Suita
Japan · Asia
About Suita
Suita (吹田市, Suita-shi) is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of 31 March 2023, the city had an estimated population of 381,238 in 182,636 households, and a population density of 11,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 36.09 square kilometres (13.93 sq mi). It is a suburb of Osaka City and a part of the Kyoto–Osaka–Kobe metropolitan area.
Suita is located in northern Osaka Prefecture. The northern part of the city is occupied by the gently sloping Senri Hills, and the southern part is a plain made up of the Yodo River, Aui River, Kanzaki River, and sediments carried from rivers that originate in Senri Hills. The elevation of the city ranges from 1.5 meters to 115.7 meters above sea level. The city limits are 6.4 kilometers from east-to-west and 9.6 kilometers from north-to-south. In the past, the sea was right next to the city, and place names such as Toyotsu and Takahama still remain today. The Ani River runs through the southern edge of the city limits, and the Kanzaki River flows from east to west.
Suita travel guide
Understand
Suita is an upper-middle class suburb with many working professionals and college students attending Osaka University and many other educational institutions in the area. The area is known for its large population of people from Tokyo and the Kanto region, including corporate transferees. It has a clean, quiet, polished suburban vibe that differs from the gritty, working-class, Showa era (20th century) feel of downtown Osaka's Namba and Tennoji areas. The Esaka (江坂) area of Suita, centered around Esaka Station, lies at the northern end of the Osaka subway's Midosuji Line and makes for a convenient base to explore the Kansai region. It has many hotels and chain stores, including Don Quijote. Esaka, as with the other suburbs north of Osaka city proper, is a quiet, uncrowded neighborhood popular with white-collar professionals and Tokyoite corporate transferees (i.e., employees transferred to the Kansai region from the Kanto region by Japanese companies). Locals will often you that Esaka feels more like a western Tokyo suburb than like Osaka city proper.
Tourist information site The city has an official Japanese-only promotional site. Official Guide Map is available in English and other languages.
Getting there
Most travellers will pass through Shin-Osaka Station (which serves JR, Osaka Subway, and Shinkansen lines) on their way to Suita. The southern end of Suita is served by Esaka Station, which lies at the northern end of the Midosuji subway line (highlighted as red on metro maps), which directly connects to Shin-Osaka, Umeda, and Namba without having to transfer. Suita Station is served by a JR line that connects from Shin-Osaka Station.
See
Expo '70 Commemorative Park (万博公園 Banpaku Kōen) (or so-called Osaka Expo Park'). In north Osaka, Suita. This huge memorial of "the Japan World Exhibition of 1970" has a lot of interesting visiting spots like the Japanese Garden, the Museum of Ethnology and Expoland in it. The park is popular among Japanese people viewing cherry blossoms in spring and momiji (the color changing of maple leaves) in autumn. The landmark for this park is the Tower of Sun by famous Japanese sculptor Okamoto Taro. (updated Feb 2023)
Do
National Museum of Ethnology (国立民族学博物館 (shortform 民博, Minpaku)) (take the Osaka Monorail to Banpaku Kinen Koen). Th-Tu (closed W) 10:00-17:00. This superb, modern museum displays 12,000 artifacts (with 250,000 in its collection) on 9,000 square meters that stretch over 5 km in the Expo Park. Admission ¥420.
Buy
LaLaport EXPOCITY, a 3-story shopping mall that can be reached by crossing the pedestrian bridge that leads south from Expo 70 Park. The shopping mall is right next to the Redhorse Osaka Wheel, Osaka Prefecture's tallest ferris wheel. The mall is popular with families, young children, and college students. There are many restaurants and popular apparel chain stores such as Uniqlo, Zara, and much more, as well as a supermarket.
Go next
Minoh Ibaraki Settsu Toyonaka Osaka Takatsuki Oyamazaki Nagaokakyo Muko
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.