Osaka
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan.
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the second biggest prefectural city, third-most populous city proper in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With an estimated population of 2.8 million as of October 1, 2025 and a population density of about 12,505 people per square kilometer, it is the largest component of the Keihanshin metropolitan area, the second-largest metropolitan area in Japan and the 10th-largest urban area in the world with more than 19 million inhabitants.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Osaka's best known sight is the Osaka Castle. While it is a reconstruction, it is pretty and has a nice castle park. The reconstruction is basically only skin deep. The interior is a generic late 20th century building, with some display cases containing artifacts related to the original structure. To learn more about the history of Osaka, you can head to the nearby Osaka Museum of History.
From Wikivoyage: Osaka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan is one of the world's largest aquariums, with 11,000 tons of water and plenty of sharks (including a whale shark), dolphins, otters, seals, and other sea creatures. Nearby are the Tenpozan Ferris Wheel, the Suntory Museum, a mall, and the ferry to Universal Studios across the water.
From Wikivoyage: Osaka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
The widest selection of restaurants is in Osaka's main entertainment districts, with the highest concentration of all in the Umeda and Dotombori areas. Even in a nation of obsessive gourmands Osaka is known as an excellent place to eat, exemplified by the Osakan maxim kuidaore, "eat yourself into ruin".
From Wikivoyage: Osaka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Osaka
- Airports
- Osaka Itami (ITM), 11 km · Kobe (UKB), 26 km · Kansai (KIX), 38 km
- Tokushima → Osaka111 km · quickest by road, 3h 27m · ¥1,570–2,150
- Tokoname → Osaka124 km · quickest by road, 3h 15m · ¥1,970–2,690
- Takamatsu → Osaka139 km · quickest by road, 3h 59m · ¥2,100–2,870
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Osaka
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Osaka. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inOsaka International Ferry Terminal is in Nankō (南港) in the Osaka Bay Area.
- Get inThe PanStar Line operates a ferry between Osaka and Busan.
- Get inThe ferry leaves Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, at 15:10 from both Osaka and Busan and arrives the following day at 10:00.
- Get inThe ferry holds live musical performances, magic shows, and other entertainment on the run.
- Get inYou can take your car on the ferry, but there are documentation requirements.
From Wikivoyage: Osaka, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01870 km
- 021,225 km
- 031,501 km
- 041,594 km
- 051,761 km
If you know how people move in Osaka – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Osaka
Osaka is 8 km from Suita, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.