Travel

A Stroll Through Osaka: Uncovering the Magic of Japan’s Urban Wonderland

Vibrant culture, excellent food scene and a calm traditional city to fall in love with Japan

Words by Marta
March 20, 2025 | 5-minute read

“Vibrant culture, excellent food scene and a calm traditional city to fall in love with Japan”

Osaka is one of those places that you would probably decide to skip in your Japan trip if you had limited number of days and based your decision on many travel guides that compare it to Tokyo or Kyoto in terms of typical touristic appeal.

However, if I look back at last February’s trip to Japan, it is probably the place that truly made me “click” with Japanese culture and provided the calm and authentic feel that lead me to do a deep dive into its roots and culture.

At the same time, since the Edo Era, Osaka has been known as “Japan’s kitchen” and so relevant is its food scene that I will dedicate a post exclusively to it separately.

Filled with exquisite options for food and with amazing craftsmanship, my walks in the city were a constant discovery of discrete corners, ateliers and picturesque features that seem to capture the real essence of Japanese culture without the noise and intentionality of a touristic showcase.

My original intention was to spend two days in the city (leaving on the afternoon of the second day) but I changed my plans and let the charm and effects of the city win over the schedule. I extended my stay to thee full days and managed to cover some architectural inspiration, culinary indulgence and soaking up the local aesthetics.

The backbone of my stay were a couple of walking routes I had planned in advance. From that, I allowed myself to take the time to branch out The backbone of my exploration were a couple of walking routes I had planned in advance which tied landmarks together. From that, I allowed myself to take the time for free discovery by taking small detours into little streets, entering any craftsman store that caught my eye or simply spending some more time than planned in a museum I enjoyed.

Let me take you thought the highlights of my walks.

Day 1 – A walk through the City Centre

On my first day in Osaka, I woke up to amazing views over the City. A story for another time but, in summary, I had to make changes to my trip with short notice which meant I had to cancel my hotel reservations last minute and I switched to The Royal Park Hotel Iconic Osaka Midosuji, Although I had originally chosen something more traditionally embedded in the Japanese culture, I did not regret the change: the hotel has some of the best views and is a perfect option if you need to combine leisure and business, with a great set of amenities at your disposal such as Executive Club open 12 hours, gym and excellent F&B offering.

I booked an Executive room, which meant I got to have breakfast with privileged views to one of my favourite buildings in the city – the Festival Hall, by Nikken Sekkei,.

The tower is part of a twin-tower scheme built in 2013 and I had earmarked it as one of the architectural landmarks of this city. It is the tallest twin development in Japan and si located in the Nakanoshima district, an area I was planning to walk through during the day and which is at the epicentre of the cultural significance of Osaka. It hosts, amongst others, the City’s Festival Hall and an art museum. If you can visit, you will enjoy some of the most beautiful views to the urban fabric and entanglement of rivers that Osaka is known for.

I am always amazed at how Japan manages to design such beautiful buildings (note that the tower has an open garden halfway though its height) with earthquake bearing structures. I started my walk at 8 am to make the most of the day and I realised, to my surprise, that most local outlets and F&B options are closed until around 11 am. It was snowing lightly and a warm cup of coffee whilst walking would have been my instinctive choice but then I did remember it is considered rude in Japan to drink or eat whilst walking in a public space! And of course, as the saying goes, when in Rome…

Osaka Castle

My first stop was Osaka Castle. The Castle holds great symbolic value for the Country, its origins being very closely tied to the Unification of Japan. It has been destroyed, burnt and rebuilt again a number of times, but its last reconstruction in 1953 survived WWII. It is worth visiting and spending some time in it to learn a bit more about its rich history through the Edo, Meiji and Showa Eras. My recommendation would be to always try and arrive first thing, as it is one of the key tourist attractions and even in low season you will find queues to access the castle musueum at peak times.

After visiting the museum, you should have a sneak peak at Hokoku Shrine, just adjacent to it. This shinto Shrine is dedicated to the samurai warlord who built Osaka Castle. One of the things I do when visiting different cultures is try and find out about their religious and cultural roots, which often explain the origins of many of the customs we appreciate in current times. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan and even if their Temples and Shrines are dedicated to historical relevant personalities, the worship is to deities closely related to nature. This focus and respect to nature shows in almost everything in everyday life of Japanese culture.

Nakanoshima Park

After my visit to Osaka Castle, and escaping from the crowds, I cracked my way to visit one of my highlights of the day – the work of Tadao Ando at the Forest Library

On the way there, I chose a path that allowed me to walk across Nakanoshima Park (show photos below). It is a simple park – a lawn next to the river surrounded by tall modern buildings. Yet it has a special charm to it and it is a good way to grasp how Japanese families spend some leisure time with toddlers. I think it is there that I spotted for the first time something I am keen on researching more about – the tie between grandparents and young kids in Japanese culture. Over my stay in Japan, I did notice in almost all everyday scenes in parks, onsens or restaurants that kids are often accompanied by their grandparents, something that I haven’t witnessed with such preponderance in western culture for a while.

Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest

At the other side of the park, I reached a landmark I was extremely keen on visiting. I thoroughly respect the work and background of Tadao Ando and I could not wait to see one of his philanthropic contributions to this city which, for me, encapsulates most of the essence of his design philosophy.
I did write a post focussing on Tadao Ando and the city, which you can find here Tadao Ando

Midosuji Street

Continuing my Walk, I decided to take Midosuji Street, a 4 km lane that connects Umera to Namba and along the way gives any architecture and design lover the chance to stop a million times to immortalise a special building, a really cool furniture shop, a temple or a shrine. Of course, I did go in search of the Classic Royal Park Hotel by Tadao Ando. Along the way, I was actually impressed by some of the office designs and, of course, Jun Aoki’s creation with the Louis Vuitton store, which is as impressive from the outside as it is inside.

Midosuji Street is characterised by the 29 sculptures by domestic and international artists such as HENRY Moore, Kotaro Takamura, and others making it a perfect mix of art and urban life.

Shin Sekai – The New World

Most guides will identify Shin Sekai with the Tsutenakaku tower. I must admit that arriving at the doors of Shin Sekai was an almost unreal experience. As you enter, you leave behind the calm and traditional Osaka to find yourself surrounded by flashy colours, food outlets covered with moving statues of fishes or a giant octopus and, in the midst of it all, a tower replicating the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It takes a while for your eyes to adapt to this environment but in spite of some guides suggesting it is the least safe area in Osaka, I personally felt safe and did actually enjoy a fun walk trying to make sense of the area. The origins of Shin Sekai are really interesting – it was designed to be a tourist attraction and its completion in 1912 was expected to attract visits and revive the area. In the Southern Half of it, there was an amusement park that never really took off and was closed in 1923. Although Shin Sekai was damaged during WWII, it then became a picturesque place to visit for its retro feel and its almost comic mix of concepts.

In Shin Sekai, however, my absolute favourite feature was Tower Knives Osaka – an excellent knife shop that offers demonstrations of traditional Japanese knife making and a wide range of knives to choose from. I did not miss the chance and ticked the box of buying some really good sushi equipment!

Tennoji Park

There are a number of things that I would recommend visiting Tennoji Park for. Firstly, on weekdays, the park is a good way to understand Japanese ordinary life. In addition, the park is a great reference for urban regeneration projects that bring together historic heritage, urban green spaces and modern placemaking. The park ties together the Tennoji Zoo, the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, the historic green space and lakes, a newly created dynamic area called Ten-shiba and the surrounding dense fabric that hosts mixed-use modern buildings.

In Ten-shiba you can get a feel for the rhythm, the habits and timelines of city work in Osaka. Futsal courts, picnic, F&B options… something I spotted with less excitement was the amount of western brands for F&B outlets that have sprouted in the park – still, it is a well amenitized public space that makes for great urban outdoors.

My two highlights when you visit the park:

Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts

It is worth paying a visit to Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. My time was limited, so I chose to spend around 90 minutes with the permanent collection filled with stunning works of art. Japanese and Chinese paingings, porcelain, textiles, calligraphy… and some samples of one of my very favourite techniques very much rooted in Japanese culture: kintsugi, the celebration of imperfection through artful fixing. Outside the museum, leading to the park, there is the stunning Nagayamon – check out its fascinating history tied to the Edo period.

Abeno Harukas

Regardless of whether you are a fan of architecture or not, I would recommend a visit to Abeno Harukas. Embedded into the regeneration area, was the tallest in Jaan until 2023 and is a multifunctional urban space that hosts an observatory, a hotel, a museum and commercial area.

The 360 views from the Observatory (floors 58 to 50) are breathtaking. If you are interested in Buddhist art, there is a museum on the 16th floor worth paying a visit to as well.

Vibrant culture, excellent food scene and a calm
traditional city to fall in love with Japan