Leave Kameido with backpacks. Train to Tokyo Station, 18 minutes, $1 (¥209).
11:45 AM
A bento for the train from the Daimaru basement at Tokyo Station, or udon at Kamatake Udon.
12:30 PM
BOOKED: Nozomi 33, platform 18. Car 8, seats 2-C and 2-D. Those two are across the aisle from each other; Mt. Fuji is on the D and E side, about 1:15 PM. Arrives Shin-Osaka 3:00 PM, platform 22.
Arrive, Shinsekai, Dotonbori
Osaka
About Osaka: where home is, how far things are
Home is 5 minutes from Exit 4 of Tanimachi 4-chome Station, by Osaka Castle. Umeda is 6 minutes direct on the Tanimachi Line. Namba, Dotonbori, Kuromon and Shinsekai are 25 to 30 minutes door to door by subway, $1.21 to $1.53 (¥190 to ¥240) a ride each. KOHYO supermarket is 87 m away (7 AM to 11 PM), and a 7-Eleven and FamilyMart are open 24 hours. Checkout is 10:00 AM.
3:00 PM
Arrive Shin-Osaka. Subway with one change at Umeda, about 40 minutes from the platform, $1.53 (¥240) each. Or Uber, $19 to $29.Uber to the Osaka apartment
3:45 PM
At the apartment. Check-in opens at 4:00 PM. The Yamato driver brings the suitcases between 4 and 6 PM and one of you signs. Rest until they come.
6:00 PM
Subway to Shinsekai, about 25 minutes, $1.53 (¥240) each.
6:30 PM
Dinner: Kushikatsu Daruma, Shinsekai, the original fried-skewer shop from 1929. Set of 9 skewers $9 (¥1,400). One dip in the sauce, never two.
7:45 PM
Joseph and Joey: Tobita Shinchi, Osaka's old red-light district, an 8-minute walk south of Shinsekai. A few quiet streets of lantern-lit old buildings. Walk through only.Phones away, no photos or video at all: staff will confront you and can make you delete them. 10 to 15 minutes.
8:15 PM
Optional stop on the way back: Taiyoshi Hyakuban, a 100-year-old former brothel in Tobita that's now a restaurant, with the original ornate rooms. Open 5 to 10 PM, closed Mondays. 20+ for a drink; Joey gets a soft drink.
8:45 PM
Tsutenkaku Tower, $10 (¥1,500), open until 9:45 PM.
9:30 PM
Dotonbori for the neon and the Glico running man sign, then the subway home from Nipponbashi, about 25 minutes.