What to do in Osaka if you don’t care about USJ or the expo

I used to live in Osaka.

Osaka fits in your pocket. Tokyo sprawls like a drunk octopus. Here, you just hop on a bike.

The castle for a stroll. Dotonbori for food. Umeda to meet friends from all around Kansai. Bathhouse near Namba — Taihei-no-yu is my usual.

But back then, I was too sick to really see things. So every time I return, I hunt for what I missed.

But let's cut the tourist traps:

• The 2025 World Expo is just waiting lines wrapped in marketing.

• Universal Studios Japan? Great, if you want American dreams with Japanese subtitles.

The real Osaka hides in the cracks.

This trip I went south — to Sakai. What is it famous for?

A lot of things.

• Mozu tombs, tombs in the form of key-holes, but except from an helicopter you won’t see anything so I skipped them.

• Knife shops and the museum of traditional crafts. It’s small but free and very interesting.

• Lots of temples and old houses.

And while I knew about the knives and other tools (e.g. scissors), I discovered a lot when I went.

Sakai’s origin story

It started as a fishing village — wind, sand, salt.

By the 15th century, it was rich. Merchant-run. Samurai-free. Independent like Venice, but in geta. Traded silk for Chinese silver, then copied Portuguese guns down to the last screw.

That obsession with precision never left. You feel it in the knives. And the gears. And the incense.

A city of crafts

Walk a few blocks. You’ll smell sandalwood. That’s Sakai senkō — hand-rolled incense still made in back-alley shops.

The towels? Cotton soaked in dye until the pattern bleeds through both sides. Technique’s called chūsen. Been around for 300 years.

Bike parts? Shimano started here. They now have 50-70% of the global market share for bicycle components.

Rugs? Looms still hammer out dantsū.

Kelp? Sakai’s kombu used to feed every coastal kitchen.

It’s a city that makes things. Still.

Why it looks older than it should

The American bombers missed. They were aiming further north.

The tombs — the UNESCO‑listed Mozu-Furuichi mounds — are protected, so no one can build too high nearby.

And after the bubble, people filled the market with vacant homes instead of bulldozers. Which means the grid is intact.

You really feel like in a Taishō-era (early 20th century) townhouse.

Why there are so many temples

Because money needs karma insurance.

During Sakai’s medieval boom, every trade guild built its own Buddhist temple.

Sen no Rikyū was born here — the tea master who made silence stylish. His ghost still lingers in the crooked wood and moss of Sakai’s shrines.

Half the city was sacred. Still is. You can’t bulldoze spirit.

Why you should go

Sakai is a working museum. Steel, cotton, gears, kelp, prayers. History doesn’t sit still here — it clangs and burns and rolls on a loom.

Skip the Expo. Skip the rides. Grab a bike. Follow the scent of incense. And watch the past stay alive.