Japan / Practical city guide

Osaka

Get oriented, plan your arrival, and find practical answers for your trip.

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34.69° N
135.50° E

Country / area: Japan
Time zone identifier: Asia/Tokyo
Currency reference: JPY
Geographic source: GeoNames ↗

Geographic data is source-imported. Transport, payment, and entry details need current verification. Read our source notes ↗

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Your Osaka guidebook

Osaka / Transportation

Osaka Expressway Tolls in a Rental Car: ETC and SEP Pass

Why an ETC card is close to essential around Osaka in 2026, sample tolls to Kyoto, Kobe and Hiroshima, and when the San'in-Setouchi-Shikoku pass pays off.

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Osaka / Shopping

Are Japan's shopping arcades half empty? What the counts show

Japan's FY2024 arcade survey put average vacancy near 11 per cent, not 50. Here is the year-by-year series, what the arcades blame, and how to read one.

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Osaka / Tax refunds

Japan's tax-free shopping becomes a refund from 1 November 2026

From 1 November 2026 Japan's tax-free shops charge full price and refund the tax only after customs checks your goods at departure. What changes and what to do.

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Osaka / Food

Why Osaka Was Called the Nation's Kitchen, and Where to See the Traces

Tenka no daidokoro meant rice warehouses, a futures market and trade, not street food. What Osaka's own sources say, and which sites and markets you can visit now.

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