Ports
Osaka’s cruise port is growing out of Expo’s shadow: 66 calls in 2025, 80 booked for 2026, and a brand-new ferry-and-cruise terminal planned for Yumeshima’s north shore.
Cruise ships dock at Tempozan Passenger Terminal on Osaka Bay, five minutes on foot from Osakako metro station and two Chuo Line stops from Yumeshima — the Expo island now slated for Japan’s first integrated resort. In May 2024 the terminal was rebuilt to double its capacity for large ships; 2025 closed with 66 calls, and 2026 already lists 80 with about 140,000 visitors expected.
The next leap is a dedicated ferry-and-cruise terminal on Yumeshima’s north shore, targeted for the late 2020s to serve the MGM Osaka resort opening around autumn 2030. Until then the port’s big-ship overflow goes to Kobe, 30 kilometres west — the bay’s second cruise city.
Osaka’s overnight ferries are a transport secret worth stealing: MOL Sunflower sails to Beppu on Kyushu in about 12 hours on ships launched in 2023, Hankyu Ferry runs toward Shin-Moji from the Nanko terminals, and PanStar’s cruise-ferry crosses to Busan three times a week in 19 hours — Japan to Korea while you sleep, cheaper than a hotel plus a flight.
THE TIO READ
For Kansai cruising, read the fine print: “Osaka” itineraries sometimes berth at Kobe — fine, Kobe’s terminal is on the Port Liner and arguably prettier. The move we recommend is the PanStar ferry to Busan: book the private cabin, board at Nanko in the late afternoon, and wake up in Korea with the port city’s fish market an hour away.
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