Osaka Insider: Local Travel Guide to Osaka

Osaka is a wonderland of gritty, authentic Japan: sizzling pancakes, bustling theaters, racing motorcycles, thrift shops, urban hot springs, and lots and lots of funky cafes. Too bad that the standard Osaka tourist trail rarely touches the best stuff.

Dont get stuck at the Glico Man and Osaka Castle. Dont stand in lines for tourist traps.

This is deep, local Osaka. Well experience awesome street art, a secret weekday special at a high-end sushi place, okonomiyaki places where theyll know your name, and a castle a million times better than the one the tourists visit.

Well even go see Japanese pro wrestling. No, not sumo. Sumo is for tourists.

Osaka Insider is 50,000 words - and quite a few photos - of the deep, local Osaka that you wont find on TikTok or even Lonely Planet.

Everything includes a QR code and map link, so you can rip around town like a salty Osakan taxi driver.

Come with me. Youll be an Osaka insider.