The best things to do in Tennoji

An inquisitive culinary mind with more than a passing interest in Buddhism, Ryoya Ito travelled to India to discover the roots of his religion. He returned a changed man – mostly thanks to all the incredible food he tasted while on the subcontinent. Ito has been hard at work replicating and refining those enlightening flavours ever since, running this comfy curry-focused eatery since 2012.

Decorated with Buddha statues and located a stone’s throw from Shitennoji, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan, Rainbow Buddha is open for lunch every day of the week, offering up Ito’s signature Dashi Keema curry (¥1,300). A mild mixture of Sri Lanka-style curry and Japanese fish stock that showcases its creator’s background in orthodox washoku, the dish wows with its colourful presentation and impeccable balance of sweet, sour and spicy flavours. For some extra fire, pair the Dashi Keema with the day’s spicy curry for an extra ¥300. You also get to choose from a selection of six toppings, including raw egg and crispy papad.

Within the boundaries of Tennoji Park, a botanical oasis in the heart of the city, is the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. The museum’s collection spans over 8,000 pieces of art from within the country and other parts of Asia. Not only are there traditional kakejiku (Japanese hanging scroll art), ceramics and lacquerware; Chinese paintings are also on display, in addition to religious art from Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

The property, originally the estate of the affluent Sumitomo family, was donated to create one of the first art museums in Japan. The grounds also include the Keitakuen Garden, a gorgeously landscaped Japanese garden centred on a pond. Opened in 1936 and beautifully renovated in 2025, the museum is a landmark of Osaka.

One of Japan’s oldest Buddhist temples, Shitennoji has been reconstructed several times but it remains faithful to its original 6th-century design. You can enter the outer temple grounds for free, but it’s worth forking out ¥300 to ¥500 to venture inside to see the impressive five-storey pagoda, the Gokuraku-jodo Zen garden and the Treasure Hall, which showcases hundreds of Important Cultural Properties and artefacts.

Formerly Japan’s tallest building, Abeno Harukas towers 300 metres above the city and includes an observation deck, art museum, hotel and the largest department store in Japan – all on top of Kintetsu Osaka-Abenobashi Station. The standout is the three-storey Harukas 300 observatory, which features floor-to-ceiling picture windows as well as glass flooring, plus an open-air ‘sky garden’ that’s perfect for sitting on top of the world on sunny days.

Don’t forget to catch the sunset from the alfresco wooden deck on the 58th floor – when timed correctly, the evening sun aligns between two monoliths for the perfect photo op. More importantly, the top floor has 360-degree views of Osaka – even the restrooms offer jaw-dropping vistas. On a clear day, you can see all the way out to Awaji Island and Mt Rokko.

You don’t have to take many steps from the ticket gates at Tennoji Station to reach this petite standing-only sake bar in the Via Abeno Walk complex, where regulars and first-timers bond over fine brews from late afternoon every day of the week.

Start by perusing the day’s specials, displayed handwritten on a prominently placed whiteboard, or just ask the staff for recommendations. You won’t be overspending either way: a 60ml glass of the good stuff can be had for as low as ¥380, and even the rarest varieties are extremely reasonably priced. 

Another smart way to order is to choose a few small nibbles first – they’ve got everything from excellent sashimi and deep-fried snacks to seasonal eats like oden, all available for around ¥300 each – and leave the pairing up to the resident experts.

Redevelopment has transformed the centre of the Tennoji-Abeno area, but walk a couple of blocks westward from the high-rises around the station and the cityscape suddendly turns a lot more human-sized. Here, one of the tallest structures is still this traditional communal bathhouse’s sturdy chimney.

Hinode-yu looks much like your quintessential neighbourhood sento from the outside, but there’s much more to this spot than hot baths and bright yellow Kerorin tubs. Smooth jazz plays in the changing rooms, where the ceiling is decorated with a show-stopping koi mural by local artist and former rock music producer Hideki Kimura.

As for the baths, the eclectic selection includes a hydrogen rotenburo, a gold-coloured cold plunge, a slightly shocking ‘electric bath’ (denkiburo) and even a faux onsen replicating the hot spring water of the famed Ikaho Onsen up in Gunma prefecture. Men dead set on sweating their worries away will want to check out the Finnish-style sauna, built with lava rocks from Mt Fuji and heated to a skin-tingling 110 degrees Celsius.

Spacious, open and conveniently located, Tennoji Park is one of the city’s best-loved green spaces. Tenshiba, located in the part nearest to Tennoji Station, is popular with local families spending time outdoors, with many cafés and restaurants alongside futsal courts and a kids’ play centre. The rest of the park also has lots of beautiful greenery in addition to a Zen garden and an art museum for the adults.

Tennoji Zoo right next to the park is also a decent, budget-friendly activity for those who can’t make it out to NIFREL or the Kaiyukan: just ¥500 per adult (¥200 for elementary and junior high school students) nets you entrance to one of the oldest zoos in Japan, with over 1,000 animals to see. Some highlights include the polar bears, Malayan sun bear, Humboldt penguins, and California sea lions.

This small shop in Shinsekai sells zines, badges, T-shirts, CDs and more, all made by local street artists. Before Voyage Kids opened at its current location in 2015, the owner toured the country with a van, hawking zines and other merchandise.

Occasionally, Voyage Kids organises events such as the T-shirt exhibition ‘Tees Run Everywhere’, and next door you’ll find the event space Matonari, where you can partake in pottery classes and soap workshops.

Osaka’s landmark Tsutenkaku Tower got a whole lot more exciting in 2022, when this 60-metre-long, tube-shaped transparent slide was attached to the elevator tower next to the main spire. Spiralling down from a height of 22 metres, the slide offers plenty of thrills for the young and the young at heart.

After purchasing your ticket (¥1,000 for adults, ¥500 for kids aged 6 to 15), you’ll be guided to an elevator taking you up to the third-floor observation deck. From there, it’s a 10-second ride down to ground level – blink and you’ll miss the city views.

A stone’s throw away from Tsutenkaku, the Pax hostel shares a building with a café specialising in Vietnamese-style bánh mì sandwiches. The artsy hostel has separate dormitories for men and women, plus a variety of single rooms with space for one to four guests, while the café welcomes walk-ins and even has a little playground slide to keep the young ’uns happy.

As for the bánh mì (from ¥700), there’s no pretension to authenticity here: they use red baguettes that get their bright colour from beetroot extract, while condiments include specialities such as chilli mayo. It’s a hodgepodge of influences and cooking styles that somehow results in deliciously spicy sarnies. These can be washed down with a cup of coffee from the in-house roastery or some homemade ginger soda (¥550) seasoned with black pepper and cloves.

A throwback to simpler and smokier days, coffee shop Doremi has been serving up pitch-black coffee, custard pudding, cream soda and other kissaten essentials in the shadow of Tsutenkaku since 1967. The vine-covered building and displays of colourful plastic food samples by the entrance contribute to the retro atmosphere, as do the round silver lamps and vermillion furniture inside, where guidebook-toting tourists rub shoulders with ageing locals burying their noses in newspapers.

The menu book, its cover adorned with a cute waiter-clad cat, includes a long list of sandwiches and desserts from pancakes to the aforementioned pudding. King among the sweet treats is the Pudding Royale, a firmish little indulgence doused in caramel sauce and served with beautiful cuts of fruits including apple, banana, peach, orange and pineapple.

Smartball, fortuna, Japanese pinball – the game played at this most curious of arcades in Naniwa has many names. Essentially an analogue version of pinball and a predecessor of pachinko, smartball involves using a spring launcher to shoot balls upward and have them roll down into holes scattered along an inclined table. Dedicated entirely to smartball and going strong for more than 50 years, New Star is the only gaming hall of its kind in Osaka (and perhaps in all of Japan).    

Once inside – you might need to flash some ID to enter, as smartball is legally considered equivalent to pachinko and off limits for those under 18 – pick any of the roughly 50 tables in the vast room to get going. Inserting a ¥100 coin gets you 25 balls to start with, and each hit on a numbered target gets you a load of additional balls according to the digit above the hole.

Hitting the ‘15’ in the middle opens up an extra ‘15’ target for a limited time, providing for the opportunity to score some serious points. Once satisfied with your haul, bring your balls to the designated counter to exchange them for candy, plush toys or other miscellanea. There are seven types of table among the 50, each with different designs and target locations.