>Give Osaka a miss unless there’s something you really want
>to see.

I actually somewhat prefer the scale of Osaka to Tokyo's; it's a massive city but not nearly as overwhelming as Tokyo can be. It has all you'd need as far as shopping, entertainment, etc, and the food culture is fantastic (get that okonomiyaki). Pretty easy to get around too. For a first trip though I can understand focusing on Kyoto more as far as the Kansai area, but IMO Osaka is a great base to explore the region