8 things to do in Kitakagaya

Set in a vast converted warehouse that used to be part of the Namura shipbuilding yard on the mouth of the Kizu River, this sprawling art centre celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025. Encompassing a handful of venues including several vast exhibition halls and an open-air space, the centre hosts a wide variety of events large and small, from gigs and indie exhibitions to major happenings such as the annual Art Osaka.

Besides creativity, CCO draws visitors with its summertime barbecue garden, open from April until mid-autumn, and makeshift saunas, which are open from September to mid-November. The full list of events can be studied on the official website.

Smack in the middle of the Kitakagaya action is MASK, a 1,000-square-metre storage and exhibition facility for oversized artworks. It’s run by the Chishima Foundation for Creative Osaka, one of the major players behind the area’s transformation, and handles pieces by some of Japan’s leading contemporary artists.

Past exhibitions have featured the likes of Muneteru Ujino, famed for his ‘sound sculptures’, and Kenji Yanobe, whose towering creations decorate the grounds of some of Osaka’s leading museums, as well as internationally noted luminaries such as Teppei Kaneuji, Miwa Yanagi, Kohei Nawa, Hironari Kubota and Atsuko Mochida.

This multipurpose complex is set in a 60-year-old bunka jutaku, a type of two-storey housing complex built mainly in the Kansai region in the 1950s and 1960s. The structure was reinforced to withstand earthquakes and renovated while maintaining as much of its original appearance and materials as possible, with the exception of an atrium added to give the building an airy feel.

Chidori Bunka is home to cafés and bars, nail- and chalk-art workshops, a barbershop and more. At Chidori Bunka Shokudo, the main eatery, you can enjoy a hearty lunch or get a taste of Dutch-style pancakes. At Chidori Bunka Shoten, located inside the restaurant, you can shop for antiques, T-shirts, tenugui hand towels, magazines and other miscellanea.

Don’t leave without enjoying a cuppa at the on-site café and tea shop Kenocha, which specialises in single-origin Japanese tea. You’ll also find boutiques selling custom-made hats and accessories, as well as a cooking studio offering classes focused on Asian cuisine and condiments.

Open only for exhibitions, this small museum administers a wide-ranging collection of work by Osaka-born contemporary artist Yasumasa Morimura, who became a key figure in the revival of the Kansai art scene from the ’80s onward and has won international recognition for pieces such as self-portraits that show himself in the guise of historical figures.

The museum consists of two exhibition galleries and a small theatre, plus a salon and museum shop. Bathed in natural light, the salon includes a library with books by Morimura himself, exhibition catalogues, and a number of reference publications.

Hidden away among factories and warehouses some 10 minutes on foot from the Kitakagaya metro station is one of Osaka’s premier temples of deep beats and all-night parties. Daphnia is a labour of love built from the ground up by its duo of owners, whose attention to every detail from acoustics to lighting has made their club one of the city’s most in-demand venues for both Japanese and international artists.

Among the big names who have thrilled audiences here in the past are minimal techno pioneer Moritz von Oswald and YPY, the techno-focused alias of Osaka-based experimental multi-talent Koshiro Hino. The uncompromising programming is complemented by reasonable pricing: most alcoholic drinks cost ¥500, while soft drinks and sweet treats like homemade vanilla ice cream topped with rum raisins go for ¥300.

Spelling out Ore no na wa J (‘My name is J’), the bulky black-and-white sign of this ramen joint suggests some serious grease, but that preconception couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both the interior and the refined noodle dishes here are firmly on the light side, as exemplified by J’s signature Collagen Tsukemen. Its creamy white dipping sauce, a mixture of tonkotsu broth and a collagen-packed bone broth made from pork and chicken legs, sticks easily to the handmade noodles, crafted from a blend of five types of wheat flour.

If you’re feeling peckish or just need a cold one heading back to or from Kitakagaya at night, do consider stopping by this gyoza-focused izakaya. Conveniently located right by the metro station, Tonchinkan is your quintessential neighbourhood pub, with the obligatory grumpy chef and his more jovial better half who waits the tables, extremely affordable beer (¥500 for a pint of draught) and a lengthy menu of booze-compatible eats like cucumber with miso (¥450) and deep-fried spring rolls (¥560).

Dumplings are what set Tonchinkan apart from the crowd. Trained in traditional Chinese cooking, the chef’s signature Tonchin gyoza (¥400) are served on a piping hot iron plate and appropriately packed with garlic and ginger underneath a thin, crispy skin. Dip them in some house-made chilli oil or shoyu-based sauce and you have a dish worth writing home about. The shrimp gyoza (¥500) are another highlight, best eaten with a pinch of salt to bring out the umami flavour in full.

The characters on the deep blue noren curtain flying over the entrance to Oku spell out taishu sakaba – translating to ‘public tavern’ or ‘people’s pub’ – and that sort of down-to-earth, no-frills vibe is exactly what this classic, family-run boozer embodies.

In business since 1977, when Suminoe ward was the heart of Osaka’s shipbuilding industry and the streets teemed with exhausted and thirsty labourers every night, Oku has changed little in the intervening decades, still filling up with patrons in search of cheap but tasty tipples.

Besides its old-school atmosphere, this joint’s prices also feel like a throwback: heaping plates of izakaya staples such as potato salad, deep-fried kushikatsu skewers and super-fresh nigiri sushi go for a mere ¥200–500. The ancient-looking blackboards behind the bar list more than 200 menu items – the result of catering to regulars’ every request over the years – and all dishes are made to order.