[oykib]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm staying somewhere near the Yokosuka naval base for about a week (probably going into Tokyo most days from there), then we're doing 3 days in Osaka. My girlfriend's best friend married a navy guy that's now stationed there and we're staying with them on the front end of the trip.

I would have loved to get the rail pass but the trip has been complicated by trying to follow the itinerary of my girlfriend's friend and her husband, who I'm getting incomplete information from. She booked herself and her husband on the faster bullet train line that isn't covered by the rail pass, and we have to go with them, it's a whole thing. I can't complain, it's amazing that they're putting us up in such an expensive part of the word, but trying to organize all this with 3 different people who have different travel philosophies than me is a very different experience than my solo trip to the Balkans last year.

The other fun challenge is that most of this trip will fall in the middle of Golden Week. I don't know exactly what that is, but I know everything will be crowded.

So if you have any must-sees for Osaka (or Kyoto), I'd love to hear them!

It depends on what you like to do. The number one tourist attractions are Kiyomizu and Kinkakuji in Kyoto. They'll both be somewhat crowded even on normal days. Kinkakuji is a more spacious, placid environment and you'll notice the crowd less there.

Osaka has a good night life. I recommend the area in the southern part, around Amerikamura. There are a lot of bars, restaurants and clubs. Everything is pretty close together. Plus, you can take the standard pictures in front of Glico man. He's positioned above the Dotonburi, the river/canal that Hanshin Tiger fans used to jump into whenever they won the pennant.

Kobe is probably not worth the time to visit if you are only in the area for three days.

If you're with some Japanese friends, it's probably worth it to spend some time at karaoke. They have private boxes that always have a fair selection of English songs. Karaoke boxes are fairly cheap and are all-you-can-drink. They're all over the place. They make a good stop if you're out past the last train at other night spots.

A lot of the nicer hotels have an all you can eat lunch buffet that has a pretty good price. You might want to look up the ones near the area you're staying. I remember the one in Namba, where I used to work, I think it was the Swissotel, was famous for its desert selection. They always employed one famous pâtissier or another to maintain their reputation. Other hotels have similar claims to fame in various cuisines or particular dishes.

Those are the general suggestions.

Osaka is famous for octopus balls and kushikatsu.

Kyoto has a lot of restaurants famous for traditional Japanese cuisine.

If you are into games, anime and the like, you can spend a bit of time in Akihabara in Tokyo or Nipponbashi in Osaka.

I'd have to know more about your interests to be more helpful.