Hi - I'm finally going to visit my brother who's lived in Tokyo & Osaka for several years, in March. He now lives in Osaka, which is where I'll primarily be staying, although I hope to get to Kyoto, too. I have 10 days. During the day, I'm interested in seeing fun spots and the cultural sights; by night, we like to party to some degree (being that we're collectively in our early 30's). Any suggestions for places to definitely hit? The guidebooks almost seem to have TOO many suggestions - it's hard to winnow them down!

Read a few trip reports. emd, and several others were in that area in 2006. There are quite a few trip reports.

There is a sumo tournament in Osaka every day for three weeks in March.

I would definitely visit Osaka castle.

Also you can search for:
Universal Studios Japan
Spa World Osaka

mrwnrfl,

Are you going to make the Honolulu Basho in June?

http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/06/sports/story06.html

Aloha!

and pro-baseball at Osaka Dome and Koshien stadium. Japanese baseball is a real experience.

that's a possibility! UA has to cut their fare in half, tho