Osaka

Osaka has always defined itself by its food, an unabashed culinary confidence summed up in the local phrase kuidaore, eat until you drop. Dotonbori’s canal-side strip of neon signs and street stalls is the obvious starting point, though the real draw is what’s cooking behind them, from sizzling takoyaki griddles to conveyor-belt sushi counters. Osaka Castle, rebuilt in concrete in the 1930s after centuries of fire and war, still commands its park with the same authority as the original, and the view from its upper floors takes in the modern city stretching well beyond the old moat. Less formal than Kyoto and less frenetic than Tokyo, Osaka moves at its own pace, with a reputation for straight talking and good humour that makes it as good a base for evenings as it is for days.