Saturday

4) 9 A.M. Game Overload

In the mood to roller-skate at dawn? Or wake up to batting practice? Whatever the hour, go to Round1 Stadium Sennichimae, a 24-hour entertainment complex with multiple floors of activities, from karaoke to bowling and arcade games. To work off excess energy, buy a bracelet for all-you-can-play access to spo-cha (short for “sports challenge”), an area with 40 different games, among them basketball, volleyball, mini motorbike racing, mechanical bull rodeos, Segway riding, roller-skating, batting cages, mini-golf, archery and tennis. Competition often heats up after dark, but daytime hours are family friendly.

5) 11 A.M. Morning Roast

In a narrow storefront in the trendy Amerikamura neighborhood, LiLo Coffee Roasters is reliably packed with local coffee lovers who spill onto the small patio and makeshift benches on the sidewalk. One of the first specialty coffee shops to open in Osaka, this three-and-a-half-year-old institution offers more than a dozen types of beans, both single-origin and blends, in light, medium and dark roasts. Need help deciding? The friendly baristas are quick with advice, and detailed cards with tasting notes are served with every cup.

Salon de Amanto is a 1880s-era artist-run cafe and community center. Credit Andrew Faulk for The New York Times



6) Noon. Boutique Bonanza

Stroll a few blocks southwest to the Horie district, a grid of streets packed with boutiques. Find souvenirs for dapper outdoorsmen at Unby General Goods, a shop stocked with preppy twill backpacks and steel bento camping boxes. Discover up-and-coming Japanese fashion brands at Palette Art Alive, where racks display Belper’s color-block knits and furry men’s motorcycle jackets from Anndirk Izm. On the popular shopping strip known as Orange Street, make a beeline for Biotop, a multilevel concept store with a ground-floor cafe and greenhouse, a rooftop garden restaurant and aspirational merchandise displayed in between: bonsai trees, made-in-Japan denim, vintage Chanel bags, organic cosmetics and artisan ceramics.

7) 2 P.M. Alley Eats

Amid the neon carnival of Dotonbori, a glimmer of old Osaka remains intact along Hozenji Yokocho, narrow stone alleyways lined with small izakaya and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Near the entrance, find Tendonnomise, a tiny, no-frills, seven-stool shop serving one specialty: tendon, a perfect bowl of steamed rice with a rich soy-based sauce and tender shrimp tempura straight from the fryer (650 yen). For more variety, head down the alley to Houzenji Sanpei, an okonomiyaki restaurant where chefs toss your choice of ingredients — the filling yakisoba includes fried noodles, squid, pork, cabbage, kimchi and bonito flakes (700 yen) — onto sizzling griddles.

8) 4 P.M. Puppet Show

Traditional Japanese puppet theater, called bunraku, is less well-known internationally than other ancient performance genres like Kabuki and Noh. Founded in Osaka in the 1600s, bunraku employs large puppets, controlled by three puppeteers simultaneously, to tell tales of heroism and tragic romance narrated by an expressive chanter and accompanied by the music of a three-stringed shamisen. Today, the main venue for this rare art form is Osaka’s National Bunraku Theater, where performances are staged throughout the year. Purchase same-day tickets to single acts (about 2 hours; from 500 yen) at the theater’s box office; audio guides in English are available.

Japanese men making offerings at the Mizukake Fudo Buddhist statue. Credit Andrew Faulk for The New York Times



9) 8 P.M. Udon on the Menu

Udon, the thick, chewy wheat noodle, takes the starring role at Aozora Blue, an udon specialty restaurant opened in 2014 by the chef Hirofumi Matsui and his wife, Yuki. Here, noodles are made in-house from flours that are stone-milled on-site (peek through the kitchen’s glass partition to see the machinery). Take a seat in the stylish dining room — all natural wood with cool tree-stump stools — and try the course-ground udon, its unusual beige hue reminiscent of soba, served in a warm, delicate broth. Add a side of tempura, pickled vegetables and a carafe of sake to round out the meal. Dinner for two, about 3,500 yen.

10) 10:30 P.M. Bar Crawl

The easiest way to meet outgoing Osakans is on a bar crawl through the city’s diverse night life. Start the night at Craft Beer Works Kamikaze, a laid-back bar with 23 taps pouring excellent ji-biru (Japanese craft beer), like Shiga Kogen’s Imperial IPA. Make new friends at Hana Sake Bar, a cozy locale nearby serving Japanese whiskey, shochu, awamori and tasting flights of sake. Ascend a spiral metal staircase to enter Bird/56, an intimate jazz bar on the third floor of a building occupied by music bars. And end the night at the Misono Building, a past-its-prime entertainment complex where the second floor has been taken over by a tribe of tiny, eccentric bars, like Tenku Kissa, a trippy dive with faux foliage, woven webs and an amiable bartender going drink-for-drink with patrons.