Osaka

Osaka comes across in the Reddit discussions as a city many residents genuinely love living in: friendlier than Tokyo, cheaper, food-focused, lively at night, and well-connected to the rest of Kansai. People who have lived in both Osaka and Tokyo often say they would choose Osaka “in a heartbeat,” citing better food, lower costs, easier access to Kyoto/Kobe/Nara/Wakayama, and a more relaxed social atmosphere.

For software engineers, the picture is more mixed. The city is affordable relative to many tech hubs and ranks well on cost of living, but compensation and net income are not globally top-tier. The key tradeoff is career depth: Tokyo is clearly stronger for networking, job-hopping, and English-friendly tech density, while Osaka works best if you already have a good offer, can work remotely for a Tokyo/international company, have in-demand skills, or speak Japanese.

Overall, Osaka is a strong lifestyle move and a decent engineering move, but not the safest career-maximizing choice in Japan. It is especially appealing if you want a major Japanese city that feels more human-scale and affordable than Tokyo, but you should arrive with a realistic job strategy rather than assuming the local English-only SWE market will be deep.