Gay Osaka, Japan | The Essential LGBT Travel Guide!

Osaka might fly in radar as a destination oft-forgotten amongst Kyoto’s history and Tokyo’s modernity. Nonetheless, within this lively area, you’ll find people slightly less old-fashioned, a little more lively, and all of prepared to have fun.

Home to Japan’s second-largest gay scene, Osaka is where to allow loose and view where the night takes you.

You’ll find three primary homosexual areas in Osaka, but Doyama is easily the greatest & most welcoming to foreigners. Similar to in Gay Tokyo, the pubs here are often hyper-niched, providing toward a specific tribe – bears, salarymen, younger twinks, etc. – and oh-so-

Japanese. Discreet, compartmentalized, often smaller compared to a cruiseship cabin and obsessed with purchase, though luckily not exactly since uptight as
Tokyo
.

Girls should be aware that numerous gay night life places in Doyama never permit female customers, but there are many lesbian bars which do not allow male consumers, generally there is one thing right here for everyone.

The quintessential adventurous homosexual tourist may possibly need to check out small Namba gay scene, Kabukiza-ura (“behind the Kabuki theater”), and is distinctly much less worldwide yet still extremely inviting. Or you communicate Japanese, attempt the Tennoji homosexual scene, in your neighborhood around Tsutenkaku Tower – the initial post-war homosexual place that now pulls primarily older residents.

Regional perceptions, however, indicate many people from other countries can only test but a few places, specifically beyond Doyama, as individual relationships with members and tight Japanese-only regulations dictate who can enter. You may think this really is xenophobic – as well as being – but this is done in large component to protect people from getting judged by unknown requirements.

Japan is much like nowhere more on the planet, so that as whoever has checked out prior to will know, japan do things extremely in another way. The good news is the ongoing financial stagnation in Japan makes the united states – plus the gay scene of Osaka – much more available to foreigners, there have become a lot of homosexual saunas, bars, and groups that definitely pleasant Gaijin (the Japanese phrase for foreigners) in their middle.

Homosexuality never already been prosecuted in Japan – it wasn’t considered a sin, merely shameful. Now, despite current trends of tolerance and freely homosexual spaces in cosmopolitan places like Osaka,
Yokohama
, and
Tokyo
, lots of Japanese homosexual males and lesbians still conceal who they are.

Being gay often is nonetheless regarded as your own choice, although homophobia is unheard of, Japanese society views being homosexual as not something to-be flaunted or honestly talked about.

This live-and-let-live attitude – provided that external looks tend to be preserved – towards LGBT individuals now could be positively impeding gay rights in Japan. There isn’t any political and personal friction to drive situations ahead, unlike in
Vietnam
,
Asia
, and
Korea
.

You’ll find few openly homosexual lawmakers, celebs, or people, and also the National Diet features however to do this on including sexual direction in the united kingdom’s civil rights code.

Same-sex wedding is certainly not appropriate in the national amount, though at the time of 2019, twenty locations and urban area wards concern same-sex relationship certificates, which provide some benefits; however, they truly are totally symbolic.

Taiwan currently leads Asia in LGBT rights
, and with the expanding energy and huge plans of Kansai Pride, develop this will encourage Japanese culture and lawmakers to discuss defenses and equivalence for several citizens.

Regardless of this, gay tourists to Osaka – and Japan – are highly unlikely to achieve any discrimination after all concerning sexual choices.

With a dazzling gay scene – countless skyline, tasty street food, weird personalities, and destinations than one could ever desire to find out – with a refreshing passion for seemingly completely every little thing –  Gay Osaka is one of the planet’s a lot of underrated towns and cities and gay views.

Pop culture, style, and neon-lit streetscapes collide with cherry blossoms, concealed shrines, and peaceful alleys to make sure you might never end up being annoyed in Osaka. And even in case you are, Osaka is not known as the ‘nations kitchen’ for absolutely nothing, and everybody the following is apparently out permanently meals – and a fun time!

Tourist attractions in Osaka

Naturally, being gay cannot establish which tourist attractions many of us should see in each urban area, and most queer tourists would want to take a look at leading what to see in Osaka every day!

Discover really to accomplish here – but we found our favorite memories were roaming through, then getting missing during the relatively endless food roadways, seeing all odd cafes,
hitting up Universal Studios
and soothing using one of many
Osaka river cruises!
However – it can help for some notion of the proceedings, thus here are the most readily useful things you can do in Osaka, in accordance with all of us!

Naturally, as soon as you leave Osaka and return home, you won’t have the ability to deliver these street suppliers and sushi cooks along with you – then learn to prepare a few of these classic Osaka dishes from natives during your stay?

AirKitchen, is actually an internet gay-friendly preparing course service
that gives people with a chance to go to a normal Japanese house to master to prepare – and share dinner with each other. It really is Airbnb-esque, and a fabulous method of getting to experience the credibility and heat of neighborhood Japanese folks.

The preparing class alternatives tend to be since diverse as Osaka itself: sushi-making, ramen, bento cardboard boxes, takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (a Japanese savory pancake) – among others.

One of the best recommendations we can give you for checking out Gay Osaka is pre-order a travel SIM credit for easy airport pickup and activation the moment you appear so that you will not spend tons of money in worldwide roaming fees.

Get restaurants referral and bookings from the fly, trains and buses instructions up to the minute, bar orifice hours, and, when it is your thing – access to homosexual hook-up apps to find out more towards neighborhood scene.

Mobile information is quickly, inexpensive, and readily available all over the place in Asia, making it not surprising that most travelers elect to stay linked and get off the beaten track (without actually worrying all about acquiring missing). So why hold off?
Pre-order top regional SIM card today having it waiting for you in Osaka when you arrive.

Things To Do  in Osaka

Mario Go Kart Adventure

Set off on a real-life Mario Kart concert tour through the active roads of Osaka. Nothing is like it on the planet, and besides getting your center working and adrenaline working – you are going to become most popular guy in Osaka, with locals working when you simply for a photo! Just don’t forget about: you needs of international driver’s license before you decide to set off.

Mameshiba Café

Newly exposed from inside the tourist-popular Dotonbori area, this uniquely Japanese appeal enables you to get-up near and really with all the impossibly lovable Mameshiba canines. Costing 880 yen for thirty minutes (including one hot beverage), it’s quite active but nevertheless a fun small task – and a great way to get your daily dog fix! Having photos and videos is OK with flash-off.

Common Studios

One of the most popular interest in Osaka, spend day immersing your self inside favorite films with accessibility every one of Universal’s themed zones considering popular Hollywood blockbusters.

Just a brief journey from Osaka facility, we enjoyed the parades, thrill trips, weird restaurants, and passion of local Japanese in dressing in theme – but I have to confess this area is far, much busier compared to those in
Singapore
,
L . A .
, and
Orlando.

When you can, get an Universal present Pass for fast-track accessibility USJ’s most widely used tourist attractions to save lots of your self time.

Osaka Castle

Explore one of Japan’s most famous sites, which played a major role for the unification of Japan throughout sixteenth 100 years. Demolished in 1868 and since reconstructed, the castle is eight tales large, and every flooring has actually exhibits, as there are in addition a city observation program.

Even although you choose never to come in, the expansive reasons tend to be able to explore, with many options for street meals, picnicking and seeing local life play out. Whenever you time your go to for cherry flowers, better still, referring to one of the better places for viewing during the whole nation.

Osaka Gaming Arcades

While in the Western globe, arcades went ways of cassette tape and hammer jeans, in Japan, they might be however big business. The Osaka video game arcades are not only for the children either; indeed, pop into virtually any arcade around, lunch and you will see line upon row of entrepreneurs all acquiring their own fix before proceeding back once again to work.

The majority of have actually numerous amounts full of machines covering everything, from horse racing to moving to train driving. Taito Station is amongst the leading labels in Japanese arcade video gaming features a place in Namba, however you will discover enough mammoth arcade spaces dotted about.

Osaka Aquarium

Excellent for a rainy day. Check out the seals during the world’s biggest dome-shaped threshold tank for the Arctic region, hear the distinctive squawks of rockhopper penguins within the Falkland isles area, then reach sharks and light in the Maldives region. Additionally there is to enjoy right here, nevertheless the main reason travelers frequently go is always to marvel in the beautiful whale shark, the greatest seafood in the arena.

Nara Park

Book each day concert tour or make use of
JR Pass
to leave of Osaka and travel returning to the 8th 100 years with a trip into the imperial capital and UNESCO business history website of Nara. Find the region’s rich record, wander old temples and, of course, just take sweet photographs with all the tame ‘bowing’ deer of Nara Park.

Kyoto

Another fantastic excursion you can achieve from Osaka with the aid of the
JR Pass
or a trip. Kyoto will be the crown jewel of Japan’s social tourist crown, therefore do not miss out the possible opportunity to discover the peaceful appeal of Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, a listed UNESCO community Heritage web site, before visiting the gold-leaf zen temple of Kinkaku-ji and explore the immaculate Japanese landscapes.

Next, naturally, roam through thousands of orange tori gates winding through the wooded forests with the Fushimi Inari Shrine and if you have time, spend the evening Geisha spotting in the Gion history area…all eventually to catch the train back in its history for a night call at Gay Osaka.

Take To The Infamous Puffer Fish

Drop by Guenpin Fugu, the # 1 pufferfish string in Japan, and relish the distinctive flavor of Japanese fugu. Brave a taste for this poisonous catch which chefs require numerous years of training and a fugu license! Try the torafugu, or tiger pufferfish, the highest quality in the country, whilst you admire the restaurant’s old-fashioned setting and atmosphere.

DIY Takoyaki

Love an enjoyable and distinctive meal experience and learn how to generate real Japanese takoyaki with useful personnel in addition to English directions provided.

Create takoyaki with an octopus that is therefore fresh they can be eaten as sashimi and combined with some tasty salad, okonomiyaki, sobameshi, a treat, plus a 90-minute all-you-can-drink buffet. Osaka is the home of takoyaki, and if you’re not already enthusiastic about it-You, you will quickly be!

Spa Business

Spend the day at Osaka’s enormous hot springtime theme playground and address yourself to a first-class health spa experience featuring European and Asian-themed hot spring season bathrooms. Enjoy usage of Spa planet’s gymnasium, and exciting entertainment swimming pools with huge h2o slides, next soothe muscle tissue, alleviate all your tensions, and experience pleasure all-in-one place.

Do not skip the possiblity to experience this insanely big onsen intricate found in the Shinsekai place and discover more about the Japanese overdue.

Maid Cafe Experience

Should you want to discover weird Japan, just take a peek into Japan’s cosplay scene when maids greet you while you go into the café and get attentive service from waitresses dressed in precious maid outfits. What charm is there for gay people? We are not rather certain, but something tells us there are many more than several lesbians who’ll enjoy particularly this!

Osaka River Cruise

Often referred to as Japan’s liquid City, Osaka has many metropolitan canals and bridges, many of which act as the namesake with regards to their surrounding communities. While a river cruise around Dōtonbori Canal is on most visitors’ bucket listings, there’s much more to explore – including a Jazz cruise!

There is also a variety of other dressing up event cruises annually, like those where you could admire the cherry blossoms of Okawa when you look at the Hanami season and a Christmas time sail where you are able to enjoy the illumination full of light.

For homosexual travelers, they actually supply little exclusive cruise trips where go-go boys and drag queens are structured – however these tends to be difficult to find, therefore we motivate you to get in touch with Out Japan to arrange!

Mandrake

Globally’s largest anime and manga reseller, set up in the past in 1987 as a second hand manga supplier, Mandrake these days has morphed into Osaka’s biggest seller of made use of anime and manga-related items with two limbs in Osaka.

Our favorite may be the Mandarake great Chaos shop in Namba – but there’s additionally an area in Umeda – with several levels specialized in various collectibles, manga really works and art. Not your faint of cardiovascular system, there are some pretty serious anime works that cross some limits (let’s imagine
Japan only made the ownership of kid pornography a criminal activity in 2014
, and explicit anime isn’t covered).

An occasion tablet of Japanese pop culture, a call for the claustrophobic aisles of Mandarake must end up being the most strange things you can do in Osaka, and if you are maybe not cautious, you could invest times right here.

Dotonbori Street-Food

One of many holidaymaker destinations in Osaka with a variety of local meals particularly Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki, unique shopping, temples, neon lights, and lots of surprises. You can easily check out all on your own, however for top experience, I encourage
a led tour with an educated local
who is going to guide you on the best-hidden delights and must-try bowls of the “nation’s kitchen”.

MenZ-MenZY

Positioned above  Frenz Frenzy, very outlandish homosexual taverns in Osaka, MenZ-MenZY carries beautiful lingerie, swimwear, add-ons, plus having you appearing your very best. Imagine
Andrew Christian
and
AussieBums.
Tempt your self.

Kansai Queer Film Festival

A
gay movie event
taking place in locations across
Kyoto
and Osaka in September, now in its 13th 12 months. Cross styles and themes, this can be a festival that feels
love is really love
, pleasant every person, and providing an advanced atmosphere by which to have interaction making use of the local Kansai LGBT neighborhood.

Kansai Rainbow Pride

An amazingly family-friendly occasion, the Kansai Rainbow Parade is the largest LGBT parade in Japan away from Tokyo. Case is designed to promote understanding and enjoy diversity featuring a parade, stage programs, parties, and enjoyable tasks in Ogimachi Park from year to year in October.

As the organizers have large intentions to expand the big event into one of the primary in Asia, Osaka Pride reveals in many ways Japan is in the rock era when only 5,000 folks join compared to hundreds of thousands in
Hong Kong
,
Taipei
and
Sydney
– as well as Europe or me! However, its amazing to see NGOs and brand names acquiring onboard once the occasion expands.

In a nation in which modesty around outsiders is vital and intimate choice isn’t something to be flaunted, we are able to merely expect increased presence someday assists brand-new generations of Japanese feel at ease adequate to be exactly who they’re.

Gay-Friendly and Gay Hotels in Osaka

As Osaka is amongst the a lot more modern and gay-friendly nations in Asia, pretty much every resort in Osaka can be considered gay-friendly, and not one your visitors will encounter any issues here. After all, becoming gay-friendly is certainly not all about upscale luxury, but about providing friendly service and pleasant everybody with available arms!

Osaka is a major international mega-city with a lack of area, so space sizes tend to be smaller compared to almost everywhere otherwise in the field – but as plenty of homosexual men know, it isn’t really everything about dimensions, but how make use of it! The audience is making reference to layout, efficiency, and views, darling!

Everyone else likes to be enclosed by individuals with common passions. As a result, there are many well-known gay-friendly resorts in Osaka that are hot places for homosexual tourists to keep – either for their place close to the Doyama area gay community – the best spot to stay in Osaka if you are looking for homosexual nightlife – or their design and comprehensive vibes.

The next accommodations in Gay Osaka have got all had glowing tips from gay people prior to now, but of course,
discover a huge selection of various other places in Osaka
if they are not exactly what you’re searching for.

Whether you would like a great and personal hostel, a cheap location to crash after a night of partying, or an ultra-chic designer substitute for drink cocktails and encompass your self with fabulous individuals  – Gay Osaka provides something for all!

Gay-friendly Hotels Near Umeda / The Doyama Gay World

InterContinental Hotel Osaka â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†

Redefining deluxe, the InterContinental Osaka affords incomparable deluxe and sophistication. Your own experience begins when you look at the slick and soaring lobby, a bright and calm arena of art work, contemporary décor, and breathtaking views.

It continues throughout any stick with Michelin-star eating, invigorating health spa treatments, and Japanese-style bathing. Then there is the stately areas, suites, and homes offering unmatched solution and features to discriminating business and leisure traveler. The service is second-to-none, and ought to you end up being tempted to leave, the homosexual world of Osaka begins just a few minutes out.

The Ritz-Carlton Osaka â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†

Enjoy timeless deluxe only at that 5-star hotel that captures the essence of Osaka, Japan. Found in the prestigious region of Nishi-Umeda, The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka will pay tribute to Japanese social history, while lavishing visitors with modern lavishness.

With a 450-piece artwork and old-fashioned collection, a health spa, and impeccably created accommodations, this urban retreat offers stylish elegance near special destinations, ancient town places, and also the gaybourhood of Osaka!

Hilton Osaka Resort â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†

Situated, this top-quality lodge is advised by many people homosexual tourists for the convenient place, spectacular opinions, and clean style. There clearly was various dining choices, and an internal pool, health and fitness center, pleasure space, and magnificent city opinions are simply many of the facilities waiting for the appearance.

ibis Osaka Umeda â˜†â˜†â˜†

A worldwide economic climate brand resort found in the Umeda place providing appealing, modern, and comfy rooms, with comfy beds. There can be free of charge Wi-fi and on a clean design, but I will be sincere – you are staying right here for all the low cost tag and area!

Nest Resort Osaka Umeda â˜†â˜†â˜†

An extremely inexpensive holiday accommodation option supplying a tranquil base to explore Osaka in the day time hours, with effortless access to the gay world of Doyama when the sun goes down! Newly launched, the rooms tend to be instead little but well-equipped, and lodge even supplies bread and coffee for break fast.

There is also a spacious and well-designed lobby to hold call at. Given the area and {design|style|layout|conce