Osaka runs on appetite. It is Japan's third-largest city, with some two and a half million people, and for centuries it was the nation's kitchen, the place where rice from the whole country was traded and where merchants made fortunes and lived well. The local motto kuidaore, eat until you drop, is not a boast so much as a way of life, and you will see it in the neon crabs and puffer fish along Dotonbori.
The castle gives you the history. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the commoner who rose to unify Japan, began building it in 1583, and the original was among the largest in the country. It fell in 1615 when the Tokugawa besieged it and ended the Toyotomi line, and the keep standing today is a twentieth-century reconstruction on the old stone base, but the massive walls and moats are the real thing. South of the city, the town of Sakai holds the huge keyhole-shaped tombs of ancient emperors, among them the enormous Daisen kofun, surrounded by moats full of water and reeds.
Riding in Osaka is dense and fast, with elevated expressways stacked above the streets, taxis darting between lanes and big toll costs on the Hanshin Expressway. Parking can be tricky, so use a car park near the edge of the centre. Outside town, the hills of Ikoma and Katsuragi to the east and the Rokko range toward Kobe are good motorcycle territory, with twisty roads and fine views of the bay.
For fuel, the suburbs are well supplied, though stations in the centre are few. For food, you hardly need advice: takoyaki, the octopus balls from street stalls; okonomiyaki, the savoury pancake cooked on a griddle at your table; kushikatsu, fried skewers where you must not double-dip the sauce. Summer is brutally hot and humid, while spring and autumn are lovely. Arrive early, eat well, and let the city's cheerful bluntness work on you.