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Japan's fourth-largest city gets skipped on every Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka trip. Here's why that's a mistake — and why Nagoya is worth a stop, 50 minutes from Osaka.

How to say thank you (ookini), hello (maido), and "you're so funny" in Osaka dialect. Essential Osaka-ben phrases, what "maido ookini" means, and how to use them like a local.

Takatsuki sits between Osaka and Kyoto and everyone rushes past it. Walk on an emperor's tomb, hike a gorge, and see the Kansai town locals actually want to live in.

Conveyor-belt sushi was invented in Osaka in 1958 — and the original lineage still serves. The story of Genroku Sushi, and how to eat where it all began.

A shrine more than 1,800 years old, reached by the last streetcar in Osaka. Sumiyoshi Taisha, its steep drum bridge, and how to get there by the Hankai tram.

Osaka's retro Tsutenkaku tower now has a 60-meter spiral slide and a glass-floor deck at 92m. What's new, what it costs to check, and how to visit Shinsekai.

The Tower of the Sun isn't just a monument to photograph — you can go inside. What's in there, and how to reserve the interior tour in Osaka.

A few minutes from Namba's crowds sits a shrine stage shaped like a 12-meter lion said to swallow bad luck. What Namba Yasaka Shrine is, and how to visit it.

Free entry, a make-your-own Cup Noodle for ¥500, and the shed where instant ramen was invented in 1958. How to visit the Cup Noodles Museum Osaka Ikeda, and why it beats Yokohama for the story.

Ten minutes from Umeda's skyscrapers, Nakazaki-cho is Osaka's retro café quarter — prewar lanes, tiny kominka cafés, and vintage shops. How to café-hop it, and when to go.