[ENG] Japan2k26, Day 8

31 Jan, 2026

2026-01-31, 22:52, Honryusuicho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, Prefettura di Kyoto 600-8462

Hello everyone, good morning or good evening depending on when you’re reading this post. As always, a huge greeting from Japan.
I’ll quickly tell you how today went, because I’m pretty tired… but writing a couple of words in the evening is something I never skip, haha.

Day 8, accompanied by the fresh Japanese air (maybe too fresh).
The day started in a very calm way, also because since moving from Tokyo to Kyoto I’ve completely lost the urge to make the usual 7Eleven stop. Maybe it’s because it’s not that close anymore and I’m too lazy to go there? Who knows.

We headed straight to the nearest station to catch a direct train from Kyoto to Osaka. It took us about 10 minutes to reach the station and roughly 45 minutes to arrive in Osaka.
As soon as I got there, I immediately felt a totally different vibe: first of all because Osaka Station was absolutely packed with people, just like most of the city; secondly because Osaka feels like a Tokyo inhabited by Western people, hahaha. In a way, under certain aspects, I felt a bit more “at home” here: not everyone respects red lights, people smoke on the street without problems, eat and drink wherever they want… and most importantly: THERE ARE TRASH BINS. This was by far the most surprising thing of all.

Despite the fact that the city seems to be inhabited by people who take some rules more lightly than in Tokyo, I still noticed a huge respect for public spaces, spotless cleanliness around the city and even in the most hidden alleys. So I’d say: absolutely approved.

We didn’t have any fixed stops today; we just wandered around, going into every shop that inspired us—video game stores, second-hand shops, clothing stores, watch shops, cosmetics, and so on.
For lunch, however, we made a serious mistake: we went to eat the famous Osaka tonkatsu, the one that’s about 5 centimeters thick. As good as it was, it was honestly way too much for all of us. We’re talking about 420 grams of meat on top of a bowl of rice… definitely excessive for me. But hey, we chose it ourselves, so no complaints.

Completely full after lunch, we kept wandering through shops. I won’t list any names because I don’t remember a single one and, honestly, I don’t give them that much importance.
I also tried to win a green Totoro at the claw machines, but failed miserably… I ended up wasting 1200 yen. A robbery. In the end, I decided to cheer myself up by buying a few Gachapon.

After that, we visited the Mugiwara Store in Osaka to do our ritual stamp on our notebooks (we have more One Piece stamps than anything else at this point).
Exhausted from the day, around 6:00 pm we left Osaka and returned to Kyoto, arriving just before 7:00 pm. From there, we decided to have sushi for dinner, which once again turned out to be the perfect choice: light and extremely versatile, since every order comes with two pieces, so it’s hard to overdo it if you’re not very hungry.

Massimiliano (my brother) ditched us and went back to the hotel because he wasn’t hungry at all, having already forced himself to eat at lunch. In the end, it was just me and my brother Andrea: we had 7 plates each, for a total of 2700 yen (1350 yen per person, about €7.50).
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and, along the way, we also spotted a bunch of insanely cool cars.

And that’s it. Today—maybe because of the crowds, maybe because of the exaggerated lunch—I’d rank it as one of the worst days so far, even though Osaka is still a beautiful city, just very chaotic.
Tomorrow we’ll properly explore Kyoto and dive into its historical side, which is absolutely incredible. I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks again for reading, see you all soon, sending you a big hug.

— tega

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Thanks again, everyone 🫶🏻

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