Osaka

Nightlife & Bars

Osaka comes alive at night and the locals know how to party. To experience the best of the city’s night time personality and discover how the locals really go out, join a like-minded host who will show that no matter what night of the week, the city will be alive and kicking 24 hours a day. You'll be paired with guides that are passionate about the place they call home and who choose to spend their free time sharing it with like-minded travelers matched to them. Your host will choose an area of the city to explore that suits your tastes and personality. You can discover the famous entertainment districts like Namba or Umeda, the foodie district of Dotonburi, or get lost in the mazes of tiny streets in a more off the beaten track neighborhood.  Spend the evening like a true local and bar hop your way around the city in style, stopping by izakaya and tachinomiya and enjoying a beer from a konbini as the locals do. At izakaya, share delicious small plates of yakitori, gyoza, and other classic pub snacks. Join the local office workers as they sip sake or beer at a tachinomiya, which is a unique type of standing bar.  It might sound odd, but it’s legal to drink in public so for a truly local experience head to a konbini (a convenience store) and grab a cheap beer. Enjoy it as you are dazzled by the neon lights of the vibrant entertainment districts or in Triangle Park in Amemura. Then, it is time for karaoke. Sing your heart out in a karaoke bar or box, where you can hire your own room until the sun comes up or until you are in need of a steaming bowl of ramen. Join the locals queuing at 5:00 AM for a bowl of ramen before the public transport starts again.

Explore the hidden gem of Shinsekai with your guides and discover the real Osaka. Osaka’s Shinsekai district is a vibrant place combining modern and traditional cuisine. Fill your belly with some of the best food you will have in Japan. Discover hidden, original establishments which have been chosen by two local expert guides. Wander in and around the markets that serve traditional Osakan food for an authentic local experience.  Make your way to the first eatery, a takoyaki, or battered octopus balls, stall. Then visit an Izakaya restaurant and sample some authentic Osakan kitsune Udon along with japanese style chicken wings. Also taste the locally invented kushikatsu, which are lightly deep-fried vegetables, meats and seafood on skewers. Head off the beaten path and visit a cosy, traditional Japanese restaurant you will get dishes of mouthwatering nikudoufu or beef and tofu stew, original yakitori or skewered beef assortments, plus an alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverage. Then visit specialized delicious gyoza dumpling establishment. The last dishes of the night will be at a unique Japanese eatery. Enjoy a tonpeiyaki, or pork omelette plus an abundance of edamame and karaage, Japanese fried chicken with spices. Another drink of your choice here is included. Finish off the night at a market eating Japanese castella cake shaped as the local mascot of Shinsekai.

Explore Osaka's vibrant food culture far away from the tourist spots. Enjoy a drink or two along the way as you immerse yourself in the city's food scene on this small-group food tour. Meet your guide at Temma Station and start your evening food journey in the districts of Temma and Kyobashi. Visit three different tachinomis, standing dining bars, where you'll be served a variety of local favorites. Get ready to chat with locals as you sample some of the best homemade food paired with a bountiful selection of beverages. Depending on availability and guest preferences, you'll be served dote nikomi (slow-cooked beef), sashimi, various vegetable dished prepared with traditional cooking techniques, kushikatsu (fried food on skewers), and many more. On this evening tour, you'll absorb light lessons about the history and culture of the food and life in Osaka. Enjoy the perks of a small-sized group as your guides reveals great insider tips about this fascinating city. Experience the city through the eyes of a local away from the Japanese dishes that can be found on tourist streets. Finally, if you're interested in trying some tender Kobe-area sourced beef,  select the Kobe beef add-on.

After meeting your local tour guide at exit 15B of Namba station, the guide will take you around a food alley, located near Dotonbori. This narrow alley reminds people of the historic old days of Osaka with Japanese style Izakaya bars lined up in the alley and including a small temple called Hozenji temple. Many locals come to relax and enjoy local food there at night. After walking around the alley, you'll visit the first Izakaya bar that serves various types of Osaka's traditional food such as Kushikatsu (fried skewers). The combination of this local food and drinking local Beer, Sake, and Shochu will definitely pump up your night!  After enjoying delicious fried skewers, you and your local guide will go to the next izakaya bar of the bar hopping tour. At this place you can eat a traditional Japanese food which most tourists don't really know. Osaka is known for their variety of foods because they import from all over the world.  Of course you can grab many more drinks on this nightlife bar tour! The night tour is not over yet! Afterwards you continue the bar hopping night tour by pub crawling through more bars!  Lastly, you will hop on to other bars in an area called Ura-Namba, where hidden traditional and delicious restaurants are located. You go to one of the most unique nightlife food alleys around there. A collection of 20 kinds of Izakaya bars and eateries filled daily full of locals grabbing a bite to eat at night. Have a seat and enjoy your meals and drinks in front of a bar serving small Japanese plates such as Yakitori (chicken skewers) and grilled vegetables. You can also try sushi, takoyaki, Okonomiyaki ( Japanese savory pancake origins from Osaka) or many other kinds of delicious local food from many bars in this food alley. They will deliver the meal right to you!  Before going back to Namba station, you drop by Dotonbori and take memorable photos with friends and the guide you met on this night tour! The atmosphere of Dotonbori is totally different at night compared to the day. At night it is very vivid and unique like the local people who live in Osaka. By the end of this tour, you'll surely get to know how distinctive and special this city really is. After all this city is known amongst travelers as being the nightlife "Party City" of Japan!

Taste the big city, bright lights energy in the famous Dotonbori and Namba districts, then immerse yourself in local food and culture as you explore the areas where the locals play, and visitors almost never do. With dinner and drinks included and a group size of no more than six, it's going to be more like a night out with friends than one of those assembly line-style tours. All guides speak excellent or native English, have lived in Osaka forever or at least many years, and absolutely love the city. Your evening starts in the heart of Dotonbori, right on Ebisu Bridge, best known as the perfect vantage point to see the "Running Man" gargantuan LCD sign, plus all the other giant signs and screens that wallpaper this area. Think Times Square in New York, with all the buzz but none of the cars. Pass all the big highlights, then duck into some narrow side streets steeped in history. Hundreds upon hundreds of restaurants and bars line these streets. Along the stroll, you'll be provided with a painless cultural primer to help you better to understand the sense of place, allowing for a richer, more complete idea of what Osaka's all about. Osaka people are known for "kuidaore," which means eating to the point of your demise; along these lines, you can expect a teeming cavalcade of goodies passing your eyes and into your mouth at each of the three different tachinomi visited. It is at these restaurants that people eat and drink while standing at bars or counters, similar to how tapas are often enjoyed in Spain. Look forward to being welcomed like a local first in Namba and later, after a short train ride, in Amagasaki. Technically not a part of Osaka but rather a separate city, Amagasaki has an industrial past and a vibrant food scene bursting at the seams with friendly, animated locals who honestly enjoy speaking with visitors and are thrilled to have you in their neighborhood.  Over the course of the evening, expect to enjoy Japanese treats like kushi katsu (fried food on sticks), nikomi (slow cooked meats in a miso sauce), some fish dishes, and a host of other items. There is no fixed menu, so the tour can be customized based on your needs and desires. And then there's the alcohol — taste great sake, shochu (a distilled wheat or sweet potato drink), and of course beer and other things.