Osaka: Tourist Entertainment Guide

Osaka is the place to go if you like good food- Osakans love their food, and some of the best restaurants in the country are to be found in this city. Food will invariably be made from the freshest ingredients around, and you’ll find some excellent seafood- including eel, octopus and fugu (blowfish- considered a delicacy, but dreadfully poisonous- lethal, in fact- if it hasn’t been cleaned properly). Osaka’s specialties include Osaka-zushi (local sushi, made in square wooden moulds) and takoyaki (dumplings stuffed with a mixture of octopus, spring onions and ginger).

A word about places to dine at; there is a lot of choice, actually- all over the city you’ll find restaurants, big and small, selling excellent Japanese (and international) cuisine. Good (and reasonably priced) places to go to include the Dotombori and Soemon-cho areas, where you should something to fit your budget. There are, as in any other Japanese city worth its salt, street vendors who can dish up a decent meal for very little money.

Although Osaka doesn’t offer as wide a range of entertainment opportunities as does Tokyo, you shouldn’t get bored here either. There are two main areas where pubs, bars and nightclubs are concentrated: Minami and Kita, and in both you’ll find a fairly lively nightlife. If you’re not a one for loud music and bright lights, there are quieter, more traditional forms of recreation too. Osaka is known as one of the best places in the country to see bunraku, Japanese puppet theatre- you can see it at Osaka’s National Bunraku Theatre. There are regular kabuki performances too, especially at the Sho-chiku-za Kabuki Theatre, the theatre holds performances throughout the year, and when there isn’t a kabuki performance, you’ll usually be able to see a play or some other form of theatre.

For a very different form of entertainment, you could try to get a ticket for a sumo wrestling tournament- one of the six national tournaments of Japan are held in Osaka in March, and can be an interesting insight into an unusual sport.