Beware when walking with a child in Dotonbori. There are adult toy gachapons which is so unexpeced.
Umeda is less overwhelming after some getting used to but still amazing in scale.
Mom and pop restaurants are nice to eat at. There was one near Himeji Castle which had nice vegetarian meal options. Owners were warm to talk to.
Osaka is clearly the place for Japanese people who want exciting lives. Kyoto folks were much more somber even though it’s just half an hour away by train.
Umeda station was so crowded in the morning, and we initially thought it’s because of the rush hour. But it was crowded at other times too (maybe a tiny bit less). Maybe the density is so high that there will always be crowds.
Many places look very crowded from the outside but then when you get into it, things just keep moving and you don’t feel trapped. Dotonbori and Umeda stations, for example.
Dotonbori had a surprisingly affordable vegan restaurant in a prime spot. As usual, Happy Cow did the trick in helping us find it.
Visiting Dotonbori before sunset is good so you get to see with both daylight and night lights.
After the Himeji half-day trip, we rested a bit at the hotel. It was helpful. We could have tried to do more but the breathing space was needed.