Why Visit Now: Osaka

For many international travelers, Osaka ends up as a stopover on the way to Kyoto or Nara; a place to grab a bite, spend a day, maybe visit Universal Studios Japan, and then move on to Himeji, Hiroshima, or the next destination. With so much to see across Japan, it’s understandable to keep itineraries tight. But treating Osaka as a side trip is to miss a city with its own magnetic pull, a personality distinctly different from Tokyo’s, and a wealth of experiences that reward those who linger.

Osaka’s streets hum with humor and candor, its neighborhoods reveal unexpected layers of creativity, and its balancing act of tradition and innovation feels rooted, rather than staged. It has a slightly rowdier and louder edge, while at the same time keeping a warmer and cheerful side that becomes evident the moment you set foot in the city. Beyond its famous food scene and its attractions in Dotonbori, the city offers a wide array of activities, including cutting-edge art, evolving heritage, and under-the-radar districts that invite exploration. I’m gathering in this list some of the most compelling reasons to give Osaka the time it deserves, hopefully to inspire you to come and see it for yourself.

1. Osaka is in the Spotlight of the World’s Stage in 2025 

For the first time in 55 years, Osaka is hosting a World Expo in 2025. Since April 13 and until October 13, the city has turned into a global showcase of innovation under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” an opportunity for the city to envision its future. In addition to expanding subway and cycling infrastructure to reach the venue at Yumeshima (a reclaimed island in Osaka Bay), Osaka is leveraging the Expo to transform Yumeshima into a sustainable international tourist hub that will boost the city’s appeal for years to come.

Nowhere else can you witness a city reinventing itself on a global stage; from marveling at national pavilions (over 100 of them!) to sensing the forward-looking energy that will carry Osaka into its next era, visiting Osaka during this period is the perfect opportunity to catch a historic moment: the city welcoming the world and boldly staking its claim as a capital of innovation, culture, and fun.

2. A Neighborhood Reinvents Itself as a Street Art Playground

Once a shipyard town, now an art lover’s treasure hunt. The Kitakagaya area in Osaka’s Suminoe ward has been reborn as a vibrant art district, peppered with massive murals and creative spaces. Walking out of Kitakagaya Station, you’ll immediately spot colorful street art enlivening ordinary warehouses and alley walls, as if the whole neighborhood became an open-air gallery. Scattered throughout the area are works by globally active artists, from a cheeky mural of kids doodling on the Mona Lisa by Dotmasters to local artist MASAGON’s cartoonish creations, making a casual stroll here feel like a public art treasure hunt.

Beyond murals, Kitakagaya boasts several edgy art venues, like the massive Creative Center Osaka (CCO), set in a former ship factory, now hosts contemporary art fairs and installations featuring large-scale works, while spots like “M@M” (Morimura at Museum, the personal gallery of artist Yasumasa Morimura) and the experimental studio collective Super Studio Kitakagaya open their doors with special open-house events, showcasing cutting-edge creations and artist workshops. Indie cafes and bars join the mix to round up the cultural experience.

3. Osaka’s Culinary Renaissance Continues to Surprise Everyone

It’s no secret that Osaka has long been called “Tenka no Daidokoro,” or the Nation’s Kitchen, famed for street foods like takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), and kushikatsu (fried skewers). But in 2025, the city’s food scene is hotter and more diverse than ever. Osaka is less stuffy than Tokyo and less dainty than Kyoto, and here, chefs encourage you to kuidaore (eat until you drop). But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for sophistication when it comes to taking traditional comfort foods and reinventing them with flair. It’s in this way that Osaka’s fine dining has stepped into the spotlight, with an ever-increasing local offer in the latest Michelin Guide for Osaka, including awarding three establishments the coveted three stars.

Osakan chefs are gaining global recognition for integrating high-end techniques with the city’s trademark playful spirit. However, eating in Osaka isn’t limited to fancy restaurants or touristy Dotonbori. For instance, Local markets are thriving too: the historic Kuromon Ichiba Market has added trendy stalls run by young chefs putting modern twists on Osaka classics.

4. Bunraku Puppets Invite You to Dive Into Osaka’s Cultural Soul

While Tokyo has kabuki and Noh, Osaka is the proud home of Bunraku, a sophisticated form of puppet theater that originated here over 400 years ago. In fact, Bunraku ranks alongside Noh and Kabuki as one of Japan’s foremost traditional stage arts. It emerged in the early 17th century in Osaka, mixing narrated storytelling with shamisen music and exquisitely crafted puppets manipulated by teams of puppeteers. Today, Osaka’s National Bunraku Theatre carries on this UNESCO-listed art form, with performances that can transport you to worlds of samurai drama or tragic romance through the movements of half-life-size puppets. 

What’s special about Bunraku is how alive it feels: three puppeteers, visible on stage, work in sync to animate a single puppet: one controls the head and right hand, another the left hand, and another the feet, achieving astonishingly lifelike gestures. Meanwhile, a single narrator on the side chants all the characters’ lines in a rich, expressive voice, accompanied by the melancholic sound of a shamisen lute. Even if you don’t know Japanese, the emotional weight of the storytelling and the visual artistry of the puppets (in elaborate costumes and carved faces) is mesmerizing. Osaka takes great pride in this art, a reflection of the merchant spirit and humanism of the old Osaka commoners. 

5. Art Goes Beyond its Boundaries with New Museums and Digital Wonders

Osaka’s art scene has leapt forward in the past couple of years, making the city a destination for culture vultures as well as foodies. In February 2022, the long-awaited Nakanoshima Museum of Art opened its doors, instantly becoming one of Japan’s most important modern art museums. Housed in a striking black cube on Nakanoshima Island, this museum showcases over 6,000 works of modern and contemporary art, encompassing Western masters like Modigliani, Dalí, or Magritte, and Japanese luminaries like avant-garde Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara and Osaka native Yuzo Saeki.

On the other hand, the city is embracing immersive digital art too. teamLab, the famed international art collective, chose Osaka as the site of its first permanent outdoor exhibition in Japan: teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka. Since mid-2022, when night falls at Nagai Botanical Garden in southern Osaka, the grounds transform into a dreamlike digital art experience, with interactive installations of light and sound illuminating the trees, ponds, and flower beds, reacting to natural elements like the wind and rain, and even to the movements of visitors.

6. Neighborhoods Beyond the Guidebooks Await You

Post-pandemic, many of Osaka’s neighborhoods have bounced back with new energy: young entrepreneurs opening cafés in old buildings, street markets being revitalized, local festivals returning in full swing. The city feels alive and accessible. And with public safety initiatives, even areas once considered sketchy are welcoming, with Shinsekai’s turnaround as a prime example; a slice of mid-20th-century Osaka preserved in amber that has reclaimed its past energy thanks to community redevelopment. 

For a completely different vibe, head to Nakazakicho near Umeda. This little pocket of narrow lanes survived wartime bombings, and today its crumbling low-rise houses have been turned into chic cafés, vintage clothing boutiques, and indie art galleries, showcasing Osaka’s creative, bohemian side.

Another must for urban explorers is Tenjinbashisuji Shotengai, Japan’s longest shopping arcade, spanning a staggering 2.6 kilometers with over 600 shops. Walking its length is a crash course in everyday Osaka life. You’ll encounter everything from tofu sellers and rice cracker shops to bookstores, 100-yen shops, and quaint kissaten coffee lounges from the Shōwa era. 

Other neighborhoods worth a wander: Amerikamura in Shinsaibashi, a youth culture hotspot full of funky streetwear shops, music bars, and street art (don’t miss the graffiti in Triangle Park); Nipponbashi (Den-Den Town), Osaka’s answer to Akihabara, where you can find retro video games, anime figurines, and electronics amidst old anime song melodies blaring from shops; and Tsuruhashi, Osaka’s historic Koreatown, where hidden yakiniku barbecue restaurants and K-pop boutiques jostle along labyrinthine covered markets – a paradise for food adventurers looking to sample authentic kimchi and grilled beef tongue. 

7. Craft Beer and Spirits are Enriching Osaka’s Buzzing Drink Scene

Osaka’s long work-hard, play-hard ethos means you’ll never lack for a good drink in this town. Lately, the city has been riding Japan’s craft beverage boom with its own twist of character and Craft beer breweries are popping up across Osaka’s neighborhoods. In trendy Nakazakicho, for instance, Brewpub Center Point has anchored the local beer scene, serving bold IPAs and porters alongside Texas-style BBQ.

The city’s oldest craft brewery, Minoh Beer, continues to win international awards for its stouts and weizens, while newcomers like Dotombori Beer and Kamikaze Brewing experiment with ingredients like yuzu citrus and matcha to create uniquely Japanese ales. Osaka’s nightlife hubs are also embracing craft cocktails, with speakeasy-style bars hidden in alleys where bartenders infuse shochu with local seasonal fruits, or shake up a martini using Osaka-distilled gin. And speaking of gin, for the past few years, Osaka has joined Japan’s small-batch distilling renaissance. The Mikuni Distillery opened as the city’s only craft gin and whisky distillery, producing “Osaka GIN,” a spirit with an unprecedented floral aroma said to reflect Osaka’s vivacious character. 

8. Find the Latest Vintage Fashion Boom at Utsubo Park

Osaka’s latest hotspot for indie fashion is the Utsubo Park area, which has rapidly evolved into a hub for vintage clothing lovers. In recent years, a wave of edgy secondhand boutiques opened around this park, making it the new go-to vintage clothing district following the likes of Nakazakicho and Horie. Shops here aren’t your run-of-the-mill thrift stores, many have a quirky, curatorial flair. For example, TEDDY MARKET, tucked in an attic-like 5th floor space of an old building, offers charming one-of-a-kind ladies’ pieces selected to fit and flatter individual personality with a playful twist. 

From avant-garde 1980s Japanese designer wear to eclectic Americana, Utsubo Park’s vintage shops let you discover rare gems that add serious character to your wardrobe, a shopping adventure only a true Osaka insider would know to undertake.

9. Enjoy an Innovative Night Show by the River

In Spring 2025, Osaka turned its rivers into a spectacular night-time stage. The special event Osaka River Fantasy currently runs across three zones: the Okawa’s Hachikenyahama (music-synced fountain show), the Higashi-Yokobori River (a continuous projection-mapping corridor), and Nakanoshima GATE (a riverside “Minamo Wide Vision” screen). The main act is the 650-meter projection mapping cast onto the Hanshin Expressway piers between Koraibashi and Honmachibashi, billed as one of the world’s largest water-edge mappings and designed with custom 3D calibration for the site’s concrete canyons. 

The show operates nightly through roughly February 2026 (Aug 1-31, 19:00-22:00; from Sept, sunset-22:00). The fountain show at Hachikenyahama runs daily 12:00–22:00, twice hourly; after sunset, lights join the choreography. For enhanced enjoyment, you can book a special river cruise specially designed for this event.