[schroth-sensei]

Hi Maria,

I know many of the trains are great in the area, so that may work out well, and I’d refer to the great advice above. I don’t know if a car would be an option for you, depends on your needs and if you can be transferred into the car. Nonetheless, when I stayed in Osaka for about a week, we rented a car and put my collapsible manual wheelchair in the trunk (with just enough room for it). We also had a Japanese friend of mine drive us, which took away the need for my caregiver to learn how to drive in Japan (we are from the US). Besides visiting Osaka (downtown was fun), we drove from there to Kyoto (awesome temples and traditional art), Kobe (my caregiver bought us Kobe beef, both price & taste are rich), Nara (magnificent Buddha!), and Iga Ueno (the shadows may hide Ninja). All places were day trips, except multiple day trips to Kyoto, and we only used 1 tank of gas surprisingly. Parking at the locations we visited wasn’t too bad, we had to park a little bit away from some of the places we visited in Kyoto (but honestly, that only added to the trip because we found nice shops & dining options on the way).

I realize this isn’t an option for everyone, but here are a few things to consider with renting a car:

• GPS is a must (bring one or rent a phone with one that has English/your native language, a rental car GPS may only be in Japanese, check ahead if possible)
• Expect to pay tolls (if you take non-toll routes you will add hours to trips)
• Book a parking spot with your hotel booking (I did not, got chewed out, my fault, but they luckily had 1 available in a VERY limited parking garage)

My trip was awesome, and I highly recommend it to anyone you like Japanese Art, Culture, Food, and more!

I hope that helps,

-Justin