Experience Osaka Like a Local (in English) with Osaka JOINER

Customizable Tours by Osaka JOINER – No Reservation Required

Hello! I’m Gio from Sweden.
Visiting Japan was my dream for many years. I’m finally here in Osaka and loving every single day♪

I’m starting the day today at Osaka Metro’s Namba station. Located in the minami area, this station is always full of people and energy.

With famous landmarks and other sightseeing spots, Namba is a well-known destination for tourists, but what may not be known is that it also has off-the-beaten-track spots that can be hard to find. My objective today is to go find these hidden local gems of Osaka.

When you walk around Namba Station and Namba Walks, an underground shopping mall, you’ll notice lots of advertisements posted on the walls and pillars, some of which showcase multilingual tours provided by local guides. Naturally, I looked through them with great interest and eventually found Osaka JOINER.

At Osaka JOINER, all guides speak English and some of them also speak another language like Spanish and Chinese. This already makes Osaka JOINER a gem in my opinion because in Japan it’s not so easy to find a tour where you can request a preferred language!

A few more things I want to highlight about Osaka JOINER’s tours:
・No advance reservation is required, and they can accommodate various group sizes.
・Tour details (time, content, etc.) are customizable and the culture here is very casual–it almost feels like a friend of yours is taking you out in the city.
・You can see the real Osaka that’s often hard (or sometimes even impossible) for foreigners to find or explore alone.

My understanding of a “tour” used to be a trip where you are part of a big group that travels on a big bus and follows a guide (with a flag) around famous spots. All details are usually set in stone, and you need to book way in advance. Osaka JOINER is nothing like that. They are flexible and casual, and you can decide to do a tour spontaneously just because you happen to have extra time.

I can only speak a few words of Japanese, so I was very happy I was able to communicate what I was looking for in English without an interpreter! My friend, Gabriel, from France and I picked the Bar Hopping Tour—something I’d been interested in doing but wasn’t sure where to begin.

Bar hopping—hashigozake in Japanese—is a popular way to enjoy an evening with friends in Japan. You don’t stay long at one bar. Instead, you go from one bar to another then onto another throughout the night. In a place like Namba (or Osaka), hashigozake is perfect because there’re what seems like millions of options lined up on the sides of the streets and it’s just not possible to choose one place. Hashigozake is also an effective way to see many places in the short time we have as travelers.

Our guide was Kota. He’s a student. We went over the tour details together including our likes and dislikes and what types of food we wanted to try. This is great especially for those with dietary restrictions or preferences♡

Kota listened to us and came up with a rough itinerary. We were ready to go!!

Enjoy the Shitamachi Culture at Masuda Shoten

Osaka JOINER has partnership with over 200 bars in the Namba area, so they are very flexible in choosing the best places that meet the client’s wants/needs. I was super excited about what would find!

The first spot was a mere 5-minute walk from Namba Walk. Nestled among small shops in the area called Ura Namba–back streets of Namba—was Masuda Shoten.

Masuda Shoten is actually a liquor store, but it has a standing bar in the back. “Feel free to grab a drink yourself,” we were told and led to a fridge full of sake from around the country! So many choices and I didn’t know what to do. Even Gabriel, who used to be a bartender, was amazed with the wide range of selections presented.

The labels on sake bottles were all pretty and I wanted to try them all. But we chose wisely—we conveyed to Kota what we were looking for and the bartender selected a sake for us. In all honesty, I didn’t know sake could taste like that. It was perfectly sweet and fruity. Both Gabriel and I were happy with the selection.

We made some new friends at Masuda Shoten. Sake brought us together with the locals at the next table over and we hang out a bit♪ We enjoyed our time.

Craft Beer at schwa2

Our next stop was a beer stand named schwa2. schwa2 is read as “shuwa shuwa,” which is an onomatopoeia for the sound of fizz. With the store front facing the street wide open, schwa2 is welcoming to even the first timers. And, if needed, you can easily see how busy it is.
Inside, the walls are covered with posters, T-shirts, and other colorful illustrations. The atmosphere is completely different from the first place we went—Masuda Shoten was an old school izakaya while schwa2 was more like a casual bar.

schwa2 has a good selection of craft beers and hard ciders. I like beer and it took me awhile to pick the one I wanted but the master was right behind the counter and helped us pick out what we liked by kindly telling us a lot about the beers they carry. Gabriel chose a canned beer from the fridge in the back. It had a cool design he liked.

My beer from the tap was golden and looked delicious☆☆ And I liked the large glass! (You can choose from different sizes.)

For snacks, we had smoked nuts, carpaccio, and mackerel bruschetta. It was as if we were at a fancy bistro☆ And, of course, they all went well with beer.

schwa2 is mostly a standing bar, but tables are available in the back for those who want to sit and relax★
As typical for a standing bar, we made new friends and enjoyed the food together♪

Mysterious and Exciting Mizogu

Mizogu was our last stop, tucked away on the second floor of an unknown building.

Inside the building, a place that time forgot, we wandered through a labyrinth of bars and restaurants to get to our destination. There is no way we would find this place without a local guide.
Lots of regulars frequent this type of places. Whether they were there in groups or alone, everyone seemed happy.
We ordered Calpis chuhai (a shochu cocktail) and had a toast with our new friends—the friends we met at the last place came with us to Mizogu!

Mizogu’s menu reflects the owner’s experience working at a Thai restaurant and offers a variety of Asian fare including Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese dishes. Although simple, their water spinach is superb, we were told. Indeed, we saw everyone order it!

Food served on plates with cute Southeast Asian designs had a nice balance of flavors that went perfectly with our drinks. We wanted to try many items on the menu, but we were too full (lol). We’ll need to go back to try them.

Everyone—the master and other clients alike—is virtually right next to you in a small space like Mizogu and you naturally start talking with them. It began with “where are you from?” and, before we knew it, we were all friends despite the language barrier♪
Time flies when you’re having a good time with friends. We talked and laughed a lot. Gabriel and I knew then we would forever remember that night.

Explore the Real Osaka

We went to three places on our personal tour that began at 6pm and ended at 10pm. We can’t thank our guide, Kota, enough.
Kota found us three very local spots, each with its own character, and none of which we would have found on our own. Every place we went and every moment of the 4 hours we were together, he was there for us and made sure we were both having a good time. We appreciated his friendly approach that made our experience even more special.
I think this was the best night we had in Osaka. It still makes me smile when I think about that night.

Osaka JOINER offers a variety of tours including a shopping themed tour that lasts a few hours, a tour focused on food (!), a karaoke tour, and even a day trip to Kyoto and Nara. If you’re looking for a guided tour, or if you want to experience Osaka like a local, I highly recommend Osaka JOINER.

▼Click here for more information about Osaka JOINER
URL：Osaka JOINER (reserva.be)
WhatsApp：＋81 90-8346-6183