Things to do in and around Osaka today

Kagami is an awe-inspiring project conceived and created during the final four years of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s life. Here, visitors don special headsets to experience a digitally reconstructed performance by Sakamoto at a grand piano within a mixed-reality space. This allows for a fully immersive enjoyment of the performance, at a proximity that’s impossible in a traditional concert setting. The experience will also be enhanced by dreamy 3D visuals that respond to the music.  The exhibition premiered in New York in 2023 and has since toured London, Taipei, Singapore, Melbourne and several other international cities to critical acclaim. Now finally arriving in Japan, this exhibition will feature an expanded version titled ‘Kagami+’. The venue will be designed for a multi-sensory immersion incorporating video, photography, text and even a scent blended by Sakamoto himself. In addition to the main Kagami+ experience, visitors will be able to explore other exhibits that offer deeper insight into Sakamoto’s music. These include the theatre and visual piece ‘Time, Time’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani, ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2026 - D’, and a new sound installation, among other works.

Studio Ghibli has such an enduring appeal that anything bearing its name is bound to succeed. Ghibli Park is a prime example. This immersive attraction is easily the studio’s crown jewel, as it brings the anime house’s beloved universe and heartfelt storytelling to life. Back in 2022, to coincide with the park’s highly anticipated opening, the ‘Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition’ toured ten venues across Japan, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at the park’s concept and creation. The travelling exhibition was a massive hit, drawing approximately 1.7 million visitors at the end of its run in 2025. Now, more than three years after the park’s debut, a new exhibition is set to tour Japan, this time highlighting the park’s current state. The best part is, the new exhibition will kick off in Osaka this July before travelling to other prefectures. This new Ghibli Park Exhibition will have 'play' as its theme, with a majority of the showcases designed to be interactive and experiential. One key exhibit is the Mini Ghibli Park, where all five zones of the Aichi attraction are recreated as a board game experience. The squares on the floor are styled after Ghibli Park posters, and there will be plenty of games and photo opportunities. Moreover, visitors get to enjoy two of Ghibli Park's most popular features here in Osaka. One is the revised and expanded edition of the 'Delicious! Animating Memorable Meals' exhibition, which explores the important role of food in Ghibli films...

Beer garden weather is here, and the annual Suntory Building Rooftop Beer Garden is open to ring in the sunny days. Running until September 26, the lofty spot lets you choose from a range of barbecue packages, with the signature Beef Loin BBQ and Beef Loin & Seafood BBQ courses available throughout. There are also seasonal options like the Herb Chicken & Thick-Cut Bacon BBQ Course (available April to June, and September), the Hokkaido Lamb Jingisukan BBQ Course (April to June) and the Okinawa Nakaochi Kalbi Ryukyu BBQ Course (July to September). Barbecue deals start at ¥5,000 and come with an all-you-can-drink plan that includes Suntory’s signature offerings like Premium Malts draft beers, Sui Gin cocktails and All-Free (non-alcoholic beer). Kids meals and various add-ons like sausages, seafood skewers and steak are also available, if you’re looking to make your meal a little more substantial. Walk-ins are possible, but we strongly recommend making a reservation. Note that as this is an outdoor event, the beer garden may be closed in the case of heavy rain or inclement weather.

Active during the late Edo period (1603–1868), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was a talented ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist whose work crosses multiple genres. While he is best known for his musha-e, or warrior prints, he also painted uniquely styled landscapes incorporating Western painting techniques, as well as portraits of stylish women (bijin-ga) and popular actors. His work was so extensive and prolific that he established a reputation as a super creator in the ukiyo-e world back in the day. This exhibition brings together about 200 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s work. His extraordinary and versatile talent is showcased across six distinct genres. You can expect to see some of his most iconic artworks including ‘The Takiyasha Witch and the Skeleton Spectre’ (one of the world’s most recognisable ukiyo-e images) and ‘Fifty Three Stations of the Tokaido Road Explained by Cats’. Aside from the traditional display, the organisers of the immensely popular Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition have transformed roughly 50 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s woodblock prints into a captivating digital art experience. Titled ‘Kuniyoshi Immersive Art’, the installation features artworks projected into a three-dimensional space using cutting-edge 3DCG animation and projection mapping technologies. This allows visitors to feel like they are stepping into Kuniyoshi’s vivid imagination. The exhibition is closed on Mondays, except July 20 and September 21

The Umeda Tanabata Festival is returning to Shin Umeda City (the area around the Umeda Sky Building) until August 8. Running for its 20th year, the free-to-enjoy festival features brilliantly colourful Sendai Tanabata streamers, which can be found around the Umeda Sky Building and along the ‘Showa retro’ shopping street at Takimi Koji.  Until July 7, those who dine at restaurants along the shopping street are presented with strips of coloured paper to write their wishes on, which are then tied onto bamboo branches along the street.  A small summer festival with carnival games for children will be held at Takimi Koji on the weekend of July 4 and 5, as well as on July 7. The festival runs from 4pm to 8pm daily. In addition, from 5pm to 9pm on the same days, you can light a tealight and set it out on a pond in a bamboo boat at the Star Pocket square outdoors. Live jazz performances will also take place from 6pm on these days to further enhance the vibrant atmosphere.

The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany, holds one of the finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art outside France. As the museum prepares for a two-year closure to facilitate an extensive renovation, some of its most prized possessions are going on tour across several cities in Japan, including Osaka.  Held for three months at the Abeno Harukas Art Museum, the exhibition is built around Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Drawbridge’ (1888). This landscape piece is from the artist’s Arles period, a time when he is believed to have established his signature style. The oil painting is widely celebrated for its vibrant, colourful depiction of southern France.  Overall, the exhibition features 70 masterpieces from 42 renowned Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters including Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin and Pissarro. Rounding off the curation are several works by artists of the Barbizon School, such as Jean-François Millet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Note: advance tickets with ¥200 discount are available online until July 3. The exhibition is closed on Monday July 6.

In Japan, summer is for fireworks – and kakigori, as the lip-smacking shaved ice dessert is the ultimate remedy for the punishing heat. This season, Sesame Street Market, the franchise’s official merchandise store and café in Hanshin Umeda Main Store, is turning our childhood nostalgia into adorable icy cool treats. The lineup features seven beloved Sesame Street characters – Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Oscar, Abby, Ernie and Bert – plus a special rainbow version. Each kakigori is made with natural spring water ice and syrups free of artificial colouring, plus a variety of toppings including fresh fruit, ice cream, sorbet, red beans, rice cakes and coconut. You can expect a vibrant mix of colours and textures. Highlights include Ernie (chestnut and hojicha roasted green tea), Oscar (matcha and milk), Big Bird (mango and coconut), Elmo (strawberry and milk) and Bert (custard pudding syrup and caramel sauce). Note that the first release (June 25–August 31) and the second release (September 1–30) will each feature a different set of characters. Prices range from ¥1,480 to ¥1,980.

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. Early works such as Three Ball 50/50 Tank exemplify his strategy of reframing industrial commodities as icons of the American Dream. The celebrated 1988 Banality series, including Woman in Tub and Wild Boy and Puppy, merges pop imagery and personal memory in technically virtuosic sculptures that challenge conventional taste. In later large-scale paintings, such as those from the Hulk Elvis series, dense layers of visual elements evoke a world saturated with images. Through collage, exaggeration and seductive reflective surfaces, Koons transforms the ordinary into a site of contemplation and delight, inviting...

One of the world’s most renowned design houses, Marimekko is beloved for its iconic style combining joyous prints with vibrant colours. Since its inception in 1951, the Finnish brand has produced more than 3,500 original prints, and its signature cheery designs can be found across all aspects of modern lifestyle from fashion to homeware. This two-year touring exhibition takes a deep dive into the brand’s heritage, aesthetics and creative vision. It opens in Kyoto before travelling to other cities in Japan, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum in October. Through a diverse collection of artworks, textiles and dresses across the decades, the exhibition sheds light on Marimekko’s design approach as well as its printmaking techniques.  Highlights include a video installation by multidisciplinary art and design collective plaplax, which uses digital projection to showcase Marimekko's Print Factory in Helsinki. Separately, another installation documents an exchange between Japanese textile artist Akira Minagawa and Marimekko, and its culmination in a new print designed by the artist and produced by the brand in Helsinki. This exhibition is closed on Mondays (except July 20) and on July 21

Emerging in the wake of the Margaret Thatcher era, the Young British Artists (YBAs) and their contemporaries embraced shock, irreverence and entrepreneurial flair. While the YBA label (applied after the landmark 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition organised by Damien Hirst) was often contested, it came to define a generation that reimagined what art could be. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation all became tools for probing themes of identity, consumer culture and shifting social structures.  ‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’ is the first exhibition in Japan devoted exclusively to British art of the 1990s. It debuted in Tokyo earlier this year before arriving at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Featuring around 90 works by some 50 artists, the show captures a turbulent and transformative period in British culture, when politics, society and art collided to spark a wave of radical experimentation. Highlights include works by Hirst, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Wolfgang Tillmans and Julian Opie, alongside others who reshaped contemporary art on a global stage. More than a retrospective, ‘YBA & Beyond’ offers a vivid portrait of 1990s Britain, an era when art intersected with music, fashion and subculture, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate today.