Hello,
As the title says, I'm traveling to Osaka, Japan next year in May for 13 days and looking for any recommendations/tips/etc. for my stay. I plan on visiting all of the surrounding areas (Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, Hyogo, Wakayama) and make a trip out to Hirashima and possibly out to Tokyo for a day. Tokyo is a long train ride but I wouldn't be opposed to grabbing a cheap room for a night there so I don't have to get back late to Osaka. Should I look at getting the JR Pass for the two weeks or would something like the JR Kansai WIDE Area Pass suffice?
I'm looking at staying in an Air BNB about a 9 minute walk from the Namba Nankai Station and about a 5 minute walk from the Ebisu-cho Station, in the Naniwa Ward. Is this area generally considered safe for tourist and close enough to the train stations? Or should I be looking to stay elsewhere, possibly closer to a JR train? I'll be about a 25 minute walk from the JR Namba Train.
I have the Japan Travel app to help with getting around Japan and the Suica mobile app to use for some of the non-JR Trains. Are there apps generally well-regarded?
And lastly, any places around the Kansai area that I should go to/eat at/etc. for my first time in Japan?
by Goatee_TV