Thanks for your input, gengar. I would normally go directly to Kyoto since it looks to be the more interesting place, and full of amazing sights. But I have a lot of time. After Osaka, I have 5 full days in Kyoto. I'm coming from the west coast in USA, so the couple of days after landing at KIX will get me back on the proper time zone, see a little bit of Osaka, and get to Kyoto fresh and ready to go. After that, I'm walking the Nakasendo Trail for 6 days , then on to Tokyo. Looking forward to seeing a lot of different sides of Japan.