Osaka

In many ways Kansai’s capital is quintessentially Japan. On the one side is the hi-tech and swish city, laden with concrete freeways that wind their way through soaring metal high-rises casting a neon din into the nigh time air. On the other, it sits homely and laid-back in a curious way, peppered with the tiered roofs of Buddhist temples, blossoming cherry trees and Shinto shrines (the most famous being Sumiyoshi Taisha), but all the while meticulous and masterful in its approach to life. It’s these last qualities that have perhaps proved the most definitive for Osaka’s modern reputation though, because the city is now hailed as the cradle of Japanese cuisine and a veritable mecca for foodies both native and foreign. If that whets your appetite, then quiz your Osaka tour guide for the best spots around Soemon-cho, or Dotonbori, where the city’s finest restaurants and holes-in-the-wall are said to cluster en masse. Hedonists won’t be disappointed either, because locals hold Osaka’s after dark atmosphere in high regard. The district of Kitashinchi, for example, blooms forth lights and action until sun up, when it hibernates dutifully until its next night time explosion of super clubs and swish cocktail bars.