Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. As an eastern part of the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

, it is separated from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. Its western shore is formed by Awaji Island, and its northern and eastern shores are part of the

Kansai The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

. Major ports on Osaka Bay include

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, Nishinomiya,

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its '' kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun ...

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223,812 households, and a population de ...

, and Hannan. A number of

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

s have been created in Osaka Bay in past decades, including

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport (), commonly known as Kankū (; ), is the primary international airport in the Keihanshin, Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on ...

, Kobe Airport,

Port Island is an artificial island in Chūō-ku, Kōbe, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan. It was constructed between 1966-1980 (Phase 1) and 1987-2009 (Phase 2) at the Port of Kobe, and officially opened with an trade fair, exposition called "Portopia '81." It now ho ...

, and

Rokkō Island is a Artificial island, man-made island in Higashinada-ku, Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan. Located in the southeast region of the Port of Kobe, the island has a rectangular shape and covers . The island's central region features a residential area, sepa ...

. In antiquity, Osaka Bay stretched almost to Kyoto, Naniwa, Osaka's oldest settlement, itself a peninsula in the bay. Several islands at the south end of Osaka Bay are part of the Seto Inland Sea National Park. Industries locate around Osaka Bay because there is a skilled and plentiful workforce, many port facilities, efficient linkages (from small to medium to large firms). There are good transport links (including the

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond lon ...

), room for expansion (land reclaimed from the sea), and a large local market (9 million). In a recent economic change in Osaka Bay, older 'heavy' industries such as

Nippon Steel (previously known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal until 2019) is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solu ...

have declined, and 'new tech' companies such as ICT have expanded. There has been a growth in the quaternary industries — research, development, and information. There has also been a development in the science parks and the building of new motorways; this has meant the loss of the countryside. The Tempozan Ferris Wheel and Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan are both located in the Tempozan Harbor Village area of Osaka.

Major ports

* Port of Kobe * Port of Osaka

Airports

* Kobe Airport

Major ports

Airports

See also