Osaka is nightlife, party, and excitement. Kyoto is more subdued, quiet, and reminscent of old Edo period Japan. Today, we saw both. We started the day walking all around Osaka. For a super modern city, you still see small pockets of nature, Shinto temples, and traditional Japan living harmoniously side by side integrated with modern fast-paced culture.

Our destination? The Pokemon Center! Pokemon Go is absolutely massive in Japan. By the Pokemon Center, raids would routinely fill to 20 players instantly and everyone around is playing it. The Pokemon Center was inside a really huge 16 story train station building filled with stores, restaurants, and cool places like the One Piece store, CAPCOM store, Nintendo Osaka, and the Pokemon Center.

After a full day exploring Osaka (we only really scratched the surface of what’s in this incredible city), we took the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto. In ten minutes we sped between the cities and landed in Kyoto.

Kyoto is beautiful and charming in its own way, but certainly less crazy than Osaka and more subdued and quiet. There are still tons of shopping areas, stores and great restaurants though!