Osaka · Photography

Best Photo Spot in Osaka

17 places, each checked by our team.

• Ebisubashi Bridge 戎橋Dotonbori — The bridge over the Dotonbori canal where everyone strikes the Glico runner pose: Osaka's most famous photo spot, framed by giant neon screens and…
• Gokurakubashi Bridge (Osaka Castle) 極楽橋（大阪城）Osaka Castle — The wooden bridge across Osaka Castle's northern inner moat, where photographers capture the Main Tower above its stone walls with its reflection in…
• Janjan Yokocho ジャンジャン横丁Shinsekai — A narrow covered arcade in Shinsekai lined with standing kushikatsu bars and old shogi parlours, full of Showa-era texture.
• Kuchinawazaka Slope 口縄坂Tennoji — A stone-stepped slope of the Uemachi plateau framed by temple walls and trees, one of the 'Seven Slopes of Tennoji' and a favourite of novelists.
• Maishima Incineration Plant 舞洲工場Maishima — A waste incineration plant on Maishima island designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, with a golden-ball chimney and fairy-tale facades.
• Midosuji Ginkgo Avenue 御堂筋のイチョウ並木Honmachi to Shinsaibashi — Osaka's grand north-south boulevard turns into a tunnel of gold each late autumn as its hundreds of ginkgo trees change colour.
• Nakanoshima Children's Book Forest こども本の森 中之島Nakanoshima — Tadao Ando-designed children's library with towering bookshelf walls and a giant green apple sculpture outside, free to enter.
• Nakanoshima Rose Garden 中之島公園 バラ園Nakanoshima — Riverside rose garden of about 310 varieties and 3,700 plants between the Dojima and Tosabori rivers, framed by Nakanoshima's historic buildings.
• Old Sakuranomiya Public Hall (Former Mint Entrance) 旧桜宮公会堂Tenmabashi / Sakuranomiya — Grand Meiji-era stone portico from the original Osaka Mint, now fronting a restaurant and wedding venue beside the Okawa River.
• Original Hamadera-koen Station Building 旧浜寺公園駅舎Sakai / Hamadera — Elegant half-timbered station building from 1907, preserved beside the new elevated platforms as a gallery, cafe and street-piano space.
• Osaka Exchange Building 大阪取引所ビルKitahama — The curved, column-fronted 1930s facade of the Osaka Exchange in Kitahama, with a statue of founder Godai Tomoatsu standing in front.
• Osaka Gas Building 大阪ガスビルHiranomachi — A 1933 modernist landmark on Midosuji, its black granite base and white tiled upper floors a classic of Showa-era architecture.
• Otemon Gate and Sengan Yagura 大手門・千貫櫓Osaka Castle — Osaka Castle's main western gate and the white Sengan turret standing over the moat, one of the oldest surviving structures at the castle.
• Rokuban Yagura and the South Outer Moat 六番櫓と南外堀Osaka Castle — A long, quiet stretch of moat and towering stone walls on the south side of Osaka Castle, guarded by the white Rokuban turret.
• St. Mary's Cathedral, Osaka 大阪カテドラル聖マリア大聖堂Tamatsukuri — Osaka's Catholic cathedral near Osaka Castle, with statues of samurai-era Christians Hosokawa Gracia and Takayama Ukon in its forecourt.
• Tsutenkaku from Shinsekai Hondori 新世界本通からの通天閣Shinsekai — The signature Shinsekai shot: Tsutenkaku tower rising at the end of a street packed with giant kushikatsu signs, neon and lanterns.
• Ukiyo-koji Alley 浮世小路Dotonbori — A one-person-wide alley between Dotonbori and Hozenji, decorated as a nostalgic recreation of old Osaka with shop signs, posters and lanterns.