So Spookywagons. Here is the reply to your questions:

Hiking spots you say? My students ‘curate’ and organize hike, in that we provide all the info you need to get there, know the path, and know what gear you’ll need for hikes all over the region. The info we put together can be used anytime by anyone, so here are some links. They are all under an hour from Umeda.

I’m going to assume that you have seen this post. Right now, this is probably the best hike in the regions because it is getting hot. This hike is rather flat, runs along a river, and intermittently goes through long tunnels through the mountains that act as natural air conditioning. On a holiday, there can be more people there, but when we went a few weeks ago, we passed very few others.

I’m trying to wean our Hiking group off Reddit, but that’s where our links are. Here is a hike that starts in the really touristy area, but quickly passes through that and looks at some authentic Japanese neighborhoods and up to a very cool temple. Again, not much uphill, so in the heat, doable.

Here is one that is longer and has more uphill. I would not do it this time of year, but some people are. It’s a great hike. The farther out you go the fewer the people. The area is well maintained, but be prepared for detours occasionally. Poles don’t hurt here, but are not necessary. Carry water.

There are more on our R***it page. I do not recommend doing the Cherry Blossom hike. In the first half, you’d probably get heat stroke going up the very long stairs, and if you made it through that, there isn’t much to see outside of cherry blossom season.

The Minoo hike is gorgeous. (That’s also a play on words, because you are hiking up a gorge.) It goes uphill, but there are lots of opportunities to rest. It’s also shorter than the others. There can be a lot of people on holidays. Never been there this time of year.

Now there is also Alltrails.com. The problem with Alltrails is that although they have lots of great trails, there are a lot of recorded trails that are wrong, or outdated. Be sure to check on them. If they have my username on them however, you can be sure that the info is solid.

Further out there’s one called 48 Falls. Guess what you see on that hike. I hear that I should do that one, but haven’t gotten there yet.

If you try something that I didn’t mention, please come back and tell us about it.

As for food, in the other links in this community I gave my advice for visitors. However, in the other Osaka community aimed at people who live here, we so have of recommendations for the kind of things that you start to crave after you’ve been here a while.