Osaka

Osaka, in Japan's Honshu region, is the most populous city in its prefecture (and the third most populous city in the country, with about 2.7 million residents). Though not as busy as Tokyo, Osaka compensates with an extremely high cost of living, which is due in part to Osaka's lengthy history as Japan's core economic centre.

By the 300s AD, Osaka was already a flourishing regional port city. By the 7th century, it was serving double duty as the empire's capital, blossoming into Japan's principal cultural hub during the Edo era, which began in 1603, and has remained so to this day. With a population of 2.7 million according to the 2020 census, it is also the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Region, Japan's second-largest metropolitan area and the world's tenth-largest urban area.

Country: Japan
Population: 2.691 million