Introvert might end up alone in Japan

I've been hemming and hawing about planning an international trip. Saw a billboard that said a local airport in upstate New York has $99 flights to Scandinavia, fuck yeah let's do that. Look the flights up and somehow through the black hole of the internet, end up booking a flight to Osaka, Japan in May from an entirely different airport for me and my best bud.

After flights are booked, best bud says "So no one can cover me at work in May. So I'll have to try to train someone new or else I can't go. But it will probably be fine.'"

Now I'm a worrier. I worry like it's my full time job and we won't know for sure if she can go until right before the trip. So I'm going to plan this trip like I'm going alone and if she gets to come along, it's a bonus. But I've never been abroad alone. And I speak no Japanese. So I'm hoping my fellow imgurians can give me ideas and tips to make sure this is an awesome trip even if I'm alone.

I think I'm going to stay around the Osaka and Kyoto region. I want a mix of being in the city and exploring outside it. What do I call non-city-areas? Like, is it the countryside? Anyway, I have a couple ideas of things I might like. Let me know if they're worth it, offer better things, whatever. Oh, and I'm in country for ten days.

First thing that caught my attention was Todai-ji, the deer temple. Truth be told, I just want to visit the deer. You get to feed them! Sounds amazing. I love animals, especially interacting with them. I would LOVE more ideas on this kind of thing. I think the internet told me there's a hedgehog cafe?

I want to stay in a Ryokan for the experience. Someone suggested to me that one in Koyasan would be good. I just want to relax and drink it in. Some of them have onsen, right? Blunt question: Swimsuit or birthday suit in onsen?

Food is basically the reason Japan won over Scandinavian countries. (And cost was a factor. I'm looking at you, Iceland. Is Iceland considered Scandinavian? Probably not.) I want ramen. So much ramen. The best ramen. And besides that and sushi, I don't really know much about Japanese food so I don't know what to even look for.

Are any menus going to be in English or am I going to just point at things and hope for the best? I hear there isn't much English around and few speak it, so I assume I'm going to do a lot of hopeful and confused pointing. I'm very nervous about this.

Bamboo forest looks amazing. I like cool nature stuff. If it's just me, I'm up for some light hiking. But if my bud comes, she's only a gentle walk type person.

And of course I want to explore the cities. I'm not a huge fan of large crowds, loud noises, being overstimulated in general, but I won't let that stop me (hopefully). What should I do? Where should I go? I'm more interested in experiences than shopping, I think. Maybe. I don't know, imgur. Give me your thoughts!

Almost forgot cat tax. This is Bunny.