Get the full guide

Free taste · 3 of 85 places · Big in Japan

十五 · Chapter Fifteen

Osaka

Japan's kitchen, Japan's blunter cousin. Where the food is louder and the people more direct — and where "kuidaore" (eat yourself bankrupt) is a civic motto.

A Different Kind of Japan

Why Osaka is its own culture, not just a Tokyo annex

大阪

Tokyo whispers; Osaka shouts. The Kansai capital, 2 hours 30 minutes by Shinkansen from Tokyo, has been Japan's commercial centre since the 16th century — and it has the personality of a city that has spent five hundred years making money and feeding people. Osakans are warmer than Tokyoites, louder, funnier (most of Japan's comedians come from here), and famously focused on food. The civic word is kuidaore — "ruin yourself by eating" — and they mean it. Skip the temples; come for the table.

🏙️The Districts
  • Dotonbori map
    The famous canal-side strip — the giant Glico running man neon sign, the moving crab of Kani Doraku, the food stalls and izakaya in every direction. Touristy but essential. Walk it at night when the neons are at their best.
  • Namba map
    Just north of Dotonbori — entertainment, department stores, the Namba Parks open-air complex. The southern transport hub of Osaka.
  • Umeda (Kita) map
    The modern business and shopping district in the north — skyscrapers, the Umeda Sky Building, Grand Front Osaka mall, the major hotels. The Tokyo-feeling part of Osaka.

That was 3 of 85 places in this chapter. The rest are in Big in Japan.

Plan a trip around thisDay by day, only with places from the guides Get the full guide€33 once · all three guides + 3 personal plans · 12 languages

Keep exploring

Tokyo, neighbourhood by neighbourhoodEbisu, Nakameguro, Shimokitazawa… where to stay in one and walk the next.Where to stayRyokan, design hotels and quiet bases, by area and budget.Eating in TokyoCounters, izakaya and the reachable top tables, area by area.After darkCocktail bars, standing bars and the small rooms worth the climb.Records and listening barsWhere to dig, and the rooms built around a sound system.Shopping and what to bring homeFrom the 100-yen shop to Japanese knives and fine stationery.Onsen, tea and matchaHot springs inside the city, tea houses and the matcha trail.Temples, shrines and gardensWhere the city goes quiet, and when to arrive.KyotoThe thousand-year capital: temples, kaiseki, the old streets.Hakone, Fuji and IzuRyokan nights, Fuji at dawn and the Izu coast.What's on in JapanSumo, festivals, marathons, seasons: what falls on your dates.