Best things to do in Osaka this weekend

The annual Sakai Festival is the largest event in Osaka prefecture’s Sakai city, held every third weekend of October. This vibrant two-day celebration transforms key locations across the city – including the main thoroughfare Okoji-suji and Mina Sakai plaza in front of Sakai City Hall – into a lively showcase of tradition and community spirit.

Festival highlights include dramatic matchlock gun demonstrations (October 19, 11am–4pm), the energetic Futondaiko drum procession (October 19, 11am–4pm) featuring performers in traditional Japanese attire, and a traditional tea ceremony (October 18, 9am–3.40pm, tickets required).

Over at Mina Sakai, there will be food and drink stalls, along with live performances and Futon drumming from 4pm to 9pm on Saturday October 1. The following day, from 11am to 5pm, the festivities get even bigger. You can enjoy live music and dance performances, explore an array of exhibitions, and feast on street food from a variety of stalls.

Summer in Japan is synonymous with fireworks festivals, but Osaka’s biggest pyrotechnic display has been moved to October this year to coincide with the finale of the World Expo. The Naniwa Yodogawa Fireworks Festival is held along the Yodogawa River with a spectacular view of the city skyline in the background. The hour-long festival is split into five sections, each featuring a pair of songs played in sync with the fireworks.

This autumn, Osaka’s Ohtsuki Noh Theatre will be illuminated by the soft, golden glow of Candlelight Concerts: The World of Joe Hisaishi, a series of Studio Ghibli–themed performances presented by Fever. A leading figure in contemporary and film music, Joe Hisaishi is globally celebrated for his long-standing collaboration with Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, composing the unforgettable scores that shaped films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Audiences can expect timeless pieces from all three of those films and many more, brought to life by some of Japan’s finest string quartets, including Chamber Music Atelier Kobe and Quartet Acanthus. 

The Ohtsuki Noh Theatre is the ideal setting for Hisaishi’s emotive compositions; when surrounded by candlelight its raised stage appears to float and its elegant wooden pagoda draws audiences into an intimate, dreamlike space. 

If you’re a fan of Japanese sake, don’t miss the Osaka Sake Expo 2025, set to take place over the weekend of October 18–19 at the Nanoniwa Lawn in Naniwa Palace Ruins Park (North Block). Hosted annually by the Osaka Brewers Association since 2022, the event showcases a diverse selection of sake, wine and beer produced locally by 12 sake breweries, 24 beer breweries and two wineries.

Tickets are required for all drinks. A set of 15 tickets costs ¥4,500, with the first 500 sets available at a discounted rate of ¥4,000. Additionally, an advance admission set of 12 tickets, priced at ¥3,600, grants early entry 30 minutes before the event opens. You can get your ticket online in advance.

After a series of high-profile exhibitions at Tokyo’s Ginza Six and Saitama’s Hyper Museum Hanno, Kenji Yanobe is bringing his signature cat-astronauts, known as Ship’s Cat, to Osaka.

Held at MASK (Mega Art Storage Kitakagaya), a repurposed art warehouse formerly used for steel processing, this exhibition revolves around Luca, the solar tower-shaped spaceship first seen in the now-concluded Big Cat Bang exhibition at Ginza Six. It’s displayed alongside other sculptures from the Ship’s Cat series, as well as works by other artists from MASK’s collection.

Symbolising order, harmony and balance, cosmos flowers are a classic emblem of autumn in Japan. From October 4 to November 3, the Expo '70 Commemorative Park will host its annual Cosmos and Kochia Flower Festival.

Taking place on the west side of the Natural and Cultural Gardens, the event showcases around 150,000 cosmos flowers in shades of pink, white, red and yellow, covering the entire Flower Hill. Complementing the colourful display are approximately 3,600 kochia plants — fluffy, ball-shaped shrubs that turn brilliant red as the season changes.

Born in Osaka, Yasumasa Morimura is one of the most compelling Japanese artists of our time. A conceptual photographer, filmmaker and visual artist, Morimura is best known for appropriating iconic Western paintings and classic imagery from history and popular culture. He inserts himself into these works as a form of self-portraiture through expert use of props, costumes, make-up and digital manipulation.

Since the debut of Portrait (Van Gogh) in 1985, Morimura has produced self-portraits based on works by renowned artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Velázquez, Johannes Vermeer and many more. While often cheeky, witty and even humorous, his meticulous recreations of some of the art world’s most recognisable masterpieces not only challenge our relationship with the originals but also highlight Japan’s fascination with Western culture.

Marking the 40th anniversary of his career, Morimura has organised this retrospective exhibition to showcase one work from each year between 1985 and 2024. Here, you can also explore a chronological timeline of his artistic journey, view four of his personal favourite pieces, and discover previously unreleased works for the first time.

Just 20 minutes by train from Umeda, Kitakagaya Multi Barthe is a temporary, multi-sensory sauna installation that blends wellness with contemporary art, botanical design and sea views. Created by the team behind the popular Osaka Sauna Desse in Shinsaibashi, the project takes place at Creative Center Osaka in Kitakagaya, a former shipyard turned cultural venue. This sauna pop-up is part of the centre’s 20th anniversary program.

Set within a vast post-industrial space, Multi Barthe is designed to rejuvenate the senses through a combination of steam, water, light, sound and scent, while also inspiring creative engagement through immersive artworks. Here, you move through curated grounds dotted with sauna structures, video installations, sculpture and plant-based environments, all intended to create a holistic experience for both body and mind.

On the weekend of September 27–28, Multi Barthe will host Osaka Sound Barthe, a two-day urban sauna, music and art festival held across the site.

Founded in Osaka prefecture in 1996, POP Circus (whose acronym stands for ‘Pursuit of Pleasure’) is a renowned touring entertainment troupe specialising in world-class human acrobatics. Known for its high-energy, family-friendly performances, POP Circus’s latest show in Aramotokita features top-tier artists from over 10 countries performing jaw-dropping, and sometimes death-defying, stunts, including flying trapeze, aerial acrobatics, high-level juggling and African-style hand voltige.

This marks POP Circus’s first performance in Osaka prefecture in 12 years. The show runs until January 12 2026, in an air-conditioned tent set up in front of the Higashi-Osaka City Hall. Performances typically start at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm, though the number of shows varies by day, and some days (usually around mid-week) have no performances. Each performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, including a 15-minute interval.

One of the most prolific artists of our time, Yayoi Kusama has created a strikingly diverse body of work spanning painting, sculpture, performance art and fashion. Yet across all mediums, her art is consistently defined by themes of obsessive repetition and proliferation, expressions she has described as a form of ‘self-therapy’ born from her hallucinations.

What sets Kusama apart is her ability to continually reinvent these signature motifs in imaginative ways. Her work always feels fresh, even as it remains instantly recognisable. This thematic continuity is on display in the small but curated exhibition now showing at Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka until January 2026. Titled ‘Infinity – Selected Works From The Collection’, the showcase brings together pieces from her early career through to her most recent creations.

The clear highlight of the exhibition is the Infinity Room, which transforms her repetitive motifs into a physical, immersive experience. ‘Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field (or Floor Show)’ (1965/2013) is one of the earliest works in her widely celebrated ‘Infinity Mirror Room’ series. 

Osaka-born Koide Narashige (1887–1931) was a pioneering figure in Western-style Japanese painting, and this comprehensive exhibition at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art marks his first major retrospective in 25 years.

A graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts, Narashige produced a prolific body of work in oil painting, focusing primarily on still lifes and female nudes. It was his portrayals of the female nude, however, that earned him lasting acclaim. 

The exhibition features key works from each period of Narashige’s oeuvre, tracing his contributions to early 20th-century Japanese art. You can also expect to see a selection of sketches, book designs, illustrations and writings that highlight his wide-ranging creative talents beyond painting.

Expo ’70 Commemorative Park is home to two of Osaka’s most popular and best-attended flea markets, one in its Festival Square and one in its East Square. The Expo Garage Sale is noted for the wide range of goods its vendors sell. Expect handmade items, accessories, antiques, bric-a-brac, and plenty of second-hand and vintage clothes. 

Most importantly, expect bargains. The organisers pride themselves on the market being a true-to-its-name ‘out of the garage’ sale. That means you’ll need to bring cash, and that bargaining – albeit politely – is encouraged. If you prioritise low prices over being particular about the products, know that in the afternoon, the crowding calms down and many of the amateur vendors lower their prices. 

The market also attracts food trucks, and the park has several cafés and restaurants so there are plenty of options for a picnic in the park.