Japan · The kitchen of Japan
Just fifteen minutes from Kyoto by train, Osaka is its boisterous, big-hearted opposite: a city that lives to eat, laugh and stay out late. Where Kyoto whispers, Osaka calls out to you, and its people are famously among the friendliest and funniest in Japan.
The neon canyon of Dotonbori is the city in miniature, a canalside parade of giant signs, the running Glico man and stall after stall of street food. By day, you can climb to the golden-roofed keep of Osaka Castle, graze the skewers and sashimi of Kuromon Market, or wander the cheerfully retro streets of Shinsekai beneath the old Tsutenkaku tower.
Above all, Osaka is about food. The local word is kuidaore, to eat yourself into ruin, and the city makes it easy with takoyaki, okonomiyaki and some of the finest wagyu and Kobe beef in the country. We base you in the right neighborhood and point you to the counters worth the wait.
