa and talked with the very nice vegan digital nomad Linda. You guys know I’m a sucker for hidden speakeasies – we ended the at the coolest one called Bar Nayuta located on the 5th floor of an unassuming building behind a tiny door.