Osaka

The province

Get to know Osaka

Osaka is the second-largest urban area in Japan and the center of Kansai. For centuries it was the city of merchants, called the nation’s kitchen, and is known for its food and the relaxed manner of its residents. The prefecture is the second smallest in the country by area, and most of it is occupied by the city and its suburbs. Kansai Airport is on an artificial island in the bay.

Osaka Castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the 16th century; the current tower, reconstructed, houses a museum, and the park around it has plum and cherry trees. In Dotonbori, illuminated signs reflect on the canal, among restaurants and food stalls. Shinsekai, with the Tsutenkaku Tower, retains the feel of an early 20th-century working-class neighborhood. The Umeda Sky Building has an open-air circular observatory between two towers. Shitenno-ji, founded at the end of the 6th century, is one of the country’s oldest temples.

Osaka’s street foods include takoyaki, a ball with a piece of octopus, okonomiyaki, a cabbage pancake grilled on a hotplate, and kushikatsu, breaded skewers. Kuromon Market sells fish and fruit. In the bay, the Universal Studios Japan theme park and the Kaiyukan aquarium attract families.

In Sakai, to the south, the Mozu-Furuichi kofun burial mounds, built between the 4th and 6th centuries, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019. The largest, attributed to Emperor Nintoku, has a keyhole shape and can be seen from the Sakai City Hall observatory. The city has made kitchen knives for centuries. To the north, Minoo Park has a trail leading to a waterfall, among maples.