Osaka
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.
Getting to Osaka
Kansai International Airport (KIX IATA) is the main international gateway to Osaka (Metropolitan area airport codes: OSA IATA). Also, Kobe Airport (UKB IATA) is nearby and easily reachable by boat from Kansai Airport. = =
- 01Osaka International Airport
This was Osaka's main airport before the opening of Kansai, where most domestic flights arrive.
- 02Ticket
Worth seeing
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.
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.
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".
Getting around Osaka the local way
- 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.
- Go nextIts location makes Osaka a perfect base for doing one-day trips to nearby cities like Kyoto (30 minutes), Kobe (20 minutes), Nara (40 minutes) or Himeji (1 hour).
From Wikivoyage: Osaka, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Saigen Jiro (CC0), Wikimedia Commons.
