2.85/5
844 reviews
Photo by Pichai Sodsai via Unsplash

Osaka

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great

food

nomad

tourist

visa

tokyo

english

stay

transportation

country

friendly

public

This city is a solid choice for digital nomads and travelers looking for a mix of modern convenience and traditional culture. The public transportation is fast and reliable, making it easy to explore locally and connect to other parts of Japan. The food scene is strong, with many local and international options. A sizable foreigner population, commonly due to English teaching jobs, can make integration a bit smoother, especially for those who speak little Japanese. The locals are generally friendly, and while English proficiency isn’t high, it’s manageable for most visitors.

On the downside, the cost of living is high — expect everything from rent to daily expenses to be expensive. The work culture can also be intense, with long hours being the norm. Social issues like harassment on public transit and oversexualization in media were mentioned by some reviewers. Japan’s drug laws are extremely strict, and even small violations carry serious consequences. Some users recommend staying for the 3-month visa term and briefly leaving the country to renew. Overall, it’s a great place to stay short-term with plenty to offer, but not without cultural and systemic challenges.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Solid, but not as interesting as Tokyo, or even Kyoto for that matter. English decent by Japan standards.

4 months ago

Stay 3 months. Great stay with everything you need. Great food and transportation like any japanese city. I think it's better positioned than Tokyo to visit the highlights of the country. Has everything a digital nomad needs and more. I'm not much of partier but their is a scene with all music genres. People are very friendly but of course helps if you can speak Japanese. Don't have any cons. Would definitely recommend.

1 year ago

Pros: Friendly people, safe, stable government, efficient and fast public transportation, established foreigner (gaijin) population due many English teachers, many great food options, many festivals (cherry blossom fest), onsens!

Cons: Expensive, work til you die at your desk mentality, drunken businessman culture, groping on packed public transit, lack of mental health services so be cautious around the destitute, over sexualization of underage females, high risk if caught with illegal substances, short tourist visa but just pop over to South Korea and return to renew another 3 months.

3 years ago

its very possible to be a digital nomad in japan - 3 months tourist visa on arrival.
free wifi at starbucks. who's stopping you?
lovely people, amazing food, and the worlds richest culture.
just say you're a tourist. its not as if you are an immigrant.

5 years ago

It's impossible to be a digital nomad in Japan - no visa allows it, and the country is extremely strict on immigration.

5 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast public transportation

✅ Friendly people

✅ Great food options

✅ Established foreigner community

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

❌ Very expensive

❌ Overworked culture

❌ Sexism and harassment issues

❌ Strict drug laws

❌ Expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

7°C / 45°F cold

9°C / 48°F cold

15°C / 59°F cool

19°C / 66°F mild

22°C / 72°F mild

28°C / 82°F warm

38°C / 100°F hot

30°C / 86°F warm

25°C / 77°F warm

17°C / 63°F cool

10°C / 50°F cold

Real (median)

8°C / 46°F
cold

10°C / 50°F
cold

15°C / 58°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

22°C / 72°F
mild

26°C / 79°F
warm

30°C / 86°F
very warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

25°C / 77°F
warm

17°C / 63°F
cool

10°C / 50°F
cold

Humidity

nice
58%

nice
60%

nice
63%

nice
58%

nice
76%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
76%

nice
70%

nice
63%

nice
64%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

rainy
67mm

rainy
65mm

rainy
124mm

rainy
121mm

rainy
143mm

rainy
170mm

rainy
208mm

rainy
116mm

rainy
155mm

rainy
62mm

rainy
81mm

rainy
65mm

Cloud

pockets
31%

pockets
32%

pockets
40%

pockets
38%

cloudy
55%

cloudy
56%

pockets
47%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
53%

pockets
31%

pockets
33%

pockets
31%

Air quality

clean
41 US AQI

okay
54 US AQI

okay
53 US AQI

okay
52 US AQI

clean
42 US AQI

clean
45 US AQI

clean
44 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
49 US AQI

clean
45 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

Remote workers

1,183 people

1,400 people

2,455 people

1,987 people

1,757 people

1,455 people

914 people

747 people

1,338 people

1,541 people

1,709 people

1,418 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Osaka's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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Help pick the best photos for Osaka and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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✈️32min

$3,995 / mo

28 Mbps

Kyoto

Japan

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked great

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 20° 68° 20° 68° AQI 34

🚕2h

$3,322 / mo

🌇 Also went here448 people

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.85/5 (Rank #96) 844 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍12 liked it 👎2 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	🙂 Okay: $2,878 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 25Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 22°C71°F (feels 22°C72°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 97%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 28 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 43 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Bad
💰 Income level*	Very high: $3,220 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 6k ppl/km² (1 per 13x13m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Japan
🗓️ Average trip length	5 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	25 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌧 22°C 71°F + 😊 Comfy (97%) = feels 22°C 72°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 28 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 43 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Line Taxi
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 JPY in USD	USD 6.89
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	JPY 10,000 = USD 69
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Osakan Space
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Juso Coworking
☕️ Best coffee place	Tully's Coffee
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	6,133,100 visitors
📸 Tourists now	117,541 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	2,700,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$38,640 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 13x13m (169m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 46% 👱‍♀️ 54%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 55% 👱‍♀️ 45%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	All Nippon Airlines
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Japan Airlines
🏥 Best hospital	Osaka University Hospital

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,878 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,639 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,793 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$798 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,882 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$3,100 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$537 / month
🏠 Median home price	$289,909
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$88 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$102 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$421 / month
🍛 Dinner	$6
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$10,181 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$18 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$10 / trip