Osaka/Kansai in Japan
Osaka/Kansai is the host of the 2025 World Expo and is a must-visit city. For those unfamiliar with Osaka/Kansai, let me explain a few words.
Osaka Prefecture: Japan consists of 47 prefectures and Osaka prefecture is one of them. It has a population of more than 8 million people. The area size is nearly 2,000 square kilometers, the second smallest among the 47 prefectures.
Osaka City: This city is one of the 43 municipalities in Osaka Prefecture. It has a population of 2.6 million and ranks 2nd among all of the cities in Japan after Yokohama with 3.6 million. (This does not include Tokyo because it is not considered as a city.)
Osaka is about 500km (300 miles) west of Tokyo, the present capital of Japan.
Shinkansen-train (Bullet train) from Tokyo, which travel at 300km/hour (186mph), will bring you to Osaka in about 2.5 hours.
Then what is Kansai?
Kansai is the area including 6 to 8 prefectures.
Usually, prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara, Wakayama are included.
Mie, Tottori, Tokushima are sometimes added. It’s up to who uses this term of Kansai.
The airport called Kansai International Airport (KIX) opened in 1994 on the reclaimed land. It takes about one hour from Osaka city by car or train.