HYROX Osaka race guide: INTEX Osaka, transit, rules and recovery
BYD HYROX Osaka runs from Thursday 21 to Monday 25 January 2027 at INTEX Osaka, and the venue itself tells you not to use the closest station. This guide collects the facts you need before you land: the dates and provisional schedule from the official event page, the trains and fares from INTEX Osaka's own access pages, the January weather from the Japan Meteorological Agency, the rules that cost time on the floor, and where to soak afterwards if you have tattoos.
The short answer
- Dates: 21-25 January 2027, five race days. Singles Open, Pro, Doubles and Relay are spread across the days; the last wave is estimated at around 8:00 PM.
- Station: Cosmo Square (Osaka Metro Chuo Line), about a 9-minute walk. Nakafuto is 5 minutes closer but INTEX expects it to be extremely crowded during events.
- Fare: 290 yen and about 40 minutes from Umeda or Namba on an IC card; 1,450 yen and about 1 hour 30 minutes from Kansai Airport by train, or 1,800 yen by limousine bus to the hotel next door.
- Weather: January normals for Osaka are a 9.7 C high, a 3.0 C low and 47 mm of rain for the month. Pack a warm layer for the queue and the walk from the station.
Event facts are taken from hyrox.com's BYD HYROX Osaka page as it stood on 2026-09-12. The page marks the schedule as provisional and lists check-in dates, times and location as TBC. Re-check it in the week of the race.
Dates and the provisional schedule
hyrox.com's Find My Race list shows two Japanese races in the 26/27 season: BYD HYROX Osaka on 21-25 January 2027 and HYROX Nagoya on 16-18 April 2027. The Osaka event page gives a day-by-day division schedule, marked provisional and subject to change.
| Day | Divisions listed (provisional) |
|---|---|
| Thu 21 Jan | Men Open, Men Adaptive (morning); Doubles Men Open; Doubles Women Open, Women Open, Women Adaptive (afternoon); Doubles Mixed (afternoon-evening) |
| Fri 22 Jan | Men Open, Men Adaptive, Men Pro, Women Pro (morning); Doubles Men Open, Doubles Mixed, Doubles Women Open, Women Open, Women Adaptive, Relay Men (afternoon); Relay Mixed, Relay Women (evening) |
| Sat 23 Jan | Men Open, Men Adaptive (morning-afternoon); Doubles Mixed; Doubles Women Pro; Doubles Men Pro (evening) |
| Sun 24 Jan | Doubles Women Open (morning); Women Open, Women Adaptive (morning-afternoon); Doubles Men Open (afternoon-evening) |
| Mon 25 Jan | Men Open, Men Adaptive (morning); Doubles Men Open; Doubles Women Open, Women Open, Women Adaptive (afternoon); Doubles Mixed (afternoon-evening) |
Two details on that page decide your travel plan. First, your individual start time is linked to your account approximately 3 days before the event, and the page states that start time changes are not permitted. Second, the estimated last wave for the last division starts at around 8:00 PM. If you race Pro on the Friday morning you can be back in Umeda by lunch; if you draw a late Doubles wave you are leaving Nanko after 9 PM, when the New Tram is still running but the platforms are busy.
Ticket terms matter for travellers too. The Flex Add-On allows a 100% refund up to 31 days before your race day and 50% up to 7 days before; without it there is no refund. Name changes are allowed up to 1 day before your race day, by 7:59 AM event time, through the athlete's HYROX account. The page states there are no transfers to other events and no division changes after booking.
Getting to INTEX Osaka: use Cosmo Square, not Nakafuto
INTEX Osaka is at 1-5-102 Nanko-Kita, Suminoe-ku, on the reclaimed Nanko island south-west of the city centre. The venue's access page says it takes approximately 40 minutes from central Osaka and recommends public transport because of event congestion. Three stations serve it.
| Station | Line | Walk | Note from INTEX |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nakafuto | Osaka Metro New Tram (Nanko Port Town Line) | Approx. 5 min | "expected to be extremely crowded during the event" |
| Trade Center-mae | Osaka Metro New Tram | Approx. 8 min | One stop before Nakafuto |
| Cosmo Square | Osaka Metro Chuo Line | Approx. 9 min | Recommended by the venue |
The Chuo Line is a full-size metro with far more capacity than the four-car New Tram, so the extra four minutes on foot are worth it, especially on the way home when a whole wave leaves at once. From Cosmo Square, follow the signs for INTEX along the covered walkway.
Routes and fares from INTEX Osaka's train page, all one IC-card tap:
| From | Route | Time | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Osaka / Umeda | Midosuji Line to Hommachi, Chuo Line to Cosmo Square | 40 min | 290 yen |
| Osaka / Umeda | JR Loop Line to Bentencho, Chuo Line to Cosmo Square | 35 min | 410 yen |
| Namba | Midosuji Line or Yotsubashi Line, then Chuo Line | 40 min | 290 yen |
| Shin-Osaka (Shinkansen) | Midosuji Line and Chuo Line | 45 min | 340 yen |
| Kansai Airport (KIX) | JR Kansai Airport Rapid to Bentencho, Chuo Line to Cosmo Square, New Tram to Nakafuto | Approx. 1 hr 30 min | 1,450 yen |
| Kansai Airport (KIX) | Limousine bus to Grand Prince Hotel Osaka Bay (about 1 minute from INTEX) | Approx. 50 min | 1,800 yen |
| Itami Airport | Bus to Shin-Osaka (510 yen, approx. 25 min) or Umeda (650 yen, approx. 30 min), then metro | About 1 hr 10 min total | 800-990 yen |
Cash, IC cards and Apple Wallet
Every route above is payable by tapping an IC card. JR West's guide from Kansai Airport says ICOCA cards can be bought from ticket machines at Kansai-airport Station and used both for riding trains and for shopping, but notes that credit cards cannot be used to purchase ICOCA cards, so have yen ready. If you already hold a Suica or PASMO from Tokyo, it works on the Osaka Metro and JR West gates in the same way.
Apple's support page on transit cards in Japan states that you can add a Suica, PASMO, ICOCA or TOICA to Apple Wallet on an iPhone 8 or later or an Apple Watch Series 3 or later, and that Express Mode turns on automatically for the first card so a tap at the gate needs no unlock. Two limits from the same page: a transit card can live on only one device at a time, and Suica specifically requires an Apple Watch that was purchased in Japan. Loading the card on your watch is handy for the race-day commute, but move it back to the phone if you plan to leave the watch in the bag drop.
Cash still matters. Coin lockers, some vending machines and small restaurants around Cosmo Square are not guaranteed to take cards. 5,000 yen in small notes covers a day.
January weather at Nanko
The Japan Meteorological Agency's 1991-2020 normals for the Osaka station give the following for January: mean 6.2 C, mean daily maximum 9.7 C, mean daily minimum 3.0 C, 47.0 mm of precipitation and 61% humidity. It is the driest month of the year in Osaka and one of the two coldest. Nanko is on the bay, so the walk from Cosmo Square is windier than the numbers suggest.
| Osaka, JMA normals | Mean | Max | Min | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | 8.7 C | 12.3 C | 5.3 C | 55.5 mm |
| January | 6.2 C | 9.7 C | 3.0 C | 47.0 mm |
| February | 6.6 C | 10.5 C | 3.2 C | 60.5 mm |
The halls are heated but athletes typically wait outside or in unheated corridors before check-in. A packable jacket you can leave at the bag drop, and a dry top for the ride home, are the two items most people forget.
Check-in and spectator rules from the official page
- Bring ID. The page lists this for both early registration and race-day registration, and states that checking in on behalf of others is not allowed.
- Your race wristband gives you access to the venue only on the day of your race.
- On your race day, if you want to enter the hall before your official check-in window, go through the Spectators check-in using your athlete ticket QR code.
- To enter the venue on any other day, buy a spectator ticket. Spectator tickets cannot carry the Flex Add-On.
- Early registration date, time and location, and the race-day registration details, were TBC on 2026-09-12. Runs were also listed as TBC.
The rulebook adds what happens after the wristband. The 26/27 Singles Rulebook states that each racer is assigned an official start time, confirmed again at check-in, that racers must have their official start time clearly visible on their arm, and that starting in a different wave without approval means disqualification. The timing chip goes on an ankle and must stay there at all times, otherwise the result is recorded as DNS. Do not walk into the Roxzone or onto the run course before your wave, because the chip can trigger and corrupt your time.
Rules that cost time on the floor
These come from the HYROX Singles Rulebook 26/27, which hyroxjapan.com links as the current rulebook. The race is a 1 km run followed by one station, repeated 8 times, for 8,000 m of running in total. Individual run segments may be split into multiple laps depending on venue layout, and counting laps is your responsibility; the lap screen is only a non-official aid.
| Station | Women Open | Men Open / Women Pro | Men Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| SkiErg | 1,000 m | 1,000 m | 1,000 m |
| Sled Push, 4 x 12.5 m | 102 kg incl. sled | 152 kg incl. sled | 202 kg incl. sled |
| Sled Pull, 4 x 12.5 m | 78 kg incl. sled | 103 kg incl. sled | 153 kg incl. sled |
| Burpee Broad Jumps | 80 m | 80 m | 80 m |
| Rowing | 1,000 m | 1,000 m | 1,000 m |
| Farmers Carry, 200 m | 2 x 16 kg | 2 x 24 kg | 2 x 32 kg |
| Sandbag Lunges, 100 m | 10 kg | 20 kg | 30 kg |
| Wall Balls, 100 reps | 4 kg | 6 kg | 9 kg |
Penalties that travellers trip over most often, each from section 7.1 of the rulebook:
- Exiting a station through its IN arch: 2 minutes.
- Using a lane, piece of equipment or wall ball station other than the one assigned by race crew: 2 minutes per infringement.
- Carrying chalk away from the station where it is provided: 2 minutes per infringement.
- Pouring aid-station water over your head or body: 2 minutes per infringement. The fluids are for drinking only.
- Accepting a drink or gel from anyone other than an aid station counts as outside assistance. Water is provided at least once per pass through the Roxzone; any nutrition you want must be carried from the start.
Headphones, cell phones, body cameras, ear plugs and camera-equipped glasses are on the forbidden list. Knee sleeves, gloves (not grips), a weightlifting belt, wristbands and hydration packs are permitted, but whatever you start with you must carry to the finish. Closed-toe shoes are required everywhere except at the Wall Ball station.
Recovery: baths near Osaka with tattoos
Japan's bathhouses are the best thing about racing here and the most common source of an awkward moment for foreign athletes. Many onsen and sento refuse visible tattoos, some allow them with cover stickers, and some simply do not care. The English hub of Tattoo OK Map lists baths in Japan that have confirmed they admit tattoos, each with a source URL and the date it was checked: tattoo-friendly onsen and sento in Japan. Filter to Osaka and look for a place on the Chuo Line or Midosuji Line so the post-race trip is one train.
Two practical rules apply everywhere: wash before entering the water, and keep towels out of the tub. A 15-minute soak the evening of the race, then a normal night's sleep, does more for a sore posterior chain after sled pull than anything sold at the expo.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a Suica from Tokyo on the Osaka Metro?
Yes. Suica, PASMO, ICOCA and TOICA are interoperable transit cards in Japan, and Apple Wallet can hold any of them on an iPhone or Apple Watch. Osaka Metro gates accept them. Keep a few thousand yen in cash as well: JR West states that ICOCA cards cannot be bought with a credit card at ticket machines, and small shops near the venue may be cash only.
Do I need a spectator ticket to watch my partner race on a different day?
Yes. The official BYD HYROX Osaka page states that the race wristband gives access to the venue only on the day of your race, and that entering on any other day requires a spectator ticket. On your own race day you can enter before your check-in window through the spectator check-in with your athlete ticket QR code.
What time is the last wave at HYROX Osaka?
The official page says the current estimated last wave for the last division will start at around 8:00 PM, and that the schedule is provisional. Your individual start time is linked to your account about three days before the event and cannot be changed, so book your return train after you have it.
SIXTEEN: know which station to protect before Osaka
SIXTEEN takes the 16 official splits from a previous race (8 runs, 8 stations, plus Roxzone if you have it) and shows where each one sits among finishers in the same finish-time band, and how many minutes come back if the three weakest reach the band median. The positions are modelled from public statistics, not raw results, and the app says so. For race day it builds a per-segment split table from your goal time and division, and the Apple Watch pacer shows the current target on your wrist; you tap Next at the start of each segment. Japanese and English.
SIXTEEN
HYROX 16-station diagnosis and Apple Watch pacer. Japanese and English
Unofficial tool. HYROX is a trademark of HYROX World GmbH, which is not affiliated with this site. Diagnosis and the Watch pacer are free; Pro is a subscription. Splits are computed on the device. A free web version of the diagnosis is at kanauworks.com/sixteen.
Related guides
- HYROX in Japan: 2027 race calendar — both official 26/27 races, Port Messe Nagoya access on the Aonami Line, April weather and the check-in rules for Nagoya.
- HYROX on Apple Watch — why a native workout cannot split the 16 segments and how a pacer app works around it.
- Tattoo-friendly onsen and sento in Japan — verified baths with source URLs and check dates.
Sources
All checked on 2026-09-12.
- hyrox.com, BYD HYROX Osaka event page (dates, provisional schedule, check-in and spectator rules, Flex Add-On terms)
- hyrox.com, Find My Race (season 26/27 calendar)
- HYROX Singles Rulebook Season 26/27 (PDF), sections 4.1, 7, 7.1, 7.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.5
- INTEX Osaka, Access by train (stations, walking times, routes and fares)
- INTEX Osaka, Access from airports (KIX, Itami, Kobe)
- JR West, Usage guide from Kansai International Airport (ICOCA purchase, Apple Pay)
- Apple Support, Add a transit card to Apple Wallet in Japan
- Japan Meteorological Agency, monthly climatological normals 1991-2020, Osaka