The best things to do in Osaka in May 2026

Osaka Art & Design 2026 is like a treasure hunt. This four-week-long creative festival features a host of exhibitions, events and activities across the city's main hubs, from Umeda, Nakanoshima and Abeno to Honmachi, Shinsaibashi and Namba.

And it's not just museums and galleries either. You'll find visual arts, installations, product designs and more in a wide variety of spaces including department stores, train stations, commercial facilities and home interior shops. Since its debut in 2023, the city-wide festival has become a staple in Osaka’s annual art calendar. Last year, it attracted 760 creators with exhibits scattered across 65 venues. 

For the 2026 edition, you can expect works by emerging Japanese and international artists and designers across various disciplines. Highlights include installations by contemporary artist Yuichi Hirako at Hankyu Umeda Main Store's display windows on the concourse floor (May 20–June 22) and the Festival Plaza (May 27–June 8) on the 9th floor, as well as a group exhibition inspired by the mythical phoenix at Daimaru Shinsaibashi (May 29–June 25). Kenji Yanobe, the creator behind the adorable 'catstronaut' character Ship's Cat, will have a pop-up at Takashimaya Osaka from May 27 to June 16.

Aside from these art and design showcases, there are three guided tours worth making reservations for: the free mural art tours in Konohana Ward (June 3 and June 13), as well as the Osaka architecture tours of Kitasemba (June 20) and Minami (June 21)...

By bringing together three Kansai-born, internationally renowned artists who each has a singular point of view on the world today, this group exhibition is bound to be a blockbuster hit.

Born in Osaka, Kenji Yanobe creates functional mechanical sculptures that carry underlying social commentary on modern survival. He is perhaps best known for his Ship’s Cat series, ‘catstronauts’ envisioned as guardian spirits to protect travellers. One of these beloved feline figures now permanently greets visitors at the entrance of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, the host of this showcase.

Fellow Osaka artist Yasumasa Morimura is a master of disguise. A conceptual photographer, filmmaker and visual artist, Morimura is renowned for appropriating iconic Western paintings and historical images. He inserts himself into these works as a form of self-portraiture through a meticulous fusion of props, costumes, make-up and digital manipulation.

Rounding out the trio is Miwa Yanagi. Born in Kobe, Yanagi creates evocative works that put women at the centre of the narrative. Through photography, make-up and digital effects, her captivating images examine women’s roles and gender stereotypes in modern Japanese society...

Prominent creative studio Naked is drawing on its digital art technology expertise to bring the visionary world of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) to life. Following a popular run in Tokyo that attracted over 170,000 visitors earlier this year, the exhibition now arrives in Osaka. 

This is not a fan tribute. Held in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death and the completion of the Sagrada Familia’s central tower of Jesus Christ, ‘Naked Meets Gaudi’ is an officially sanctioned exhibition produced in collaboration with the Gaudí Foundation.

The comprehensive display of rare archival materials – including letters, manuscripts, personal notebooks, blueprints and architectural tools – offers a deep dive into Gaudí’s genius mind. You’ll learn about his singular approach to architecture, defined by an organic, nature-inspired aesthetic that shaped everything from Casa Batlló and Casa Milà to Park Güell and his magnum opus, the Sagrada Familia. Today, seven of his works are collectively designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

What sets this exhibition apart from a typical museum show is the inclusion of immersive, experiential elements – something Naked is known for...

One of the world’s most beloved Impressionist artists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) is widely celebrated as the ‘painter of happiness’. Over an illustrious career spanning 60 years, he explored a wide range of subjects – portraits, landscapes, still lifes, nudes – yet they all exude a characteristic joy, warmth and affection. This was guided by a personal belief that paintings should be lovable and beautiful. 

To commemorate the 185th anniversary of his birth, Sanno Art Museum has brought together 50 works from its collection to trace Renoir’s artistic journey through the major phases of his life – 12 pieces of which are being exhibited for the very first time.

The exhibition unfolds across five chapters. The first covers Renoir’s early years (until 1880), when he was an aspiring artist exploring the early days of Impressionism. Chapter two (1881–1889) highlights his return to classical painting, while chapter three (1890–1900) examines his rising recognition at a time when Impressionism was gaining popular acclaim...

Yajuro Takashima (1890–1975) stands as one of modern Japan’s most enigmatic artistic figures. Born in Fukuoka prefecture, the self-taught oil painter forged a career entirely outside the established art world. As a result, his work remained virtually unknown during his lifetime, only gaining recognition in 1986, more than a decade after his death, when his photorealistic technique and contemplative subject matter finally captured public attention.

Known for his meticulous, almost obsessive approach, Takashima developed a unique style that brought an uncanny realism to his subjects. His most celebrated works – flickering candles casting warm light in darkness and luminous moons suspended in night skies – reveal an artist deeply concerned with illumination, both literal and spiritual. These iconic motifs, rendered with painstaking attention to light and shadow, earned him recognition as a painter of rare technical mastery and meditative depth.

From spring through early summer, the Nakanoshima Museum of Art presents the most comprehensive retrospective of Takashima’s art ever held in Osaka. Marking the 50th anniversary of his passing, the exhibition brings together over 160 works, including numerous pieces shown publicly for the first time...

One of Japan’s most distinguished contemporary artists, Tokyo‑born Natsuyuki Nakanishi (1935–2016) left behind an impressive body of work that defies neat categorisation. His paintings often question the purpose and existence of a painting, making them difficult to classify as strictly figurative or abstract.

Classically trained in painting, Nakanishi is also closely associated with the avant-garde art scene of 1960s Japan. During that period, as a founding member of the boundary-pushing art collective Hi-Red Center, his practice expanded beyond traditional painting to include performance art. Later, after an inspiring collaboration with butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata, he returned to painting with a more evolved conceptual approach.

Nakanishi’s iconic works are often executed with unusually long brushes and painted from a distance, frequently employing vibrant colours such as orange, yellow-green and purple...

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Ultraman series, the Hirakata amusement park is hosting a VR-experience 'museum' where fans can step into the fantastical world of the titular hero.

The Land of Light Museum: Ultraman XR Journey is divided into four zones connected via a narrative thread. As the story goes, a museum celebrating the life and history of Ultraman heroes has opened in Ultraman’s home world, the Land of Light, and humans on Earth are now welcome to visit.

To go on this VR journey, you first choose an avatar dressed in a soldier uniform. In the opening zone, a larger-than-life Ultraman appears and whisks you away on a dreamlike journey to his home in the Land of Light. Zone 2 is the monster exhibition room, where you get to examine renowned Ultraman foes in 360-degree views, including iconic kaiju such as Baltan Seijin, Gomora and King Joe.

Moving on to the exhibition of Ultraman heroes in Zone 3, you’ll encounter the different versions of the titular hero as the tribute looks back at the franchise’s 60-year legacy. Saving the best for last, Zone 4 will put you in the thick of intense battle scenes between Ultraman and some of his most fearsome adversaries...

Sitting at the intersection of history, science, magic and horror, mummies are an enduring source of fascination for many – and at the heart of this exhibition featuring a selection of masterpieces from the prestigious Egyptian collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Following successful runs in Tokyo and Hiroshima, the show will be on at the Abeno Harukas Art Museum from March 20 to June 14.

The 150 artefacts on display include sculptures, coffins, jewellery, pottery, earthenware, papyrus scrolls and, of course, human and animal mummies. You can dive right into the lore with immersive video and audio presentations about the pyramids and ancient Egyptian spells, learn about the daily lives of people in the age of the pharaohs, and study up on their beliefs about the afterlife.

Jeff Koons occupies a singular position in contemporary art. Known for his polished surfaces, bold iconography and unapologetic embrace of popular imagery, the American artist has continually blurred the boundaries between high culture and mass consumption. By elevating everyday objects – vacuum cleaners, basketballs, cartoon figures – into the realm of fine art, Koons interrogates value, desire and collective memory. Held in major museum collections worldwide, his works function as both mirrors and provocations, reflecting the aspirations and contradictions of contemporary society.

This exhibition at Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka is organised as part of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s ‘Hors-les-murs’ program and brings together seven significant sculptures and paintings drawn from the foundation’s collection, tracing the evolution of Koons’s practice from the 1980s onward...