Good morning from the streets of Osaka—aka the vlog where I fully admit I didn’t really know what I was doing, and then I just… ate my way through it. I’m solo traveling (as usual), trying to be strategic with money/time, and immediately getting humbled by Osaka’s transit situation. I talk about my JR Pass reality check (Japan transit is convenient but also confusing as F), why where you stay matters, and how I started looking into Osaka Metro day passes because I was constantly ending up on non-JR lines. Food-wise, this is a very “follow my cravings” kind of Osaka day. I found Hikiniku Mania through Instagram and cooked DIY hamburgs on a little grill (I picked the egg option and it was genuinely so good together). I wandered Osaka Castle, did the classic convenience store dessert moment, and then had one of my favorite experiences of the trip: an Airbnb okonomiyaki cooking class. The host was so friendly, fed us miso soup and sakura amazake, and even gave us handmade pouches—like, the vibes were so wholesome. I also do rainy-day Osaka things (parks, character shopping floors, Pokémon Center), tried A Happy Pancake again even though it’s always a little underwhelming for me, and ended with my chaotic last-day scramble to Kansai Airport. My biggest takeaway: Osaka is huge—budget extra transit time, and don’t blindly assume the JR Pass will magically make everything easy.