Somewhat of a follow-up post to my "Prep for March Trip to Japan" post. I'm leaving for Tokyo today and will be there for a week, followed by a week in Osaka, then back to Tokyo and fly home. I've never been one for sightseeing, I suppose, and I'm looking for ideas of just fun things to do, either by myself or with someone. I have no burning interest in temples, cherry blossoms, etc.

In Tokyo I have a mostly full schedule except for this Sunday, the day after I arrive, and next Friday. Throughout the week in Tokyo I'll visit the Ghibli museum, Tokyo Disney (went to sea last time, so the other one), our Japanese office (got meetings with internal recruiters to discuss future opportunities, along with a few other folks), and some other things. My Osaka schedule is just dry so I really need the ideas for solo opportunities to meet people and hang out if Tinder doesn't pull through.

So yeah, non-touristy (or semi-touristy, but not a damn temple) things to do, to either enjoy my vacation with a friend or meet new people. Both Osaka and Tokyo. A lot of these lists just have your standard fare such as tsukiji, sumo, and other blahhhh.

I think all my suggestions will be semi-touristy as you're in the city, but I'll try my best.

Onsen: http://www.ooedoonsen.jp/en/top/
A little pricier than average, but it also has this big festival type thing with lots of food before going into the actual bath, if you are interested in that type of thing with your onsen. Lots of tasty food too. Assuming you like going to the onsen. The times I went there definitely weren't so many tourists. It's in Odaiba, so I believe you could also say hello to the giant robot while you're there.
*If the big onsen isn't your thing I also could recommend a sentou , although you will definitely be the only foreigner there.

This one is fairly touristy, but it's completely free so I still recommend it: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building(東京都庁 I believe). It offers some really great views of the city, and if you are lucky you can see Fuji. It's a fairly easy walk from Shinjuku Station(which is also an interesting place by itself).

One more somewhat touristy: Shinjuku Gyoen. It's a big park in the middle of Shinjuku, so if you like nature this is a great place to stop by and walk through. I don't know the status of the greenery so your experience might be different than mine, but since it's March I would hope the green (and probably cherry blossoms at some point) will make an appearance.

I actually had fun wandering the somewhat back streets of the Omotesando/Shibuya area. It was off the main road, and there were a lot of interesting shops and eating places that I saw. If you need time to kill and like aimless wandering, this was fun, although I don't know that I would hop on a train there just to do that (I was already there and waiting for someone to finish a class).

Tokyu Food Show (connects to Shibuya station under Mark City I think), was also another time-killer, it's just one big food market type of place with lots of tasty looking things. I'm still surprised I came out without spending a lot.

More for food places: Cafe Cotton Club in Takadanobaba: http://www.cafecottonclub.com/
This was a nice place to eat, good food and atmosphere/if you want to take someone somewhere relatively nice. It also apparently shows up on sites like TripAdvisor as recommended, although I didn't know it at the time. If you can make it out there then I would recommend it, and it's just straight down the road from the station.

And finally, if you don't mind paying more, ride the Skyliner between Narita and Tokyo if that is where you land. It offers a view of the surroundings that the normal train does not, is more comfortable, and only takes half the time. But it's more expensive, so you may wish to spend money elsewhere if you don't mind taking the normal train.

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Osaka I know less about as I didn't have as much interest in the things there, but the Umeda Sky Building, although touristy is a great place to check out (for similar reasons to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building)
The aquarium was fun too.

That's about it for my non-touristy stuff that isn't more difficult to get to/you could do at home.

Thanks, mc, this is my 3rd trip to Japan so some of them, such as the Umeda Sky Building, I've already visited; however, I'm interested in checking out that onsen. Previously I also watched the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building from afar, perhaps I'll actually go in this time. And of course I will look into the food places. I feel I'm sometimes too safe with my choices.

Everything will probably fall into place assuming I can meet some people for the days where I don't have plans. Generally folks are happy to just take you places which is what I prefer. But for some of my friends they're as clueless as I am it seems.

IMO tokyo disney and the ghibli museum are more touristy than cherry blossoms, tsukiji, or sumo.  Especially cherry blossoms are really a part of Japanese culture and worth going to a popular area just for the people watching opportunity.  And tsukiji is good another interesting neighborhood with a lot of great sushi restaurants with very reasonable prices.  But whatever if you're not interested...

My favorite thing to do in japan is to go to an interesting area and get myself lost down small alleys for a few hours - especially if I'm by myself.  Since you will be out by the ghibli museum, koenji is an interesting neighborhood known for rock and roll and vintage shops several stops closer to tokyo on the chuo line.  Cat street in harajuku is another shopping district within walking distance of omotesando, shibuya, and yoyogi park where a lot of hipsters hang out.  Jazz is pretty popular in Japan compared to in the states, so perhaps you could find a jazz bar or cafe to hang out at.  I've been to a few jazz bars in Tokyo, but the only one I could find my way back to is the one in Yokohama's Chinatown.

If you like hiking, you might like to go see the minoo waterfall near osaka: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4019.html
Its not terribly impressive, but you'll get a decent workout walking up the hill.

Osaka castle is pretty decent and has a lot of cherry blossom trees nearby.

Did you get a rail pass? If so you might want to check out some areas near osaka like Nara or Kyoto. Nara park is awesome.

You can probably try to go to a meet from meetup.com. I went to a few and they were quite welcoming.

Probably a bit too late but for anyone else who might be going check out Nicolas House in Omotesando http://nicolascharles.jp/reviews.htm

They do these cute little usagi choux cream and also a 'kids lunch for adults'!