The Ultimate Art Insider’s Guide to Osaka
The ongoing Expo 2025 turns the spotlight on Japan’s third largest city, where respect for history and futuristic design converge in art-filled splendor
Sightseeing boats cruise along the narrow Dotonbori Canal, which reflects the neon lights of the towering electric billboards of Osaka’s commercial nucleus. It’s one of the most famous sites in Japan’s third-largest city and a fitting emblem of its creative spirit. Once the capital of ancient Japan, Osaka is now a cultural hub. Expo 2025, which has only added to that reputation, is just one reason to visit, especially as an infusion of new luxury hotels joins a buzzy scene filled with details-obsessed restaurants, irresistible shopping, rich history, and gregarious residents.
The innovative pavilions of Expo 2025, a modern world’s fair running through mid-October, stand like architectural beacons, each featuring installations that tackle global issues around equality, climate, education, and more. At the Women’s Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier, 7,000 triangular sails filter sunlight, illuminating gallery spaces dedicated to gender equity. Elsewhere on the waterfront campus, the palm-studded forecourt at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Pavilion, designed by Foster + Partners, funnels into a photovoltaic stone souk with DJs and projection-mapped pearl divers.
France, via architects Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati, invites spectators to a “theater of life,” where 56-foot-tall curtains frame a swooping copper-clad staircase, and a thousand-year-old olive tree poses by a reflecting pool. A geodesic sphere illuminates the Netherlands Pavilion, as if the architecture firm RAU lassoed a glowing lavender moon; inside, the AI-generated film A New Dawn rhapsodizes about the country’s relationship with water.
Osaka’s newest crop of hotels embraces architectural ingenuity as well, with industry power players creating visually compelling spaces that marry traditional design with contemporary aplomb. Hong Kong architect André Fu encased the Waldorf Astoria Osaka in a square-shouldered, all-business glass tower, but the rooms reveal a smart synthesis of Art Deco and Japanese design. Soothing blond woodwork in open slat screens and geometric kumiko headboards is complemented by brass-trimmed lanterns, murals, and upholstery in cool sage and periwinkle.
The hotel is part of Grand Green Osaka, 22 acres of reclaimed rail yards being transformed into a mixed-used ecosystem of living, education, and retail that includes Umekita Park, where Prada Mode hosted its 12th symposium this summer, curated by architect Kazuyo Sejima. It’s next to Osaka Station in the Kita (Umeda) area, on the north side of the city, where visitors will also find the Four Seasons Hotel Osaka. The modern tower houses an indoor pool on the 36th floor and a contemporary art collection curated by Fumio Nanjo, former director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, as well as the Gensui Floor, a collection of 21 rooms and suites done in a modern ryokan style by Tokyo studio Simplicity.
The most impressive of the newcomers is Capella’s Patina Osaka, which enlisted creative partners such as audio impresario Devon Turnbull, whose ten-seat Listening Room debuted last summer, and Japanese multihyphenate Verdy, who designed a capsule collection of T-shirts, jackets, and collectible pins for the property. (Verdy also contributed to City Guide Osaka, one of two bespoke publications Louis Vuitton launched this year about the city.) Designed by Strickland, the 221 rooms and suites unfold in layers of neutral colors and natural materials like textured washi paper headboards and stone tubs with copper bath fixtures. Kisetsukan, the Japanese concept of awareness of changing seasons and the hotel’s design North Star, is revealed through floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Naniwanomiya Park and Osaka Castle, a reconstruction of the historic 16th-century palace and the city’s most famous landmark.
Also integral to Osaka’s cultural cachet is its rich food scene—from street-stall takoyaki (octopus fritters) to Michelinstarred kaiseki feasts. One of the most exclusive tables in town is Yohaku, a 20-seat atelier where chef Yoji Arakawa crafts inventive meals that hurdle over Japan’s culinary conventions. As the sleeves of his indigo tunic flirt with the open flame, he bastes sous vide Hokkaido lamb in brown butter, plating strawberry and kampachi crudo and oysters paired with spicy grated daikon and lime gelée. Few can resist the caramelized amber canelé and banana cakes by Yoji’s wife, pastry chef Tomoko Arakawa. In the artisan-packed Shinmachi and Yotsubashi districts, Mochisho Shizuku presents its mochi like rare gems in a starkly modern gallery and Pâtisserie Accueil’s tightly packed cookie and macaron boxes make excellent souvenirs.
Osaka’s fashion scene, too, is a vibrant balance of recognizable brands and exciting regional discoveries, for example, the one-of-a-kind ceramics at Wad, a curated gallery and teahouse on the western edge of Minamisenba. Nearby, Tokyo cult fragrance label retaW just opened its third location in Japan. Architect Nobuo Araki designed the roughly 500-square-foot apothecary, where connoisseurs can pick up a store exclusive: a citrus fragrance called Osaka.
Museums not to be missed include the César Pelli–designed National Museum of Art, Osaka, where an Alexander Calder mobile and Joan Miró’s ceramic mosaic Innocent Laughter welcome visitors as they explore the permanent collection. The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts just reopened after a major renovation. Situated in the middle of Tennoji Park, it houses an incredible collection of Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. Fans of the Emmy-winning FX series Shōgun have supercharged interest in the imposing, moated Osaka Castle, whose tiered galleries house a collection of samurai armor. This past spring, the complex debuted the new Toyotomi Stone Wall Museum, offering a first-ever glimpse at the foundations of the original fortress. In this expectation-defying city, it’s merely one of many interesting things happening just below the surface.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Fall Issue under the headline “Fair Ground.” Subscribe to the magazine.