Translated by Bethszabee Garner
As Osaka prepares to host the 2025 World Expo, the Louis Vuitton City Guide, a veritable monument to travel, is setting down its suitcases in the Japanese port city. After Paris (of course), Amsterdam, Tokyo, and New York, this multifaceted guide introduces us to more than 200 addresses through photographs of local personalities, drawings, and a narrative on the national cuisine. It's a wonderful way to immerse yourself in an exotic culture that is currently attracting one of the most important global events!
A book at the crossroads of disciplines
For more than 20 years now, Louis Vuitton has been enriching its City Guide collection. These colorful books, marked with the brand’s stamp, have become true classics for any self-respecting globetrotter. Each city is explored by an independent author and guests from all walks of life. A treasure trove of useful addresses, these few pages bring together the best hotels, must-see museums, the most popular restaurants, and more traditional places for those seeking a respite from the hustle and bustle of city life. In 2025, the City Guide has chosen Osaka, a Japanese city with many faces and the setting for the current World Expo.
For this edition, the Osaka City Guide features two new portfolios in addition to its usual sections: a guide to the culinary arts of the “nation's pantry,” illustrated with drawings by Thai artist Beya Panicha, and a series of portraits by Japanese photographer Kenta Nakamura highlighting iconic figures from the city.
The young artist and illustrator Verdy, worthy heir to Kenzo's artistic director Nigo, takes the reins of the City Guide as guest editor. A child of the Suminoe district, he quickly developed a passion for drawing, manga, music, and fashion. During his studies, he met renowned architect Tadao Ando, an iconic figure in Osaka, whose work deeply inspired him. Ando shares some of his favorite places in this City Guide. Through a variety of perspectives, the Japanese city reveals itself with enchantment, becoming our future vacation destination...
Louis Vuitton gives free reign
As celebrations never come alone, especially in the heart of the sakura season, Louis Vuitton is publishing Fashion Eye, Osaka, a photography book conceived by French painter and designer Jean-Vincent Simonet. Far from preconceived ideas, Simonet takes us on a psychedelic journey through a bustling, sometimes overwhelming urban landscape.
Aquarium, karaoke, shopping mall, Shinto temple... Simonet doesn't just visit Osaka, he loses himself viscerally in the city, its neighborhoods, and its hidden corners like a disciple on a pilgrimage. After In Bloom, a sweet odyssey published in 2018, the artist continues his discovery of Japan, maintaining an underground, hyper-visual style that is hard on the eyes. The images, developed through various experiments with water and chemicals, become testimonials in their own right. Fashion Eye, Osaka stands out thanks to Simonet's highly fashionable lens, accentuated by an aesthetic pushed to its limits and negative sequences straight out of a dream. A dialogue is established with renowned photographers and promising new talents, with the author writing his logbook at the same time.
A portrait worthy of a video game, Fashion Eye, Osaka explores the capital of the Kansai region through large-format prints, smartphone photographs, and snapshots that capture the “texture of an industrial and rebellious city.” Reminiscent in some ways of Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner (1982), particularly in its saturated images, the book is conceived as a total, complete and disturbing synesthesia. For lovers of timeless travel, Fashion Eye, Osaka crystallizes the beauty of a city, but also its particular madness.
