Osaka Castle with its huge lawn park. The bustling Umeda Underground Mall and Namba are also main attractions.

Osaka prefecture located in the center of Kinki region in the Midwest Japan covers the smallest prefecture land area in Japan, but boasts of largest population and highest population density second only after the capital, Tokyo. Mountains surround three sides of the prefecture and the west faces the arc-shaped Osaka Bay. Since it is close to former capitals of Japan Kyoto and Nara, it prospered as an important point for land and water transportation as well as a commercial city.

In the Osaka City is the Osaka Castle with a five-layer donjon as its core, on a lawn park that stretches for about 60,000 square meters. During the cherry blossom season in the spring, this park is especially crowded with hanami (cherry blossom viewing) crowd. Osaka's north gate, Umeda, has a gigantic stretch of underground mall that houses many restaurants, fashion and sundry goods stores.

In contrast to Kita with Umeda as its core, Minami is an area with core cities Namba, a popular business and shopping district, and Dotonbori with many restaurants on both sides of Dotonbori-gawa River. Minami is known as a town of public entertainment and has many theaters and cinemas.

In recent years, the development of Osaka's new showplace, the waterfront, is taking place. Tenpo-zan Harbor Village, which has a 112 meter-high Ferris wheel, shopping mall and Suntory Museum, a complex of cultural facilities, and ATC(Asia Pacific Trade Center), Japan's largest outlet mall, are also popular.

An oasis of rich greenery amidst office buildings. The center of administration, economy and culture of Osaka.

Sandwiched by the Dojima-gawa River and Tosabori-gawa River that run from east to west through the central Osaka, Nakanoshima is the center of the administration, economy and culture of Osaka. There is concentration of the municipal offices, banks, newspaper companies, parks, art museums, science museums, libraries, public halls and all other cultural facilities.

The Nakanoshima-koen Park is the first park ever to be built in Osaka. The greenery of the trees in the park forms an oasis in the city of office buildings and is thronged with the citizens enjoying a walk in a breeze from the rivers. There is a rose garden in the park, where you can enjoy roses collected from all over the world.

The Osaka Municipal Oriental Porcelain Museum has a proud collection of 2,000 pieces, and exclusively exhibits oriental porcelains from China, Korea and Japan. You can enjoy the planetarium with the world's largest dome screen and the Omni-Max that displays the entire sky in the Osaka Municipal Science Museum. The Osaka Public Nakanoshima Library and Osaka Central Public Hall at the eastern edge of Nakanoshima are the architectures of the western style of 100 years ago. The exterior built with bricks and stones gives off romantic atmosphere and softens the heart of the visitors walking in the area. The illuminated view at night is also tasteful.

Nipponbashi is a center for electrical appliance shopping with a deep history. Also known as "Den-den Town."

Ten'noji is an area spreading out with Ten'noji Station and Ten'noji Park in the center. It forms a railway terminal complex with the Osaka Loop Line, Hanwa Line, Kansai Honsen Line, Kintetsu Minami-Osaka Line, municipal subways converging at this area. The Shiten'noji Temple on the north side of Ten'noji Station is one of the typical Buddhist structures built in the late 6th century through the early 7th century, featuring what is known "Shiten'noji type Buddhist temple layout" with a middle gate, a tower, a main hall and a lecture hall standing from south to north in a beeline.

Ten'noji Park located to the northwest of Ten'noji Station contains Ten'noji Zoo opened in the eartly 20th century, and the Osaka Municipal Art Museum mainly showing old Japanese and Oriental works of art.

Located to the northwest of Ten'noji Park is Nipponbashi, where there is the Kuromon Ichiba (marketplace) known as the kitchen for "Minami" (busy quarters with Namba and Shinsaibashi in the center). If you get off at Nipponbashi Station of Sakai-Suji Subway Line and go south down the Sakai-Suji Avenue, you will find "Den-den Town" (electric town), also called "Akihabara of Osaka," clustered with electric appliances wholesalers' shops standing side by side on Nipponbashi 3-Chome through 6-Chome. Many shops give an in-house advertising broadcast in Korean or Chinese. The advent of an increasing number of computer shops is a recent phenomenon.