Osaka

Osaka is a big city in Japan. Japan is a country made of islands in Asia.

Osaka has a castle, busy streets and lots of tasty food.

Osaka is a big city in Japan, on the island of Honshu. Osaka City estimated that 2,818,036 people lived there on 1 June 2026. Around it are other large cities such as Kyoto and Kobe, and together the whole region is home to about 18 million people.

Osaka is known for its castle, its subway, which was the first public subway in Japan, and the bright signs and food stalls of its Dotonbori district.

Osaka City's monthly estimate put the population at 2,818,036 on 1 June 2026; in May 2026 deaths outnumbered births by 1,016, but 1,603 more people moved in than out, for a net gain of 587. UrbanRail.Net describes the city as the center of a metropolitan region of some 18 million people that includes Kyoto and Kobe.

The city's landmarks span its history: the castle tower, rebuilt in 1931 as the third on its site; the Dotonbori canal, dug in 1612; and a subway network begun in 1933, the first public metro in Japan, which now crosses the city like a grid.

Osaka Castle has a tall tower with white walls and green roofs.

Big stone walls and water-filled moats go around it.

Osaka Castle's tower rises above huge stone walls and moats, with green trees all around. Today's tower is the third one to stand there: two earlier towers were built in the Toyotomi and Tokugawa periods, two eras of Japan's history.

In 1931 the people of Osaka gave money to rebuild the tower. In 1997 it was put on Japan's national list of registered cultural properties, and in 2025 Osaka City protected it too.

The castle's official site explains that the present main tower is the third on the site, following those of the Toyotomi and Tokugawa periods, and that it was rebuilt in 1931 with donations from the citizens. With more than 90 years of history of its own, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 1997 and designated a Tangible Cultural Property by Osaka City in 2025.

The photo shows the tower, with its white walls and green roofs, behind massive stone walls and a moat in the castle park, with the glass towers of a modern business district rising beyond.

Lots of subway trains run under Osaka's streets.

One train line goes all the way around the city center in a loop.

Osaka's first subway line opened in 1933, and by 2007 there were eight lines, 130 kilometers long, with 123 stations. Most run just under the main streets and cross the city like the lines of a grid.

The Osaka Loop Line, 21.7 kilometers long, circles the center and connects with every subway line. The first line, the Midosuji Line, runs above ground in the north of the city, where it crosses the Yodo River.

UrbanRail.Net describes subway lines that cross the city like a grid, a 'new tram' serving the waterfront, and suburban railways, including the 21.7 km Osaka Loop Line, which connects all the subway lines, and two Hankai tram lines. By 2007 the eight subway lines totaled 130 km with 123 stations; station numbers were added in 2004.

The Midosuji Line (M), the city's first, runs 24.5 km from Esaka to Nakamozu with 20 stations and 10-car trains; it runs on the surface north of Nishinakajima, where it crosses the Yodo River, and continues by through service on the Kita-Osaka Kyuko line, extended to Minoh-Kayano on 23 March 2024.

In Dotonbori, huge signs hang over the street. One is for a crab restaurant!

Restaurants line both sides of the street, and people walk by the canal.

Dotonbori is a popular shopping and food street in Osaka's Minami area. Huge three-dimensional signs hang on the buildings, including one for a crab restaurant and one for Glico, a candy company.

Restaurants of many kinds line both sides of the street and are crowded all year. A riverside walk, the Tombori Riverwalk, follows the canal, and the district also has a theater and a hall for comedy.

Osaka Info calls Dotonbori the symbolic business and shopping district of Minami, lined with giant three-dimensional signs for the Shochikuza theater, the Kani-Doraku crab restaurant, Glico and others. Its fame for food grew out of its past as an entertainment district of theater and kabuki, where teahouses multiplied.

Today restaurants of many kinds crowd both sides of the street throughout the year, and the Tombori Riverwalk along the canal has become popular. Osaka Info notes that visitors from abroad increased from 2018, and that after a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic the district has been returning to its former liveliness since October 2022.