Ōsaka and Kyoto with kids. Day 1: Nozomi Shinkansen

We went to Ōsaka and Kyoto for a 5-day family vacation. It was the first we've been on in years and for being out of practice I think it went rather well. Naturally there were quite a few things we didn't get to, but we wanted to enjoy things without feeling stressed about schedules and so we didn't pack our days too full.

We found an Air B&B in Ōsaka that looked good. It turned out to be a great fit for us. It was near a train station, so there was constant noise from the tracks, but not so bad that we couldn't sleep. And having easy access to the trains meant we spent less time traveling and more time enjoying! The apartment was newly built, and everything was sparkling clean. It had a nice balcony view too, but we didn't get to use that much!

Osaka at night

We purchased our Nozomi Shinkansen tickets about a week ahead of time, just to make sure we got seats together. The Nozomi trains come frequently enough that this is a step you can probably skip if it's not peak season. A little tip: you'll get two tickets for each person. One ticket is for the Shinkansen, and the other is to get you from the Shinkansen to somewhere else inside city limits. That confused us, but the ticket attendants showed us to insert both tickets to get through the Shinkansen ticket gates.

Our chariot, the Nozomi Shinkansen

We arrived near dinnertime. Meals are always a challenge. One person has texture issues and won't eat rice or fish (in Japan that's knocks out about 2/3 of the menu). Another has to avoid dairy, which is surprisingly difficult in Japan. For our first night we rather desperately barged into an izakaya, just wanting to find a place where we could sit down to a varied menu. It was expensive, but I don't know if there's anything that caters to kids better. The portions are small, the menu is varied, and you order from a tablet that has pictures all over it. (Now that I think of it, I'm wondering if it was designed by kids.) The catch is that you have to order drinks and there will be smoking. And it's expensive, as I mentioned. We splurged a little more than we normally would, and ended up with an ¥8000 bill.

Happy and full!

All in all, a good first day of our vacation! We fell asleep right away in our comfy beds!