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50 free Osaka trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Osaka trivia quiz covers Japan's great merchant city, from its days as the imperial capital of Naniwa and the port of the Kofun kings, through Toyotomi Hideyoshi's gold-leafed castle and the siege that ended the Toyotomi clan, to the industrial boom of the Meiji era, the B-29 raids of 1945 and the postwar rise that brought Expo '70, the Kaiyukan aquarium, Kansai International Airport and Universal Studios Japan. There is plenty on the Osaka everyone visits today: the Glico Man and crab signs of Dōtonbori, takoyaki and okonomiyaki, the kuidaore proverb, Tsūtenkaku and its Billiken, Shitennō-ji, Sumiyoshi Taisha, the Tenjin Matsuri, Abeno Harukas, the Umeda Sky Building, bunraku puppet theatre, the Hanshin Tigers and their Curse of the Colonel, and the Yumeshima island of Expo 2025. Some questions are simple for anyone who has walked Namba at night; others will challenge long-time residents. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's articles on the city and its landmarks, and each explanation adds one further fact. Ideal for travellers, Japanophiles and Kansai natives.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Osaka ranks where among Japan's most populous cities proper?
Third
Only Tokyo's special wards and Yokohama are bigger; with Kyoto and Kobe it forms the 19-million-strong Keihanshin metropolitan area.
Q 02What does the name Ōsaka mean?
Large hill or slope
The oldest written evidence of the name dates to 1496; the older kanji was dropped in 1868 partly because it could be read as 'samurai rebellion'.
Q 03By what ancient name was Osaka known when Emperor Kōtoku made it Japan's capital in 645?
Naniwa
The name survives in central districts such as Naniwa and Namba, and Naniwa was capital again briefly in 744–745.
Q 04Which warlord built Osaka Castle in 1583 on the site of a razed Buddhist fortress-temple?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Nobunaga had spent a decade besieging the Ishiyama Hongan-ji there; the new castle was modelled on his Azuchi Castle but was meant to surpass it.
Q 05How was the outside of Hideyoshi's original main tower decorated to impress visitors?
With gold leaf
The keep had five storeys above ground and three underground.
Q 06The 1614–15 Siege of Osaka destroyed which clan, ending armed opposition to the Tokugawa?
The Toyotomi
Ieyasu's 200,000-man army was held off in the winter campaign until he had the outer moat filled in.
Q 07The main keep of Osaka Castle built in 1931 is made of what?
Ferroconcrete
A 1997 restoration turned the interior into a modern museum, complete with elevators.
Q 08On 14 August 1945 American bombing destroyed 90% of what facility next to Osaka Castle?
A military arsenal
The arsenal employed 60,000 workers, and 382 of them were killed in the raid.
Q 09How many B-29 bombers took part in the 13 March 1945 raid on Osaka?
329
An American prisoner held in the city said the raid lasted almost all night and destroyed 25 square miles.
Q 10Which two multinational electronics companies are headquartered in Osaka?
Panasonic and Sharp
The city is also home to the Osaka Exchange and Osaka University.
Q 11An old saying holds that Kyotoites ruin themselves on clothing while Osakans ruin themselves on what?
Food
The Osaka half is the word kuidaore, 'eat until you drop', which lends its name to Dōtonbori's mascot Kuidaore Taro.
Q 12Which Osaka street vendor is credited with inventing takoyaki in 1935?
Tomekichi Endo
The octopus balls evolved from earlier snacks called choboyaki and radioyaki that used beef or konjac.
Q 13What is the main filling of takoyaki?
Octopus
The batter balls are cooked in a moulded pan and finished with sauce, mayonnaise, aonori and bonito flakes.
Q 21Which imperial prince commissioned Shitennō-ji, sometimes called Japan's first Buddhist temple?
Shōtoku
The Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings was last rebuilt in 1963 and formed its own Wa sect after the war.
Q 22Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka gives its name to what?
A style of shrine architecture
Locals call it Sumiyossan, and it draws huge New Year hatsumōde crowds to honour the three Sumiyoshi gods and Empress Jingū.
Q 23The Tenjin Matsuri, one of Japan's three great Shinto festivals, honours which deified scholar?
Sugawara no Michizane
Q 14The name of okonomiyaki, the savoury pancake with two rival regional styles, means roughly what?
Grilled how you like it
The sauce is based on Worcestershire sauce, and Osaka's version mixes all the ingredients into the batter.
Q 15The giant Dōtonbori billboard of a runner crossing a finish line advertises which confectionery company?
Glico
First installed in 1935, the sign is now in its sixth LED version from 2014 and gets altered for the World Cup and Hanshin Tigers.
Q 16Dōtonbori was historically what kind of quarter before becoming a nightlife area?
A theatre district
It traces its origins to 1612 and a canal-builder named Yasui Dōton; the crab restaurant Kani Dōraku's moving sign has hung there since the 1960s.
Q 17Which fast-food mascot statue did Hanshin fans throw into the Dōtonbori canal in 1985, supposedly cursing the team?
Colonel Sanders
No fan resembled bearded American slugger Randy Bass, so the Colonel stood in; the Tigers still won that year's Japan Series.
Q 18Under what name did the Hanshin baseball club begin play in 1936?
Osaka Tigers
They are Japan's second-oldest professional club and have won the Japan Series only in 1985 and 2023.
Q 19Which company advertises on Tsūtenkaku, the 'Tower Reaching Heaven' in Shinsekai?
Hitachi
The 1912 original, modelled on the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, was Asia's second-tallest structure and linked by cable car to Luna Park.
Q 20Which American charm doll, 'God of Things as They Ought to Be', is enshrined atop Tsūtenkaku?
Billiken
The original wooden statue vanished when Luna Park closed in 1923, so a copy was carved from an old photograph.
Held on 24 and 25 July at Osaka Tenmangū, it ranks with Kyoto's Gion and Tokyo's Kanda festivals.
Q 24Bunraku, the puppet theatre founded in Osaka in the early 1600s, uses how many kinds of performer?
Three
Puppeteers, chanters and shamisen players; Osaka hosts the National Bunraku Theatre and playwright Chikamatsu made the form famous.
Q 25Which artist's Tower of the Sun still stands on the site of Expo '70?
Tarō Okamoto
Tange designed the Expo itself, the first world's fair in Asia, which drew 64 million visitors.
Q 26How many visitors did Expo '70 attract in six months?
About 64 million
It held the record for the best-attended Expo until Shanghai in 2010.
Q 27On which artificial island in Osaka Bay was Expo 2025 held?
Yumeshima
It was the first Expo on an island; private cars were banned and a 3.2 km Metro extension opened in January 2025.
Q 28Which architect designed the wooden Grand Ring that encircled the Expo 2025 site?
Sou Fujimoto
Inside were three thematic districts: Connecting, Empowering and Saving Lives.
Q 29What was the name of Expo 2025's red-and-blue mascot?
Myaku-Myaku
Designed by children's illustrator Kouhei Yamashita, it was named by public contest in 2022; the Expo drew 29 million visitors.
Q 30Osaka's main international airport, opened in 1994, is built where?
On a man-made island in the bay
The soft seabed made the island sink about 50 cm a year at first, so the terminal sits on adjustable columns.