About Osaka

Situated on the Honshu Island in the region known as Kansai, Osaka lies on mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay a inlet off the Pacific Ocean. Osaka has been a leading commercial and industrialized centre with a huge amount of interesting and exciting attractions, sights and activities for the visitor.

Surrounded by the historical Japanese cities of Kyoto to the east and Kobe to the west, Osaka has a history which dates back over 1400 years. The whole area is home to over 17 million people while the Osaka area is home to just over 2.6 million. This makes Osaka the third largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama to the north and the second largest metropolitan region if you include Kyoto and Kobe.

Kita is home to the retail district of Umeda while Minami is home to the entertainment districts around Dotonbori Bridge, the Amerika-Mura American village and the Shinaibashi shopping strip. The business district with banks, courts and most of the offices are located in Youdoyabashi and Honmachi which are really in between the two sections. The city has 24 wards one more than Tokyo, these are like councils, shires or counties.

Today this modern city with its rich historical past has a unique and distinct style with its own traditional arts, cuisine and entertainment. This is a city that knows how to enjoy itself.

Osaka is fairly easy to get around, the public transport system, like much of Japan is best in class. There is a very good train network, which includes a great subway network which is the second biggest in Japan that gets visitors to most places of interest around the city and the JR Osaka Loop line that circles the city. The Midosuji Subway Line is the main artery which links Shin Osaka, Umeda, Shinsaibashi, Namba and Tennoji. Most of the stations have huge shopping complexes built on top or around them.

The cities of Kyoto, Kobe and Nara are all less than an hour away by bullet train and are all worthy a visit even for a day while visiting Osaka.