Osaka Trip Overview
Enjoy an efficient, half-day walking tour of Osaka accompanied by a nationally-licensed, experienced multilingual guide! Your guide will help you explore Japan’s second-largest city while introducing both modern and traditional sides of this colorful, dynamic metropolis.
Start your day with a morning pickup at your hotel, then it’s off to the races! Let us know what you would like to experience and we will customize a four-hour tour that’s best for you!
Note*1: Please select your must-see spots from a list in the tour information to create your customized itinerary.
Note*2: The Nationally-licensed Tour Guide-Interpreter certification is issued by the Japanese government requires a good knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture and history.
Additional Info
Duration: 4 hours
Starts: Osaka, Japan
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
Explore Osaka Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Enjoy an efficient, half-day walking tour of Osaka accompanied by a nationally-licensed, experienced multilingual guide! Your guide will help you explore Japan’s second-largest city while introducing both modern and traditional sides of this colorful, dynamic metropolis.
Start your day with a morning pickup at your hotel, then it’s off to the races! Let us know what you would like to experience and we will customize a four-hour tour that’s best for you!
Note*1: Please select your must-see spots from a list in the tour information to create your customized itinerary.
Note*2: The Nationally-licensed Tour Guide-Interpreter certification is issued by the Japanese government requires a good knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture and history.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Dotombori District, Chuo-ku, Dotombori, Chuo, Osaka 542-0076 Osaka Prefecture
We will take a walk through Dotonbori street with its huge billboards, hundreds of restaurants and food stalls selling local foods including the famous Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki.
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Shinsekai, 1 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwaku, Osaka 556-0002 Osaka Prefecture
Shinsekai , the New World, with it’s Tsutenkaku, the Osaka Eiffel tower, kushikatsu and Billiken , the God of wealth and money. Shinsekai is also home to Spa World, a huge bath complex with a large number of pools on a European themed floor and an Asian themed floor (enjoyed naked and gender separated).
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Osaka Castle, 1-1 Osakajo, Chuo, Osaka 540-0002 Osaka Prefecture
Osaka Castle is certainly one of the most famous landmarks in Japan, and for good reason. This five-story castle is one of the most visually spectacular creations in the country, with a history that dates back almost 450 years!
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Minami (Namba), Namba, Chuo, Osaka 542-0076 Osaka Prefecture
Located around Namba Station, Minami (南, “South”) is one of Osaka’s two major city centers. It is the city’s most famous entertainment district and offers abundant dining and shopping choices. The district is easily accessible as it is served by three train companies as well as three subway lines and a highway bus terminal. The other major city center is Kita (北, “North”) which is located around Osaka and Umeda Stations.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, 2-9-89 Sumiyoshi, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-0045 Osaka Prefecture
Osaka’s Sumiyoshi Taisha (住吉大社, “Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine”) is one of Japan’s oldest shrines. Founded in the 3rd century before the introduction of Buddhism, it displays a unique style of shrine architecture, called Sumiyoshi-zukuri, that is free of influence from the Asian mainland. Only two other shrine architecture styles are also considered purely Japanese: Shinmei-zukuri as seen at the Ise Shrines and Taisha-zukuri as seen at Izumo Taisha.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Shitenno-ji Temple Homotsukan, 1-11-18 Shitennoji, Tennoji-ku, Osaka 543-0051 Osaka Prefecture
Shitennoji (四天王寺, Shitennōji) is one of Japan’s oldest temples and the first ever to be built by the state. It was founded in 593 by Prince Shotoku, who supported the introduction of Buddhism into Japan. Although the temple’s buildings burned down several times throughout the centuries, they were always carefully reconstructed to reflect the original 6th century design.
The outer temple grounds are free to enter, but admission to the inner precinct, the Gokuraku-jodo Garden and the treasure house is paid. In the pebble covered courtyard of the inner precinct stand a five-storied pagoda that can be entered and ascended and the Main Hall (Kondo) in which Prince Shotoku is enshrined as a statue of Kannon.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Shinsekai, 1 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwaku, Osaka 556-0002 Osaka Prefecture
Shinsekai (新世界, lit. “New World”) is a district in Osaka that was developed before the war and then neglected in the decades afterwards. At the district’s center stands Tsutenkaku Tower, the nostalgia-evoking symbol of Shinsekai.
The area was developed into its current layout following the success of the 1903 National Industrial Exposition, which brought over five million people to the neighborhood within just five months. Shortly after the expo closed its doors, work began to improve and update Shinsekai.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Umeda Sky Building, 1-1-88 Oyodonaka Kitaku, Osaka 531-6023 Osaka Prefecture
The Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル) is a spectacular high rise building in the Kita district of Osaka, near Osaka and Umeda Stations. It is also known as the “New Umeda City”.
The 173 meter tall building consists of two towers that are connected with each other by the “Floating Garden Observatory” on the 39th floor. The observatory offers great views of the city through its windows and from its open-air deck. In the basement, there is a restaurant floor that replicates a town of the early Showa Period, while offices occupy most other floors.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Kuromon Market, 2-4-1, Nippombashi, Chuo, Osaka 542-0073 Osaka Prefecture
Kuromon Market (黒門市場, Kuromon Ichiba) is a covered public market that stretches around 600 meters parallel to Sakaisujidori Street in the Minami area of Osaka. The market has about 150 shops that predominantly sell fish, meat and produce, with other shops also purveying traditional sweets and low priced clothes and homeware. The market dates back to the Edo Period, and today makes for an atmospheric place to stroll around, shop and eat a variety of different street foods.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 4-2-55 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0005 Osaka Prefecture
Osaka has been the capital for bunraku, traditional Japanese puppet theater, for many centuries. The popularity of the theater form had grown in the city during the Edo Period when bunraku (like kabuki) was a rare kind of art entertainment for the common public rather than the nobility.
The National Bunraku Theater (国立文楽劇場, Kokuritsu Bunraku Gekijō) in Osaka is one of the few places to view the fascinating art form today. English programs and earphones are available. Performances are usually held in three week runs in January, April, June, July/August and November.
Duration: 30 minutes
